Footsteps of WWII · Paris, Champagne & Alsace
Natzweiler-Struthof
Camp memorial · May 1941–Nov 1944
The story
The SS opened Natzweiler-Struthof on 1 May 1941 at 800 metres in the Vosges, beside a quarry, in Alsace annexed by Germany. About 52,000 prisoners of 32 nationalities passed through it and its subcamps, many of them Nacht und Nebel prisoners from resistance movements. In 1943, 86 Jewish people selected at Auschwitz were gassed here for August Hirt's skeleton collection at Strasbourg university. On 6 July 1944 four British SOE agents, Andrée Borrel, Vera Leigh, Diana Rowden and Sonya Olschanezky, were executed. The camp was evacuated in early September 1944 and found by the French First Army on 23 November.
What to look for
Terraces of the camp descend the hillside inside barbed wire, with the gallows, the crematorium and cell block, and a museum barrack. Above stand the national necropolis and the tall memorial to the deported. The European Centre of Deported Resistance Members is at the entrance; the gas chamber lies about 2 km down the road.
Plan your visit
The official site currently warns that access to the camp may be partly closed after weather damage, while the European Centre and museum barrack stay open. Hours and prices for 2026 were not available; check the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
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Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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