The exhibition repositions KL Natzweiler in the historical context of its creation and looks back at the history and memory of this camp, the only concentration camp to be built on French soil, as well as the fate of those who were deported there.
Konzentrationslager (KL) Natzweiler was officially created on 1st May 1941. Natzweiler is the German version of the French village name of Natzwiller, in the Bas-Rhin department. Located near a vein of granite, the camp’s purpose was to exploit the granite, but also to create a place of terror in this recently annexed area. The first prisoners, from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, arrived at the site on 21 May. These first arrivals, and the thousands who followed, were forced to build the camp and the access roads leading to it and to exploit the granite quarry. In late 1942 but especially starting in 1943, KL Natzweiler began developing a system of subcamps on both the French and German sides of the Rhine to serve the SS and the Nazi war effort. From 1941 to 1945, 52,000 prisoners were detained at Natzweiler and/or its subcamps.
28 panels (85X200cm)
