Anne-Charlotte PasseraAbout 30 miles (50km) southwest of Strasbourg in a remote place high on a hillside of the Vosges Mountains lies the forgotten concentration camp of Natzweiler in France.
I discovered this concentration camp from WWII last summer when I went to France. Located in the eastern region of France, called Alsace, it can be visited all year long.
Yes, I know that there had been camps in France during WWII but they were mostly “transit” camps. I just didn’t know that there was a remnant of an actual concentration camp in France!
According to an article published on CNN, there were 20 main concentration camps during WWII, many of which had many subcamps. Natzweiler was not a subcamp and was part of the 20 main ones.
The Natzweiler concentration camp was the only camp of its kind established by the Germans on the territory of pre-war France.
We’ve all heard about Auschwitz which was the largest and deadliest of the extermination camp. It is estimated that 1.3 million people were sent to it and around 960,000 of them died in the camp.
Natzweiler’s numbers pale in comparison as it wasn’t used as an extermination camp but a concentration camp. Nonetheless, 52,000 prisoners passed by this concentration camp in France, 25,000 of which perished from harsh living conditions.
A brief history of Alsace during WWII
Alsace is a perfect example of a child with two parents not getting along with both parties wanting full custody. Over the course of 75 years, Alsace will change nationality four times! Sometimes it was French and sometimes German. I speak more about Alsace’s history in my article on Strasbourg.
The region of Alsace was annexed to Germany after the armistice which was signed on June 22nd, 1940. The Germans first created the camp of Schirmeck near Strasbourg. The intent was to nazify the local population who refused to adhere to the Nazi philosophy.
From 1940 to 1944, it served as an internment camp for locals to make them fall in line with the German’s beliefs. Roughly 10,000 French people passed by that camp staying from a few days to months.
This camp was located about 6km away from Natzweiler-Struthof.
How to get to Natzweiler’s concentration camp
The concentration camp of Natzweiler in France is located about 1 hour away by car from the cities of Strasbourg and Colmar.
Located in the Vosges Mountains in a heavily-forested and isolated area with an elevation of 800m (2,600ft), the only way to access it is by car.
The nearest town is Rothau which does have a train station. From there take D130 road (rue des Déportés) which winds its way up and down through the hills. Follow the sign “Le Struthof” for a few minutes and you’ll arrive at destination.
Free parking is available but is limited to 50 cars. If it’s full, you can park where the gas chamber is located and then walk up the 1.5km path to the museum and camp.
How to visit this concentration camp of France
The duration of the visit to the Natzweiler concentration camp will be determined by your interest and need. Plan to visit for at least 2 hours but I recommend 3 hours. Guided tours are available and last about 1 hour. Then, you can visit the campgrounds on your own and the museum.
It’s best if you book or call ahead for the guided tour so as not to have to wait for a time slot to be available. They are FREE and in FRENCH ONLY.
Practical information
Unfortunately, no pets are allowed inside the camp but for once, that is totally understandable.
I shouldn’t have to mention to you that proper clothing is required not only out of respect for the place but also because of the altitude, it can get chilly.
Also, the camp is located on a fairly steep slope which doesn’t make it too hard to walk on but sturdy shoes might be a good idea.
The camp is manageable with strollers and wheelchairs can get in, but they won’t be able to go down due to the hill incline.
A combine ticket “billet duo” is available if you plan to visit the Memorial of Alsace-Moselle which will allow you to save 5 euros per ticket. I talk about this memorial further down.
Visiting a concentration camp with kids
Children under the age of 10 must be accompanied and placed under adult supervision. Is it appropriate for kids? I’ll let you be the judge of that.
However, I will say this. There isn’t anything really graphic on display aside for what you see in the museum which they don’t have to go into.
History of the Natzweiler concentration camp
In late 1940, the Germans discovered a red granite quarry in the Vosges Mountains on Mount Louise.
They decided there and then to establish a “workers” camp in order to exploit the granite. The material will help supply the nazis for some of their architectural projects.
At the time, concentration camps were different than extermination ones as they were used as labor camps. The prisoners were used as forced labour in war-related areas to manufacture weapons mostly.
Until 1945, Natzweiler-Struthof had a complex of about 70 subcamps that were located in Alsace and Lorraine as well as in the adjacent German provinces. Despite being one of the smaller nazi concentration camps, it was particularly deadly.
