Natzweiler-Struthof

Natzweiler-Struthof was a German-run concentration camp located in the Vosges Mountains close to the Alsatian village of Natzwiller (German Natzweiler) in France, and the town of Schirmeck, about 50 km (31 m) southwest of the city of Strasbourg. Natzweiler-Struthof was the only concentration camp established by the Nazis on French territory.

A young member of the French resistance examines boots, shoes, and wooden clogs piled near a furnace in the crematorium 

Between 1941 and 1944, Alsace was administered by Germany as an integral part of the German Reich. The camp operated from 21 May 1941 and was evacuated early in September 1944. Only a small staff of Nazi SS personnel remained until the camp was liberated by the French First Army (members of the Resistance and the FFI) under the command of the U.S. Sixth Army Group on 23 November 1944.

Members of the French resistance inspect the crematorium furnace in Natzweiler-Struthof.

About 52,000 prisoners were estimated to be held there during its time of operation. The prisoners were mainly from the resistance movements in German-occupied territories. It was a labour camp, a transit camp and, as the war went on, a place of execution. Some died from the exertions of their labour and malnutrition. There were an estimated 22,000 deaths at the camp, including its network of subcamps.

A member of the French resistance examines urns used to bury prisoners' cremated remains in Natzweiler-Struthof

The camp is preserved as a museum in memory of those held or killed there. The European Centre of Deported Resistance Members is located at this museum, focusing on those held. The Monument to the Departed stands at the site. The present museum was restored in 1980 after damage by neo-Nazis in 1976. Among notable prisoners, the writer Boris Pahor was interned in Natzweiler-Struthof and wrote his novel Necropolis based on his experience.