KZ Herzogenbusch

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A view along the fences of the camp, 1945

KZ Herzogenbusch is a concentration camp located near the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, in the Netherlands.

During World War II, Konzentrations-lager Herzogenbusch was one of the few official concentration camps in western Europe outside of Germany. In the Netherlands, it is commonly known as camp 'Vught', since it is actually near the town of Vught.^[1]

1 History
2 Commanders
3 Current state
4 External links
5 See also
6 Sources and Notes

[edit] History

The camp functioned from January 1943, to September 1944. During this period, the camp held nearly 31,000 inmates: Jews, political prisoners, resistance fighters, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, homeless people, black market traders, criminals and hostages.

Of these, 749 children, women and men lost their lives due to hunger, sickness and abuse. 329 of them were executed at the execution site, just outside the camp. The camp was liberated on September 1944, by the 4th Canadian Armored Division, and the 96th Battery of the 5th Anti-Tank Division.

In the first years after the war, the camp was used for the detention of Germans, Dutch SS-men, (suspected) collaborators and/or their children, and war criminals. At first, they were guarded by allied soldiers, but soon later by the Dutch. As a parliamentary enquiry (the Committee A.M. Baron Tuyll van Serooskerken) showed in 1950, this resulted in maltreatment and even summary executions.

[edit] Commanders

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Karl Chmielewski The first commander was 39 year old Karl Chmielewski. During the first few months, the camp was poorly run: prisoners didn't receive meals^{[citation needed]}, the sick were barely treated^{[citation needed]} and the quality of drinking water was very low^{[citation needed]}. Subsequently, many died during Chmielewski’s reign^{[citation needed]}. He was sacked in 1943 for stealing from the camp on a large scale. In 1961, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the concentration camps.

Adam Gruenewald The second commander was 40 year old Adam Gruenewald. Immediately after assuming command over the camp, he set very strict rules^{[citation needed]}. On January 1944, he ordered that a group of female prisoners were to be put into one cell. This resulted in what has become known as the ‘Bunker Tragedy’. He was brought before an SS-judge and sent to the Russian front as a normal soldier. in 1945, he was killed in battle.

Hans Huettig The last commander of Herzogenbusch wa 50 year old Hans Heuttig. He fought during the first world war and was already a member of the Nazi party in 1933. The SS leadership was satisfied with his performance^{[citation needed]}. Under his leadership, at least 329 men^{[citation needed]} were executed.

[edit] Current state

The execution site near the camp is now a national monument, with a wall bearing the names of all those who died there. The wall has suffered numerous acts of vandalism: Swastikas were drawn on the wall, using tar, which seeped into the stone itself and made it impossible to clean them.^[2]

The camp itself was partially demolished after the war. The grounds now house an educational museum about the camp, a Dutch military base, a neighbourhood of maluku refugees, and a high security prison called Nieuw Vossenveld. Still, parts of the old camp remain. Central to the prison, the Bunker Tragedy bunker still stands, and large parts of the southern camp buildings are now used by the Dutch military, including the former SS-Barracks shaped like a German cross (not to be mistaken for a swastika).