Schirmeck, a "reeducation" camp nearby
Sunday, September 25, 2005, 01:46 AM
There were many different kinds of camp created by the Nazis: holding camps, reeducation camps, transit camps, extermination camps, and even within the concentration camp category,there were numbers to indicate the severity of treatment of the prisoners. Thus, Konzentrationslager Natzweiler (KLNa for short) was a catgory 3 camp, the harshest, condemning its inmates to death by overwork and starvation. Just a few miles away was the camp of Schirmeck, a "reeducation" camp for uncooperative Alsatians. The most obdurate and defiant ended up in Natzweiler; most eventually were dismissed. Its commandant, Buck, was vicious and many died there of mistreatment too. Today, the camp has been reconfigured as a pretty little housing development.... Photo and text copyright Diana Mara Henry
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Sunday, September 25, 2005, 01:31 AM
The radiant little village of Natzwiller. The Germans named the camp Konzentrationslager Natzweiler, after this, the nearest town. The French prefer to call the camp "Le Struthof" after the little resort located up the hill from the town. Photo and text copyright Diana Mara Henry
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Sunday, September 25, 2005, 01:18 AM
To the Concentration camp (known as Le Struthof, in France), to the Gas Chamber, and in the same direction, to the Bar-Restaurant. Photo and text copyright Diana Mara Henry
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Natzweiler is located....
Sunday, September 25, 2005, 12:58 AM
Almost straight west of Strasbourg, in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains, just up from valley where the Bruche, a tributary to the Rhine, runs through. Natzwiller, as the Alsatian spelling gives it, is a lttle town. Le Struthof is a farmstead and overlook of the valley where there was a ski resort and inn before WWII, and where, during the war, the inn continued to serve guests who could watch naked Jews and Gpsies being led into the gas chamber across the street. ( see Judy Chicago's Holocaust Project for more on this.) Today, one can still dine at the inn across the street from the gas chamber. In this map, the Rhine River and Germany are at the very bottom, we are looking West. Strasbourg is the city at bottom right, Colmar is the city just visible at left.
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RAF World War II aerial reconnaissance photo of Natzweiler-Struthof
Sunday, September 25, 2005, 12:37 AM
The barrracks were all torn down in the 1960's except the two at the top of the hill (at right within the oblong perimeter) and the two at the bottom, which served, one for the prison and one for the crematorium. But one can see the camps barracks still standing in the film, The Young Lions, starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, the last 15 minutes of which were filmed in and around Natzweiler.
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