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Day Six: Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp, Vught, Netherlands
Herzogenbusch concentration camp was a Nazi concentration camp located in Vught near the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. Herzogenbusch was, with Natzweiler-Struthof in occupied France, the only concentration camp run directly by the SS in western Europe outside of Germany. The camp was first used in 1943 and held 31,000 prisoners. 749 prisoners died in the camp, and the others were transferred to other camps shortly before the camp was liberated by the Allied Forces in 1944. After the war the camp was used as a prison for Germans and Dutch Collaborators. Today there is a visitors' center with exhibitions and a national monument remembering the camp and its victims. The camp is now a museum.
NOTE: Although the Herzogenbusch concentration camp was not an extermination camp, it was a particularly brutal work camp. This is a window into the very worst of humanity and it is not an experience that should be taken lightly. This is an optional stop for our youth, and we anticipate only select older Scouts or Venturer Scouts to take part in the tour.
Experiencing Herzogenbusch
‘You always had to navigate around the dangers of camp life. This caused a constant sense of fear. Always be vigilant. Hunger and fear were the two factors with which the Germans systematically undermined our resistance,’ said Joop Citroen, who ended up in Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp during the Second World War. Somehow he survived the hell in the forests outside ’s-Hertogenbosch.
A visit to the national monument of Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp is a moving experience you won't soon forget. Today only a small part of the camp has been preserved, but at the height of its brutality it covered an area of 350,000 square meters. There's a memorial centre and museum with permanent and temporary exhibitions, a preserved section of the old camp and, perhaps most chillingly, an execution place where prisoners were shot.
A guided tour
Although you can take in the barbarus sights on your own, we recommend a guided tour. We had the pleasure of following Frans van Rijswijk, who guided a group of about fifteen people including ourselves one afternoon. It's deadly quiet when Frans speaks, because everybody needs a moment to let the horrifying facts sink in.
A visit to the rebuilt barracks is impressive to say the least. It's a copy of one of the many barracks that stood here during the World War II. Frans tells us about the lack of privacy, except at the latrines. “No German or guard ever came there to check it out. They were forewarned – it stank like a polecat. For prisoners this space was ideal for exchanging the latest war news with newcomers.”
In the dormitory you can find the uncomfortable, much too narrow bunk beds stacked three beds high, row after row. Prisoners had to sleep on hard slats covered with a thin gunnysack filled with hay. The blanket, if you can call it that, was not sufficient for getting through the cold winter nights. “If you slept on the bottom bunk, tough luck. Not just because of the hay that fluttered down little by little, but also because the prisoners sometimes defecated in their beds.”
In the evening, prisoners received a meagre meal, supplemented by a single chunk of bread that was supposed to serve as breakfast for the next day.
According to our guide Frans van Rijswijk, “most people ate it immediately. If you hid it beneath your pillow, chances were that it would be stolen.”
During World War II, Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp was the only SS concentration camp outside of Nazi Germany. In total, at least 31,000 people had been imprisoned in the camp between January 1943 and September 1944 for shorter or longer durations. Apart from Jews these included, amongst others, Roma (gypsies), resistance activists and Jehovah’s witnesses. Of these people, 421 children, women and men died in the camp from hunger, disease, and maltreatment; 329 prisoners were shot just outside the camp.
But for the majority of the prisoners, Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp was an intermediate stop. From here they were transported to other camps, which, in most cases, meant death.
Read the full story at InYourPocket.com
We Need your Help!
Our visit to the Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp does not yet have a sponsor! In return for your sponsorhip, we will take a picture (with your logo if you prefer) of our Scouts at the camp, and we will also record a video on location of our youth thanking you by name. In addition, you will be featured in our "Sponsor Hall of Fame", on our interactive map, and we will publically thank you through our social media channels encouraging the parents of our 100+ youth members to do the same.
All sponsors of our journey will also receive a certificate of thanks signed by all the youth who will be attending the trip.
We Work Hard for Our Donations!
Scouts are not looking for a hand-out, we are looking for the opportunity to work for our donations. As much as we appreciate donations, we also really appreciate the opportunity to provide a service in exachange for the donation. Our adult and youth members are insured by Scouts Canada for service projects, and the onus would NOT be on your business/organization in the unlikely event of injury. We can clean parking lots, shovel snow, rake leaves, clean windows, chop wood, complete light-moderate manual labour, data-processing, painting, customer service, trail maintenance, trash clean-up, web design, photography, graphic design and really anything else you can think of. You will not only be providing a donation to help the youth experience a trip that will literally change the way they look at their place in the world but you will also be providing these same youth with real work experience and life skills.
Sponsor our stop at the Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp
We are seeking a $500 donation to sponsor our trip to the Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp.
Please contact us if you are able to help.
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