Natzweiler-Struthof – Visiting a Concentration Camp

No matter where you visit in the world, there are locations that reveal the tragedies of human existence, and the atrocities that we as a species, have caused.  Throughout much of Europe, the scars of war still ravage the land, even decades later, and it is shocking. But, of all such sites, it is the concentration camps that memorialize those lost, and remind us of the greatest crimes of our times.  While visiting a concentration camp may not seem like an ideal vacation activity, it is an essential part of understanding the history and people, and equally related to understanding ourselves and humankind, of making the world better for our grandchildren. It was important for us, just as visiting Anne Frank House was.  We visited Natzweiler-Struthof Concentration Camp, the only primary concentration camp in France, as a day trip from the Black Forest.  

Natzweiler-Struthof may not be a commonly known name around the world, but it is well-known in France.  Once a popular ski resort area in the beautiful Vosges Mountains, in Alsace, during Nazi occupation, the area would be transformed from a place of beauty, fun and relaxation, to the first concentration camp in France, a place of terror.  All along the drive to the camp, and standing atop the hill at the camp, the landscape is gorgeous. It is a gruesome juxtaposition, knowing the horrors that took place in the surrounding beauty.

When we think of concentration camps, we often assume that they were all in Germany, and the extermination camps in Poland.  The truth is that concentration camps extended far beyond that, encompassing a significant portion of the entire European continent, from France and the Netherlands, to as far east as Latvia and Estonia, and forced labor and deportation camps extended as far north as the coasts of Norway, and south to the coast of Greece.  The sheer number and breadth of the concentration camps is mind boggling.

Natzweiler-Struthof is referred to as the only concentration camp in France, it was actually the central headquarters of at least 63 separate sub-camps, across the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, and the German states of Baden-Wurttemberg and Hesse.  The primary camp location was selected to quarry granite from the surrounding mountains, but the majority of the sub-camps were forced labor camps where munitions for the war were built. Several of them were located in tunnels and mines through the Vosges Mountains in France, and the Black Forest Mountains in Germany, to escape damage from Allied air raids.

Natzweiler-Struthof differs from many concentration camps in that it was not primarily set up for Jewish internment.  The initial purpose of the camp was to hold French Resistance fighters, and later insurgents from other countries. Beyond supplying the war with supplies, its other specific initiative for certain resistance members was the Nacht und Nebel, or night and fog.  The intention was to make certain prisoners of political stature disappear without a trace through execution, and no records of their imprisonment at Natzweiler-Struthof were ever kept. These murders could only later be proven through eye-witness testimony of escapees or liberated prisoners.  

Natzweiler-Struthof was also used for “medical testing,” and the Nazi intention of proving that the Jewish people were and inferior race.  The gas chamber at the camp was not used for mass exterminations. The camp performed tests for reactions to various poisonous gasses, in particular phosgene, for which they sought an antidote.  Prisoners would be given a potential antidote, then subjected to the gas, the doctor watching as the painful effects inevitably commenced.

In other experiments, an anti-Typhus vaccine was sought.  A number of Gypsies were transferred from Auschwitz for use in testing.  These prisoners were intentionally injected with the Typhus to study the results of the experimental vaccines.  Then the doctor observed them during the incubation period, waiting for the symptoms to occur.

In 1943 the Natzweiler-Struthof was chosen as the location to carry out the executions associated with the Jewish Skeleton Collection, a Nazi attempt to build an anthropological case to prove Jewish inferiority, and their status as a “sub-race.”  Under the sanctioning of Heinrich Himmler, 86 “best examples of the Jewish race” were hand selected at Auschwitz, and transported to Natzweiler, where they could be executed individually in the gas chamber, so their bodies would not be damaged by being killed with others.  These 86 people were kept isolated in Block 13 of the camp, where they were fed well, and allowed rest, to return to a state of normalcy. Then they were killed one by one, in the gas chamber.