Death by malnutrition and exertions of their labor, approximately 25,000 inmates perished out of 52,000 in three years.
Before the construction of the camp was completed in May 1941, the prisoners slept in the nearby former hotel Struthof hence the name. Before the war started, it was a renown winter sports resorts where people from Strasbourg would enjoy skiing or sleighing down the slopes. In the Spring, they would enjoy picnicking and hicking in the area.
The camp operated from May 21st, 1941 to September 1944 and was liberated on November 23rd, 1944 by the US sixth army group and the French army.
Life in the camp
The location of the site amidst a luscious forest was in stark contrast with the visual of thousands of striped pyjamas walking around in wooden clogs.
There were less than 200 guards looking after the inmates which just shows the perversity of delegating power to inmates chosen by the SS to do their dirty work. Most often then not, they were hardcore criminals and “sociopaths”.
Life in the concentration camp of Natzweiler was as harsh as in any other camp. The mortality rate was over 40%. If you survived over 6 months, then you were one of the “lucky’ ones.
Upon their arrival by truck from the train station of Rothau or by walking the 8km path through the forest, the inmates had to be cleaned. Their heads were shaven to limit lice. All hair had to be removed. Hair from their heads was salvaged and sent to German factories to create felt.
The steps leading up and down to the barracks were especially high. Whether the prisoners were carrying rocks or not, after a while, they just didn’t have much strength left in their legs. Not to mention that the SS were sadists. They enjoyed beating the prisoners while they were going up and down those stairs and even let their dogs have a go at them.
Prisoners had found a “clever” way to keep themselves moving because stopping was not an option. Before each step, they would pace a hand under a knee to help them lift one leg. They would do so one leg at a time for each step and just repeat the process.
Experiments
The camp also served to test out experiments by doctors from the “new” faculty of medicine of Strasbourg.
Of course, they used the inmates as their guinea pigs, mostly gypsies, jews and homosexuals.
The experiments involved treatment for typhus and yellow fever. Research for possible antidotes to the poison gas used in WWI as a chemical weapon was conducted as well.
One time, and experience with typhus went wrong and contaminated part of the camp in the Spring of 1944.
“Some children were murdered at the camp for the sole purpose of testing poisons for inconspicuous executions.”
Leo Alexander, medical advisor at the Nuremberg Trials (Wikipedia)
August Hirt, an anatomist, made a jewish skeleton collection. Jews were racially inferior. He had 86 men and women exterminated at the camp for that project.
The 86 “inmates” came from Auschwitz. They were well fed over the course of 2 weeks in order to be good specimens of normal size. Afterward, they were gassed so that there would be no damage to the body.
The corpses were then sent to Strasbourg University for study. Hirt was not able to carry out the last part of the process which was to make anatomical casts of the bodies as the Allies were approaching.
Hirt shot himself in the head while hiding in the Black Forest on June 2nd, 1945.
The prisoners of the camp
Very few SS women served at the camp as the female prisoner population was low. The few women that did come to the camp were for medical experiments or to be executed. Such was the case for the 4 SOE (special operations executive) British agents.
It was the first service to send female agents into the fields. These brave women were parachuted into France in 1942. However, they ended up being captured and were sent to Natzweiler on July 6th, 1944. Sadly, they were executed on the day they arrived by lethal injection and their bodies were cremated at the camp.
“Every time the oven door was opened and smoke came out of the chimney, it meant that a body had been put in the oven. I saw flames four times.”
Doctor Guérisse, deported to KL Natzweiler
However, the majority of the prisoners came from the various resistance movements in german-occupied territories. The Polish represented 30% of the inmate population.
They were also political prisoners, Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and “Nacht und Nebel”. This was the nickname given to prisoners who were found guilty of sabotage, acts of terrorism. They were discreetly executed.
Night and Fog (Nach und Nebel) =NN
Starting in the summer of 1943, many NN were detained in the camp. Anyone who was found guilty of acts of resistance was supposed to be executed in public. However, the Germans feared that they would be seen as martyrs and they didn’t want that.
So the guilty party was arrested and sentenced to a camp. They had no connexion with the outside world and none was given back. Then, they were discretely executed, the Germans always coming up with a reason: they tried to escape.
However, death came about camp mostly due to harsh living and working conditions. Their daily meal consisted of only 1200 calories despite working 12 hours every day.
