• Camp Erika
A memorial on the premises of the former »Erika« camp close to the city of Ommen calls into remembrance the fates of the camp's prisoners.
Image: Ommen, 1945. Entrance to Camp Erika, Streekmuseum Ommen
Ommen, 1945. Entrance to Camp Erika, Streekmuseum Ommen

Image: Ommen 2007, Memorials on the former camp premises, Streeksmuseum Ommen, Henk Soer
Ommen 2007, Memorials on the former camp premises, Streeksmuseum Ommen, Henk Soer
In 1924, the esoteric society »International Theosophical Association« opened a summer camp just south of the community of Ommen. In May 1940, German troops invaded the Netherlands, and the new occupying forces dissolved the organisation and confiscated its premises. In 1941, the camp area was expanded by the general commissariat as a »penal camp«, and in June 1942, the first prisoners were admitted. Camp »Erika« was under civil administration, and the guards were Dutch. The prisoners were for the most part criminals and »economic delinquents« - people who had supposedly violated the economic regulations of the occupying regime. The camp quickly became overcrowded. Many of the inmates were deported to Germany for forced labour deployment. The conditions at the came were quite like similar to those at a concentration camp; the guards were infamous for their brutality.
In May 1943, the penal camp was closed and the camp was reopened as a »labour deployment camp«. It was used to intern students who had refused to sign a »declaration of loyalty« towards the occupying regime. »Asocials« and »labour evaders« were also incarcerated, the latter referring to men who refused to be deployed as labourers in Germany. The conditions at the camp were slightly better during the second phase of its existence. Most of the prisoners were eventually deported for labour deployment in Germany. In September 1944, the German Order Police took over the camp, which was finally shut down on April 5, 1945.
Image: Ommen, 1945. Entrance to Camp Erika, Streekmuseum Ommen
Ommen, 1945. Entrance to Camp Erika, Streekmuseum Ommen

Image: Ommen 2007, Memorials on the former camp premises, Streeksmuseum Ommen, Henk Soer
Ommen 2007, Memorials on the former camp premises, Streeksmuseum Ommen, Henk Soer
Between June 1942 and May 1943, about 3,000 prisoners passed through the camp. Between 170 and 200 inmates died during this period, either on site or in concentration camps in Germany. Between 3,000 and 4,000 prisoners were interned at the camp during the second phase of the camp's existence; 12 of them died at the camp.
Image: Ommen, 1943, Aerial view of the camp, Streeksmuseum Ommen
Ommen, 1943, Aerial view of the camp, Streeksmuseum Ommen

Image: Ommen 2007, Memorial plaque on the former camp premises, Streeksmuseum Ommen, Henk Soer
Ommen 2007, Memorial plaque on the former camp premises, Streeksmuseum Ommen, Henk Soer
Following the liberation by Canadian troops, the Allies used the premises as an internment camp for people suspected of having collaborated with the occupying regime. Up to 2,000 people were interned at the camp until is dissolution at the end of 1946. Later, the premises were converted to a camp site, and all remaining traces of the camp vanished. For many years, all that commemorated the camp was a cross which had been erected in 1946; in 1991, a memorial stone and plaque were added. On May 4, 2006, an information sign was set up. The museum of local history in Ommen has a department dedicated to researching the history of the camp.
Image: Ommen 2007, Memorial on the former camp premises, Streeksmuseum Ommen, Henk Soer
Ommen 2007, Memorial on the former camp premises, Streeksmuseum Ommen, Henk Soer

Image: Ommen 2007, Detailed view of a model of the camp, on display at the museum of local history in Ommen, Streeksmuseum Ommen
Ommen 2007, Detailed view of a model of the camp, on display at the museum of local history in Ommen, Streeksmuseum Ommen
Name
Kamp Erika
Address
Streekmuseum, Den Oordt 7
7731 CM Ommen
Phone
+31 (0)529 453 487
Web
http://www.museum-ommen.nl
E-Mail
info@museum-ommen.nl
Open
The memorial is accessible at all times. The museum is open Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 1 p.m. to 4.30 p.m., in July and August the museum is also open Monday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In January only by appointment.
Possibilities
Exhibition at the museum