Collection:
Realisation Collection:
Stichting Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught
Thematic Collection:
Camp Vught was the only SS concentration camp west of the German national border during World War II. From the initial work of building the camp in mid-1942 until its evacuation in September 1944, diverse groups of workers were involved in this camp. In addition, from one moment to the next, local residents faced an instrument of persecution and terror. Many were touched by the fate of the prisoners, tried to help, but eventually ended up behind the barbed wire themselves. The stories of the local residents have penetrated the historiography only to a very limited extent. Nor has sufficient attention been paid to the “voluntary” labor by the civilian workers.
As part of this oral history project, eight testimonies of Dutch civilian workers and local residents have been recorded. Attention to these almost forgotten groups also means an interesting insight into the behavior and dilemmas they faced, the choices that were made and their consequences. These groups of “bystanders” are given a sharper profile through the interview
In 1942, construction began on Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch, as Camp Vught was officially called. When the first starving and beaten prisoners arrived from Camp Amersfoort in January 1943, Vught was not yet ready. The prisoners had to finish the camp themselves. The miserable conditions cost the lives of several hundred people in the first few months. A total of more than 31,000 people were imprisoned in the camp for short or long periods between January 1943 and September 1944. In addition to 12,000 Jews, Vught also held political prisoners, resistance fighters, Jehovah’s Witnesses, students, black marketeers and illegal slaughterers, criminals and hostages. Of these, more than 750 children, women and men died in the camp from starvation, disease and mistreatment.