The bodies of each of the 86 Jewish victims were transported to the Reich University of Strasbourg.  The intention was to make casts of their corpses, then reduce them to skeletons, to create their display.  The plans were ultimately stopped by the Allied invasion, and the skeletons left in the university, but it would take until 2,003 for all 86 victims to be identified.  Of the 86, 46 were from the town of Thessaloniki, Greece, while the other 40 were from across Europe.  

Beyond the 86 Jewish people who were killed for the Jewish skeleton collection, it is estimated that 19-20,000 people died at Natzweiler-Struthof.   It is also known that public hangings and shootings took place throughout the existence of the camp, as demonstrations to other prisoners. However, the majority of victims died from exhaustion, malnutrition, and infectious diseases.  Bodies of the dead were reduced to ash in the crematorium, and dumped into the ash pit alongside the infirmary at the camp.

On the nights of August 31, and September 1, 1944, SS officials were frantic, as they learned of the Allies approach.  In their frenzy, 141 prisoners were shot to death, and immediately cremated.  Survivors recounted the chimneys glowing red that night.  On those same nights, SS officials began evacuating the main camp at Natzweiler-Struthof, transferring prisoners to the sub-camps that were still in operation, and sending some of the stronger prisoners on to Dachau.  The main camp however, was liberated on November 23, 1944, by the US Sixth Army, accompanied by the French First Army.  Only a small group of staff remained at that time.

The remaining sub-camps were all evacuated in March, 1945, with forced marches to Dachau.  Those who survived Natzweiler-Struthof as well as the marches, would not be finally freed until the liberation of Dachau, on April 29, 1945. 

Of those who survived their internment at Natzweiler-Struthof, several would go on to testify against their captors in war crime trials, and even testify in the Nuremberg trials.  Some would also live on to write memoirs, so that the truth of the Nazi crimes will be remembered, that we may learn from them.  Boris Pahor, the author of Necropolis, is still alive today, the oldest known survivor of Natzweiler-Struthof.  If you are interested in any of their autobiographies, you can get them here.

• Hans Cappelen – Vi Ga Oss Ikke (En “Nacht-Und Nebel” Fange Forteller)
• Boris Pahor- Necropolis  
  • Updated English version- Pilgrim Among the Shadows.
• Pierre Seele – I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual:  A Memoir of Nazi Terror.

 For a much more in-depth history, Scrapbook Pages goes truly into detail about the history and events at Natzweiler-Struthof, with many survivor accounts.

What to Expect When Visiting  Natzweiler-Struthof

It is impossible to appropriately describe the experience of visiting Natzweiler-Struthof.  There are no words that can convey the feelings of knowing the horrible crimes that have been committed in such a place.  Certainly it is not Auschwitz-Birkenau, or Treblinka, and it cannot be compared.

But, as in all places of mass atrocities, the vibration of those murdered souls, and the horrors that were committed, lingers in the air.  I can only say that my visit changed me, and it will be with me forever.  It has taken some time before I felt I was able to share this visit, and even now I am not sure what to write.

Knowing the history, the photos can tell the story.

Upon arriving at Natzweiler-Struthof, your first sight is the very modern European Center of Deported Resistance Members.  The museum lies outside of the gates of the camp.  It is built upon a huge pit that prisoners of the camp were forced to dig throughout 1943.  The outlines of the pit can be seen upon approach, and it is one of the mysteries of Natzweiler-Struthof.  The pit is often referred to as the Kartoffelkeller, or the potato cellar.  The Kartoffelkeller was never put to use when the camp was evacuated, and its purpose remains unknown.

Then you are met by the gates of the Concentration Camp.

Once beyond the gates, the first and second barracks house contains the Natzweiler Museum.  The museum tells the history of the area, prior to Nazi occupation, and the history of the camp.  There are numerous pages of documents that reveal the tedious record keeping that was maintained in regards to regular prisoners, not involved with the Nacht und Nebel initiative. 

The museum also shares the bleak daily life of those striving to survive within the fences.  There are a number of artifacts that help convey the reality, including  bunks, benches and sinks once used by the interned, and personal items including prison uniforms and shoes.  Information in the Natzweiler Museum is only available in French.