Schoorl transit camp ( nl, Kamp Schoorl, german: Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Schoorl), originally a Dutch

army camp A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent military base, for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large ca ...

(1939–1940), was a Nazi concentration camp (1940–1941) near the village of

Schoorl Schoorl is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Bergen, and lies about 8 km northwest of Alkmaar. Until 2001, Schoorl was also a municipality of its own. Schoorl is a village in between the p ...

in the Netherlands.

History

''Kamp Schoorl'' was built in 1939 as a Dutch army camp.

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

the Netherlands from May 1940 until May 1945. Oorlogsmonument Kamp Schoorl

Among the prisoners were people from The Netherlands, England, Belgium and France. After a few months the French and the Belgians were released. In September 1940 the English prisoners were transferred to a German camp in the Polish town of

Toszek Toszek (german: Tost) is a small town in southern Poland. It is situated within Gliwice County in the Silesian Voivodeship (province), and its population was estimated at 3,600 inhabitants in 2019. History The beginning of the settlement and fo ...

. The first Jews captured during the razzia (pogrom) of 22 and 23 February 1941 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

() were transferred to the camp in an army truck. The group of 425 people only stayed for four days after which they were transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp where in June 1941 they were again transferred to

Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 further ...

. Only two of this group survived the war. For about 1,900 people the camp was their first camp before being transferred to other camps. More than 1,000 of them never returned, mainly Jews and political prisoners. The regime in the camp was mild compared to the other Dutch camps. There was no heavy labour and there was enough food. In October 1941 the camp was closed by the Germans because the camp was too small and located between the dunes. It was not easy to enlarge it. Some of the prisoners were released, but most were transferred to Kamp Amersfoort, and 25 women were transported directly to Ravensbrück concentration camp. Until the end of the war, militia of the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

and the

Organisation Todt Organisation Todt (OT; ) was a civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi. The organisation was responsible for a huge range of engineering pr ...

used the camp as a base. After the war the camp was used to imprison members of the

National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands ( nl, Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland, ; NSB) was a Dutch fascist and later Nazi political party that called itself a " movement". As a parliamentary party participating in legisl ...

(NSB) and was finally demolished in 1950.

Commanders

The first commander was '' SS-

Untersturmführer (, ; short: ''Ustuf'') was a paramilitary rank of the German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of ''Sturmführer'' which had existed since the founding of the SA in 1921. ...

'' Arnold Schmidt. He was succeeded by ''SS-Untersturmführer''

Johann Friedrich Stöver Johann Friedrich (Hans) Stöver ( Bremen, German Empire, 9 August 1899 - Bremen, Germany 1981) was a German camp commander. During World War II Stöver was '' SS-Schutzhaftlagerführer I'' in Kamp Amersfoort concentration camp. He was second i ...

. ''SS-Untersturmführer'' Karl Peter Berg was camp commander from June 1941 until its closure in October 1941.

Book

''Het Kamp Schoorl'' is the title of a book in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

by Albert Boer, dealing with the history of Kamp Schoorl.

References

External links

* {{The Holocaust 1939 establishments in the Netherlands Bergen, North Holland Nazi concentration camps in the Netherlands World War II memoirs Buildings and structures demolished in 1950