Not far to the west of Strasbourg in the Vosges Mountains, near the village of Struthof, is the site of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp. The camp and it many smaller sub-camps in the region were the only Nazi concentration camps in France. It operated from May, 1941, to September, 1944. About 52,000 prisoners were held there during its time of operation. Today it is a museum documenting the horrors for the prisoners held there.

The prisoners were mainly from resistance movements in German-occupied countries, many being French, but also, Dutch, Norwegians, Czech, Poles, etc. There were also other groups represented among the prisoners, including British spies, agents and Jews. It was a labor camp, a transit camp and, as the war went on, a place of execution. There were an estimated 22,000 deaths at the camp and its network of subcamps from starvation and executions. In addition to labor, the camp was the site of medical experiments performed on inmates, most of whom were Jews.

The camp was liberated on November 23, 1944, by the French First Army and the US Sixth Army. Prior to that, the prisoners had been evacuated on a death march to Dachau, and only a small contingent of German SS troops remained.

There is a very large memorial next to the camp in the design of a flame and the emaciated body of a prisoner. After it was built in the early 1950s, the remains of French POWs collected from camps all over Germany and German-occupied territories were interred on the grounds. Click here for more information about the memorial.

In addition to the older Camp Museum located in one of the remaining barracks, there is a large, modern and very informative European Centre of Deported Resistance Members museum at the site, dedicated to the Resistance.

Click here to read more about the Natzweiler-Struthof camp.