Hinzert concentration camp

Hinzert ("SS-Sonderlager Hinzert" or "Konzentrationslager/KZ Hinzert") was a Nazi concentration camp located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, 30km away from the Luxembourg border.

Between 1939 and 1945, 13,600 political prisoners between the ages of 13 and 80 were imprisoned at Hinzert. Many were in transit towards larger concentration camps where most would be killed. However, a significant number of prisoners were executed at Hinzert. The camp was administered, run, and guarded mainly by the SS, who were notorious for their brutality and viciousness, according to Hinzert survivors.

History of the camp

The Hinzert camp was first established in 1938 to house workers who were building the West Wall. However, it was burnt down on August 16, 1939, and rebuilt in October 1939 as a police and re-education camp, or "Polizeihaft- und Erziehungslager des Reichsarbeitsdienstes (RAD)", for those workers that had demonstrated what the Nazi regime would call "antisocial behavior".cite web | title = Hinzert: rapatriement des morts luxembourgeois en 1946 | publisher = Centre National de l'Audiovisuel| url = http://www.cna.public.lu/1_FILM/1_2_Tous_les_films/HINZERT/index.html | accessdate = 2007-04-25 ]

On July 1st, 1940, the camp was placed under the jurisdiction of the Inspector of Concentration Camps. On February 7, 1942, command over the camp was transferred to the SS Central Office for Economics and Administration (WVHA). The camp remained mainly autonomous until November 21, 1944, when it was administratively linked to the Buchenwald concentration camp. The camp was partially destroyed by an air raid on February 22, 1945, but remained in operation until March of the same year when most of the surviving prisoners were transferred to Buchenwald.

From 1942 to 1945, the camp was also a camp for the Gestapo of the Luxembourg and Trier area.cite web | title = Hinzert | publisher = Centre Regional Resistance et Liberte | url = http://www.crrl.com.fr/Ressources/Camps/hinzert.htm | accessdate = 2007-04-24 ]

Camp commanders

On October 9, 1939, Hermann Pister assumed command over the camp, a position he held until December 1941, when Egon Zill took over the command. Zill was transferred to the Natzweiler concentration camp in Alsace in April 1942 as the camp's Deputy Commandant. He was replaced by the third and last commander of Hinzert, Paul Sporrenberg.

Camp prisoners

It is estimated that approximately 13,600 prisoners transited through Hinzert. The first prisoners were German workers who had worked on the Siegfried Line and had demonstrated "anti-social behavior"cite book | last = Welter | first = Beate | title = Blaetter Zum Land: The Memorial Site of the SS Special Camp/Concentration Camp Hinzert | publisher = Federal State Central Authority for Political Education Rhineland-Palatinate (Die Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Rheinland-Pfalz) | date = 2006 | url=http://www.politische-bildung-rlp.de/fileadmin/download/Hinzert-e.pdf ] . Shortly afterwards, the camp was used to host forced laborers from occupied countries. Beginning in 1941, large groups of prisoners were sent to Hinzert, mainly political prisoners from Luxembourg and France. Other prisoners, mainly forced laborers and POWs, were sent from Poland and the Soviet Union. Starting on December 7, 1941, when the Night and Fog directive was signed, "NN" prisoners transited through Hinzert on the way to larger concentration camps where they would eventually "disappear."

Murders and war crimes

Although the majority of the Hinzert prisoners were transferred to other camps or were kept imprisoned until their liberation, a number of prisoners were tortured and murdered at Hinzert. According to trial records, SS guards tortured and executed prisoners, or left them to die of sickness.

;Murder of Soviet POWs: In 1941, two trucks transported 70 Soviet POWs to Hinzert. The prisoners were told that they would undergo a medical examination, but were injected with potassium cyanide, a deadly poison, and died shortly thereafter. They were buried in the neighboring forest.

;Murder of Luxembourg strikers: Following the Luxembourgian general strike of 1942 directed against the German occupier and a new directive that enrolled the Luxembourg youth into the "Wehrmacht", 20 strikers were arrested by the Gestapo, sentenced to death and shot between September 2 and 5, 1942. They were also buried nearby.

;Murder of Luxembourg resistants: In the subsequent years, over 350 Luxembourg resistance fighters were arrested by the Gestapo; 50 resistants were sentenced to death. Of these 50 sentences, 25 were carried out. However, of the remaining 25, 23 were subsequently executed as a response to acts of resistance in Luxembourg.

The exact number of victims murdered at Hinzert remains unknown. The Luxembourg "Conseil National de la Resistance" has confirmed 321 deaths, but not all remains of murdered victims have been found. In 1946, following the liberation of the camp by the Allies, the remains of many of the aforementioned victims were found and transferred to their respective homelands with full national honors.

The bodies of the Luxembourgian victims were transferred back to Luxembourg on March 9, 1946. All along the way, citizens lined the roads, some wearing the striped uniform of camp prisoners, to pay tribute. The bodies were first laid temporarily at the Place d'Armes, in the center of the city of Luxembourg, where dignitaries paid their respects, and were then buried in the Notre-Dame cemetery.

Memorial

On December 10, 2005, a memorial and documentation center was opened on the site of the former concentration camp. Designed by the architect firm Wandel Hoefer Lorch & Hirsch, the steel modern building houses a permanent exhibition of camp artefacts, photos and explanation notes.

References

4 : Vienne-Résistance-Internement-Déportation : VRID [http://www.vrid-memorial.com/recherche.php3?recherche=hinzert&x=18&y=11]

ee also

* List of Nazi-German concentration camps