Kamp Schoorl


Schoorl transit camp, originally a Dutch army camp, was a Nazi concentration camp near the village of Schoorl in the Netherlands.

History

Kamp Schoorl was built in 1939 as a Dutch army camp. The Netherlands became occupied by Nazi Germany in May 1940.
Among the prisoners were also people from 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.
The first Jews captured during the razzia of 22 and 23 February 1941 in Amsterdam were transferred in an army truck to the camp. 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 are transferred to Mauthausen concentration camp. 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.
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 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 and the Organisation Todt used the camp as a base.
After the war the camp was used to imprison members of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands and was finally demolished in 1950.

Book

Het Kamp Schoorl is the title of a book in Dutch by Albert Boer, dealing with the history of camp Schoorl.