National Monument Kamp Amersfoort, located in the middle of the Netherlands, preserves the memory of the suffering that 47,000 prisoners had to endure during WWII. The prisoners in this concentration camp were subjected to an inhumane regime of starvation, abuse, forced labour and executions.
Originally Kamp Amersfoort was a barracks site of the Dutch army. From August 1941, various groups were incarcerated by the Nazis: thousands of resistance fighters, evaders of the Arbeitseinsatz, communists and hostages; approx. 2,500 Jews; approx. 220 American citizens; approx. 120 Jehovahâs Witnesses, and a group of 100 Soviet POWs. An estimated 70 % was transferred to other camps for forced labor, many of which never returned.
In a large underground museum presentation the story is told on the basis of objects, photos, documents and temporary exhibitions, in conjunction with the monuments and visible traces in the large outside area.
Tags: camp detention entrance gate monument museum prison war ww2 wwII
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National Monument Kamp Amersfoort.
De Koedriest Monument (also known as the Russian monument) stands at the site where on 9 April 1942, 77 Soviet soldiers were shot to death. This was the second largest execution in the Netherlands during the Second World War.
The 77 were part of a group of 101 Soviet soldiers who were brought to Kamp Amersfoort on 27 September 1941. The majority hailed from Uzbekistan. It is said that they were chosen for their features, because the Nazis wanted to demonstrate to the Dutch that their Allies in the East were sub humans.
Within half a year of their arrival in the camp 24 of these prisoners of war had died of starvation, disease and abuse. After the war all of these 101 war victims were buried as anonymous Soviet soldiers in Leusden. Their identity was never established.
In 1954 a simple monument was erected at the execution site, replaced on 4 May 1964 with the present memorial. The inscription on the shrine reads, ‘To the glorious sons of the Soviet people who fell in the fight against the German occupying forces in 1941-1945. From a grateful homeland.’ De Koedriest is the name of the forest parcel where the execution took place. Since 2013 the Soviet War Cemetery Foundation holds an annual commemoration at the monument on 9 April. At 06.30 hours, the time the killing started, 77 candles are lit for the 77 executed soldiers.
National Monument Kamp Amersfoort, located in the middle of the Netherlands, preserves the memory of the suffering that 47,000 prisoners had to endure during WWII. The prisoners in this concentration camp were subjected to an inhumane regime of starvation, abuse, forced labour and executions.
Originally Kamp Amersfoort was a barracks site of the Dutch army. From August 1941, various groups were incarcerated by the Nazis: thousands of resistance fighters, evaders of the Arbeitseinsatz, communists and hostages; approx. 2,500 Jews; approx. 220 American citizens; approx. 120 Jehovah’s Witnesses, and a group of 100 Soviet POWs. An estimated 70 % was transferred to other camps for forced labor, many of which never returned.
In a large underground museum presentation the story is told on the basis of objects, photos, documents and temporary exhibitions, in conjunction with the monuments and visible traces in the large outside area.
Tags: camp detention execution forest lunch memorial monument museum prison russian soviet war ww2 wwII Amersfoort Netherlands
© All Rights Reserved
National Monument Kamp Amersfoort, located in the middle of the Netherlands, preserves the memory of the suffering that 47,000 prisoners had to endure during WWII. The prisoners in this concentration camp were subjected to an inhumane regime of starvation, abuse, forced labour and executions.
Originally Kamp Amersfoort was a barracks site of the Dutch army. From August 1941, various groups were incarcerated by the Nazis: thousands of resistance fighters, evaders of the Arbeitseinsatz, communists and hostages; approx. 2,500 Jews; approx. 220 American citizens; approx. 120 Jehovah’s Witnesses, and a group of 100 Soviet POWs. An estimated 70 % was transferred to other camps for forced labor, many of which never returned.
In a large underground museum presentation the story is told on the basis of objects, photos, documents and temporary exhibitions, in conjunction with the monuments and visible traces in the large outside area.
Tags: camp detention monument museum prison war ww2 wwII Amersfoort Netherlands
© All Rights Reserved
National Monument Kamp Amersfoort, located in the middle of the Netherlands, preserves the memory of the suffering that 47,000 prisoners had to endure during WWII. The prisoners in this concentration camp were subjected to an inhumane regime of starvation, abuse, forced labour and executions.
Originally Kamp Amersfoort was a barracks site of the Dutch army. From August 1941, various groups were incarcerated by the Nazis: thousands of resistance fighters, evaders of the Arbeitseinsatz, communists and hostages; approx. 2,500 Jews; approx. 220 American citizens; approx. 120 Jehovah’s Witnesses, and a group of 100 Soviet POWs. An estimated 70 % was transferred to other camps for forced labor, many of which never returned.
In a large underground museum presentation the story is told on the basis of objects, photos, documents and temporary exhibitions, in conjunction with the monuments and visible traces in the large outside area.
Tags: barbed camp detention fence garden monument museum prison punishment rose war wire ww2 wwII Amersfoort Netherlands
© All Rights Reserved
National Monument Kamp Amersfoort, located in the middle of the Netherlands, preserves the memory of the suffering that 47,000 prisoners had to endure during WWII. The prisoners in this concentration camp were subjected to an inhumane regime of starvation, abuse, forced labour and executions.
Originally Kamp Amersfoort was a barracks site of the Dutch army. From August 1941, various groups were incarcerated by the Nazis: thousands of resistance fighters, evaders of the Arbeitseinsatz, communists and hostages; approx. 2,500 Jews; approx. 220 American citizens; approx. 120 Jehovah’s Witnesses, and a group of 100 Soviet POWs. An estimated 70 % was transferred to other camps for forced labor, many of which never returned.
In a large underground museum presentation the story is told on the basis of objects, photos, documents and temporary exhibitions, in conjunction with the monuments and visible traces in the large outside area.
Tags: barbed camp detention fence garden monument museum prison punishment rose war wire ww2 wwII Amersfoort Netherlands
© All Rights Reserved