Natzweiler-Struthof Camp

Holocaust · Prisoners · Victims · Alsace · France · Germany

By Peter Landé

The Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp (called Natzweiler for short), the only camp built by the Nazis on French soil, is one of the least known camps.  Located initially in Schirmeck near Natzweiler, about 50 kilometers south of Strassburg in Alsace, it was established in 1940 as a forced labor camp, primarily for local opponents of the German occupation.  Late in 1941, the SS moved in and established a camp in Natzweiler to mine a nearby granite quarry.  Gradually other sub-camps were established but the total number of prisoners remained small until late 1942.  However, by 1943 the scope of the camp was expanded into southwest Germany and dozens of small sub-camps were established.

At its peak it probably held 19,000 prisoners and a total of 46,000 prisoners were registered as prisoners at some time or other until its evacuation in September 1944.  As Allied troops approached, many of the prisoners were forced on marches eastward, during which many died.

Initially Natzweiler held few Jews, but in 1944 larger numbers arrived there, transferred from Auschwitz and other East European camps.

The following is a list of subcamps of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp, and work kommandos from the main camp.  These subordinated camps were located on both sides of the German-French border.

By the fall of 1944, there were about 7,000 prisoners in the main camp and more than 20,000 in subcamps.

With the approach of Allied forces in September 1944, the main camp at Natzweiler-Struthof was evacuated and the prisoners distributed among the subcamps.  In March 1945, the Germans disbanded the subcamps and sent most of the prisoners on death marches -- forced marches over long distances and under brutal conditions -- toward the Dachau concentration camp in southern Germany.  From May 1941 to March 1945, more than 17,000 people died in the Natzweiler-Struthof camp system.

A great deal of additional information about Natzweiler-Struthof is available at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) site and on the Internet.

This database includes 33,710 records.  The fields of the database are as follows:

This collection was taken from a collection held at the United States National Archives (NARA) in College Park, Maryland (A3355/2/1 - A3355/3/7).  Irving Horn, now deceased, was the NARA volunteer who compiled the list, a copy of which was provided to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), which donated it to JewishGen, Inc.

In addition, thanks to JewishGen Inc. for providing the website and database expertise to make this database accessible.  Special thanks to Warren Blatt and Michael Tobias for their continued contributions to Jewish genealogy.  Particular thanks to the Research Division headed by Joyce Field and to Nolan Altman, coordinator of Holocaust files.

Nolan Altman
February 2008

This database is searchable via JewishGen's Holocaust Database.

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