Kamp Schoorl

Kamp Schoorl was the first concentration camp in the Netherlands. The camp was built in 1939 as a Dutch army camp.

Among the prisoners were also people from England, Belgium and France.After a few months the French and the Belgian were released. The English prisoners were transferred to a German camp Gleiwitz in September 1940.

The first Jews captured during the razzia (pogrom) of 22 and 23 February 1941 in Amsterdam (Jonas Daniël Meyerplein) were transferred in an army truck to the camp. The group of 425 people only stayed for 4 days after which they are transferred to concentration camp Buchenwald where they again are transferred in June 1941 to concentration camp Mauthausen. Only two of this group survived the war.

For about 1,900 people was the camp 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 not heavy labour and there was enough food.

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. In October 1941 the camp was closed. Some of the prisonars were released, but most of the prisoners were transferred to Kamp Amersfoort. 25 women were directly transported to concentration camp Ravensbrück.

Until the end of the war, militia of the Wehrmacht and the Organisation Todt used the camp as a base.

After the war the camp was used to imprison NSB members and was finally demolished in 1950.

Book
Het Kamp Schoorl is also a name of a Dutch book written by Albert Boer about the internment camp Schoorl.