Dogs were better fed than the prisoners. The inmates would actually steal dog cookies from the kennels in order to complete their ration.
If they were lucky to have some meat, it usually came from animals who had been killed during a bombing
In 1944, the former head of Auschwitz’s concentration camp was brought in to evacuate prisoners to other camps or sub camps in Germany and Poland as allied armies neared.
When the camp was evacuated, prisoners were sent to Dachau, most of which died during the death march.
What you’ll see at the Naztweiler concentration camp
The Camp has been preserved as a museum in memory of those held or killed there.
Since the majority of the barracks were destroyed after the war, there isn’t much left of the camp. Yet, some original features still remain such as fences, the main gate, watchtowers, and the medical wing with its crematorium.
One of the barracks was set up as a museum after the war.
The Museum exhibits information panels with texts mostly in French and German, photos depicting life in the camp, the internal organization, work conditions and the system of repression and punishments.
Other barracks are only indicated by their footprint shapes on the terraced slope of the grounds of the camp.
Outside the camp perimeter you’ll notice a small villa with a pool dating back to 1911. It used to belong to a rich banker from Strasbourg but requisitioned and sued by the commander of the camp.
It’s not hard to miss as there is a short path that branches off diagonally from the gatehouse pass villa. It’s only 200 yards from camp’s gate!
Imagine splashing in the pool so close to a place of great suffering.
If you follow the path, it will lead you to the former gas chamber building. I don’t know what the path looks like as we drove there. It’s about 1.5km long.
Gas chamber
The gas chamber was located in an old annex that served as a dancing hall in front of a hotel where the SS officers of the camp slept.
It’s fairly small and wasn’t open at the time of our visit. The annex is not a big building and wasn’t open when we visited.
Camps barracks
When you arrive at the camp, you arrive at the top of a hill, surrounded by a dense forest.
The prisoner would discover this “decor” that would progressively lead him to his death.
There is a long sloping path along the western outer fence called “le ravin de la mort”. The path is delimited by a little rope with a no-mans land in between it and the fence. Should a prisoner just happen to “trip”’ over the rope, he would be shot dead. That happened quite often.
Medical building
In the medical building, you’ll see a room with shelves stacked with earthenware urns and a room with a white-tiled dissection table in its center. A cast-iron oven was used as a crematorium which you can see in this building.
The urns would contain the ashes of German nationals that the families could have if they paid a fee. Otherwise, the ashes were dumped in a hole not far from the building, scattered in the vegetable garden (for the SS officers) or throughout camp.
During wintertime, and still, to this day, remnants of this horrific past comes back to the surface.
Prison building
The prison cell block was just across the medical building.
It was used for solitary confinement as punishment or for corporal punishment. Unfortunately, it was closed during our visit so we could only peak through the windows.
In one of the cells, you’ll see on display a wooden rack on which prisoners were brutally beaten causing lasting damage to their bodies.
Where to go from there
The visit to this concentration camp, which was my first time visiting one was really informative. It might not be as big as Aushwitz from what I gathered, but the guided visit really complemented our experience.
If you’d like to know more about the history of the Alsace region during that time see below.
Alsace-Moselle Memorial
The Alsace-Moselle Memorial is north of Schirmeck, about a 15-minute drive.
It covers the occupation of the region by the Germans and the effect it had on its citizens. The exhibit is extremely well done and the children will be able to enjoy it.
You’ll also be able to see remnants of the old Maginot line built in the 1930s. It was an elaborate system of bunkers, tunnels, and artillery positions intended to stall any attack from the East. However, it became completely useless as the line stopped just short of Belgium’s borders and Hitler’s troops just went around it to attack France in WWII.
If you can, I would visit this museum first before heading to the concentration camp. That way, you’ll get a better understanding on how and why this camp came about.
Afterward, just drive through picturesque villages and towns with half-timbered houses before heading back or towards Strasbourg or Colmar. You can do so by taking the long way through the Vosges mountains or the highway.
However, nothing beats a drive through the dense forests on rolling hills of the Vosges Mountains. You can stop along the way for a picnic, enjoy a hike or views, and possibly stop at another historical place. The World War I trenches of the Col du Linge.
In France, and the Alsace region is no exception, there is always something of historical importance worth visiting.
[…] During that time, the Reich imposes a politic of Germanisation and Nazification. If you didn’t oblige, you were sent to the camp of Schirmek or worse, the one of Natzweiler. […]
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