Camp Vught
On November 26, 1944, Fourth Division’s Headquarters Squadron moved to the village of Vught. It was not important militarily, but its name had taken on a sinister meaning to the Dutch. The Germans had made Vught the site of a major concentration camp. It was part of the extensive Nazi network of concentration camps, thousands from France to Russia.
Prisoners were sent to the camp in Vught starting late in 1942, and in little more than a year and a half, thirty thousand people passed through its gates. Hundreds died during the first few months due to mistreatment, many Jewish children among them.
The camp was divided into two sections, one part holding Jewish prisoners prior to their being transported to the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Sobibor in Poland, the other section for Belgian and Dutch political prisoners. Starvation and disease were a way of life there, made worse by the routinely brutal beatings and tortures, vicious dog attacks, hangings, and shootings by the SS guards. The only SS camp outside Germany, more than 31,000 people were held there, 12,000 were Jews, the remainder including political prisoners, resistance fighters, Roma, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Altogether, 749 people lost their lives while at Camp Vught. Almost half were members of the Dutch resistance, executed in the nearby woods outside the camp. Of the Jewish population who arrived there, most died either at Vught or later while captive in another concentration camp.
The camp was liberated by troops of the Fourth Armoured Division on October 26, 1944, when the 96th Anti-Tank Battery, part of the Fourth’s 5th Anti-tank Regiment arrived . The liberation was recalled by one of the camp’s survivors (cited at http://www.jewishgen.org/ForgottenCamps/Camps/VughtEngl.html):
“(T)he Canadians troops came over the hill right up to the wall fighting the Germans. The Germans were evacuating from the camp and left a rear guard action to fight the allies. They were fighting and running at the same time. As you entered the camp into a courtyard there were 500 bodies laying in a pile and these poor people were just executed that morning. They were just thrown in a pile. There were around 500–600 live prisoners left who had been set up for execution that afternoon, but the Canadians arrived instead so they were spared. The people were in the most horrible condition, starving to death, ill, and very badly mistreated. When the Canadians arrived they were standing around in the courtyard. Not in any barracks just standing around while the fighting was going on.”
Prisoners were sent to the camp in Vught starting late in 1942, and in little more than a year and a half, thirty thousand people passed through its gates. Hundreds died during the first few months due to mistreatment, many Jewish children among them.
The camp was divided into two sections, one part holding Jewish prisoners prior to their being transported to the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Sobibor in Poland, the other section for Belgian and Dutch political prisoners. Starvation and disease were a way of life there, made worse by the routinely brutal beatings and tortures, vicious dog attacks, hangings, and shootings by the SS guards. The only SS camp outside Germany, more than 31,000 people were held there, 12,000 were Jews, the remainder including political prisoners, resistance fighters, Roma, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Altogether, 749 people lost their lives while at Camp Vught. Almost half were members of the Dutch resistance, executed in the nearby woods outside the camp. Of the Jewish population who arrived there, most died either at Vught or later while captive in another concentration camp.
The camp was liberated by troops of the Fourth Armoured Division on October 26, 1944, when the 96th Anti-Tank Battery, part of the Fourth’s 5th Anti-tank Regiment arrived . The liberation was recalled by one of the camp’s survivors (cited at http://www.jewishgen.org/ForgottenCamps/Camps/VughtEngl.html):
“(T)he Canadians troops came over the hill right up to the wall fighting the Germans. The Germans were evacuating from the camp and left a rear guard action to fight the allies. They were fighting and running at the same time. As you entered the camp into a courtyard there were 500 bodies laying in a pile and these poor people were just executed that morning. They were just thrown in a pile. There were around 500–600 live prisoners left who had been set up for execution that afternoon, but the Canadians arrived instead so they were spared. The people were in the most horrible condition, starving to death, ill, and very badly mistreated. When the Canadians arrived they were standing around in the courtyard. Not in any barracks just standing around while the fighting was going on.”
