• Natzweiler-Struthof Museum and European Centre of Deported Resistance Members
The »Le Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté et le Musée du Struthof« (English: »European Centre of Deported Resistance Members and Struthof Museum«) Memorial recalls the former Natzweiler concentration camp, which was set up by the SS in the Vosges Mountains south of Strasbourg in 1941. The site is dedicated to the approximately 52,000 internees of the Natzweiler camp complex and the Europe-wide deportations of political prisoners by the National Socialists. It also serves as a »national necropolis« at which the remains of French prisoners from other camps have been laid to rest.
Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, 1945, Overview of a part of the concentration camp, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense
Natzweiler-Struthof, 1945, Overview of a part of the concentration camp, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense

Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, undated, Gallows on the premises of the former concentration camp, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense, J. Robert
Natzweiler-Struthof, undated, Gallows on the premises of the former concentration camp, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense, J. Robert
After the French Army was defeated in June 1940, Alsace-Lorraine came under German administration. In September 1940, geologist Karl Blumberg - who had been charged by the SS to search for raw material deposits - discovered deposits of rare red granite close to the Struthof hotel near Natzwiller (German: Natzweiler) in the Alsatian Vosges Mountains. In May 1941, the SS had a concentration camp built on the site, deploying prisoners in the extraction of the granite; later, they had to work in the arms industry. The conditions at the camp were similar to those at other SS-operated camps: the prisoners were heavily abused and received only insufficient provisions, many were murdered. National Socialists also killed prisoners for pseudoscientific purposes of the Strasbourg »Reich University« and the SS »Ahnenerbe« (English: Ancestral Heritage) organisation. Camp commander Josef Kramer installed a gas chamber at the camp on physicians' demands. In the summer of 1943, 87 Jewish prisoners, who had been transferred from Auschwitz, were murdered - 86 by poison gas, one woman was shot. The remains were to become part of a skeleton collection, as planned by the Strasbourg anatomist August Hirt. The gas chamber was also used to carry out experiments on human beings. However, systematically carried out mass asphyxiations did not take place at Struthof.
Between 1941 and the camp's liberation, a total of 52,000 prisoners passed through Natzweiler and its nearly 70 satellite camps. Close to 22,000 prisoners perished. In September 1944, the SS deported most of the prisoners to the Dachau concentration camp. U.S. troops reached the Natzweiler camp on November 23, 1944, making it the first German concentration camp to be liberated by the Allies.
Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, 1945, Overview of a part of the concentration camp, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense
Natzweiler-Struthof, 1945, Overview of a part of the concentration camp, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense

Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, undated, Gallows on the premises of the former concentration camp, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense, J. Robert
Natzweiler-Struthof, undated, Gallows on the premises of the former concentration camp, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense, J. Robert
Until September 1942, all of the prisoners at the Natzweiler camp had been transferred from other German concentration camps, after that it became an »admissions camp«: inmates were also brought here from prisons. In the early days of the camp, most of its prisoners were »habitual criminals« and »asocials«, categories invented by the National Socialists. In 1942, occupancy rose, and although most prisoners were still political prisoners, there were also many Poles and Soviet inmates at the camp. At the end of 1942, there were 921 prisoners in the main camp and in Oberehnheim, the first of many satellite camps. In 1943, the number of inmates tripled. During this period, the internees came from all over Europe, and there were also several Sinti and Roma among the prisoners. From June 1943 on, the so-called Night and Fog prisoners were also a significant group at the camp. Hitler ordered for resistance fighters from the occupied territories in western and northern Europe to »disappear« without a trace, so they were deported to German camps without their families being notified. On July 6, 1944, the first four women were admitted into the camp - members of the British secret service SOE. They were murdered by phenol injections administered by SS doctors. Jews, Sinti and Roma as well as »habitual criminals« fell victim to human trials and medical murders at the Natzweiler camp. From September/October 1944 on, the number of prisoners rose dramatically and mass deaths ensued. The Vaihingen/Enz satellite (Württemberg) became synonymous with death as the SS turned it into a »dying camp« in which ill prisoners and those no longer capable of working died - on average, 60 percent of the admitted prisoners did not survive. Overall, nearly 22,000 people lost their lives at the Natzweiler camp complex.
Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, Memorial wall at the ash pit, Ronnie Golz
Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, Memorial wall at the ash pit, Ronnie Golz

Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, undated, View of the former camp premises, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense, J. Robert
Natzweiler-Struthof, undated, View of the former camp premises, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense, J. Robert
Between 1945 and 1948, the premises served as an internment camp for German civilians and Alsatians suspected of having collaborated with the National Socialist regime.
In 1950, the building of the former gas chamber and the premises were placed under monumental protection; however, in 1954, most of the dilapidated barracks received clearance to be torn down. In March 1954, the symbolic incineration of barrack no. 12 - in the presence of former prisoners - marked the beginning of the remodelling of the camp area. All that remained of the original camp were a former bunkhouse, the kitchen and cell block as well as the crematorium block.
Today, there are several sites of remembrance on the premises: In 1960, a 40 metre high monument depicting a flame by sculptor Lucien Fenaux was dedicated; there are memorial signs at victims' graves; next to a former ash pit are a memorial wall and a lantern of the dead. A two-barred cross, the so-called Cross of Lorraine, commemorates the French Night and Fog prisoners. In 1965, a museum was opened in one of the preserved barracks; in 1976 and 1979, it fell victim to acts of vandalism. A new exhibition on the camp's history has been on display in the building since 2005. That same year, the »European Centre of Deported Resistance Members« was opened in a new building on the site of the former potato cellar. According to its mission statement, it is to serve as a »site of information, contemplation and meetings« as well as to provide »an introduction prior to the visit of the actual camp«.
Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, undated, Camp gate, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense, J. Robert
Natzweiler-Struthof, undated, Camp gate, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense, J. Robert

Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, undated, Cemetery and 1960 monument depicting a flame, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense, J. Robert
Natzweiler-Struthof, undated, Cemetery and 1960 monument depicting a flame, DMPA, Ministère de la Défense, J. Robert
Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, View of the former camp premises, Ronnie Golz
Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, View of the former camp premises, Ronnie Golz
Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, Gallows, Ronnie Golz
Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, Gallows, Ronnie Golz
Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, Watchtower, Ronnie Golz
Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, Watchtower, Ronnie Golz
Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, »Cross of Loraine« in commemoration of murdered resistance fighters, Ronnie Golz
Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, »Cross of Loraine« in commemoration of murdered resistance fighters, Ronnie Golz
Image: Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, Former barracks housing the exhibition on the history of the camp, Ronnie Golz
Natzweiler-Struthof, 2010, Former barracks housing the exhibition on the history of the camp, Ronnie Golz
Name
Le Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté et le Musée du Struthof
Address
Route départementale 130
67130 Natzwiller
Phone
+ 33 (0)3 88 474 467
Fax
+ 33 (0)3 88 971 683
Web
http://www.struthof.fr/
E-Mail
info@struthof.fr
Open
March 1 to April 15:
daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
April 16 to October 15:
daily 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
October 16 to December 24:
daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The former gas chamber is open daily 10 a.m. to 12.45 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Possibilities
Two permanent exhibitions, guided tours and workshops