LOCATION
STATISTICS
STAFF & COMMANDANTS
PICTURES
LINKS
If it is true that evil and beauty may often abide together, then Natzweiler, situated in a scenic resort area on the border
of France and Germany, though small, was one of the cruelest and most barbaric lagers of all. Near the Baden
Province of Germany but also the Capital of Alsace in France about 31 minutes sout of Strasborg, Natzweiler was adeptly
hidden in steep mountains. Established as a lager in April of 1941, it had the distinction of housing large
numbers of Nacht Und Nebel prisoners and resistance/partisan prisoners from France, Belgium
Holland, and Norway. The isolation of the camps served many sinister purposes.While many prisoners were used by the D.E.S.T (SS Materials Company); in abusive and fatal slave labor in the granite quarry nearby, Natzweiler bears an even more sinister distinction of bizarre medical experiments and preparations. The infamous 'skeletal studies' by Dr. A. Hirt, took place there in which prisoners obtained from Auschwitz were selected for 'notability' of their skeletal structure, then taken live and killed at Natzweiler in order to prepare Anatomical Study Skeletons for use in the University of Strasborg. (Eichmann details this in Israeli Police interviews). Other 'experiments' include gassing studies, investigating death timings, typhus injections, and epidemic jaundice, induced in prisoners and then experimented on. Many gypsies were used as victims. Natzweiler like Stutthof and Auschwitz covered alot of its cruelty disguising it as investigations into Racial Science, or Eugenics.
A massive evacuation of the camp occurred in September of '44 and Liberation came by the French army on 11-23-44. Over the years, 40,000 came through the doors, of which 25-30% were exterminated. During the war years, little was known about Natzweiler, and until the confirmation of Eichmann, few could comprehend the depths of horror which occurred there.
1 "Natzweiler", USHMM Learning Center/Archives. 2 "Natzweiler", edwardvictor.com:Concentration Camps 3 "Natzweiler", Jewish Gen: Forgotten Camps: natzweiler4 Lordahl, E. German Concentration Camps 1933-45: History & Inmate Mail 5 The Israeli Police Archives: interrogation of Eichmann.