The route in and around Vught serves to remind us of many life-changing events during the Second World War. One of the blackest pages in local history was the construction of Camp Vught, an SS concentration camp. Many tens of thousands of Dutch people have been detained here. More than 12,000 Jews were taken from Camp Vught to the extermination camps in the east. The stories, monuments and museums on this route serve to remind us of the darkness of war and the importance of peace and freedom.&nbsp;

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Cycling Liberation Route Vught

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Liberation Route Vught

After the battle in Normandy, the Canadian Army faced not only an increasing lack of discipline, but also increasing criminality among its soldiers. The daily stress to survive and the deaths of their comrades, caused problematic behaviour and often resulted in crimes. This included murder, manslaughter, and also rape, serious beatings, and looting and theft of civilian property. Drunk driving also caused traffic accidents, fatal or otherwise.The Canadian military penal system distinguished between short and long term (more than two years) punishments for the offenders. For the latter, confinement in a special penal prison followed. These severely punished people were not imprisoned all day, but had to perform work within the walls of a penal prison under strict supervision and discipline.In late November 1944, the British management of the military penal prisons in Aalst and Lebbeke signalled to the Canadian Army command that these locations were becoming overcrowded. For the few hundred Canadian long-term prisoners, the army command had to come up with its own solution. They found it in the partially empty barracks of the former concentration camp in Vught. After the liberation of the camp, it was set up as a punishment camp for so-called 'wrong' Dutch and German inhabitants of the Rhineland, who had to leave their living environment and needed shelter.From mid-December, the first hundreds of Canadian prisoners arrived in Vught. The Canadian section of the former concentration camp was named 1st Canadian Field Punishment Camp. The number of long-sentenced prisoners increased rapidly in the months that followed because, unfortunately, the crimes started to focus more and more on the Dutch population. On 5 May 1945, there were about 750 Canadian long-term prisoners in Vught, with dozens of pending criminal cases for serious crimes.&nbsp;In the summer of 1945, the 1st Canadian Army allowed the first units to leave for the homeland. The penal camp in Vught was also disbanded and the entire occupation, including the guard unit, embarked for the return trip to Canada. The prisoners had to serve their further sentences there.

The dark side of the Canadian liberators

At a stone’s throw, the German Generaloberst (colonel general) Kurt Student also stares at the scene in amazement. From the balcony of Huize Bergen, he watches the transport planes with their connected gliders pass by. They carry English and American airborne troops, who are making a daring raid on the bridges at Nijmegen and Arnhem. But “Market-Garden”, as the operation is called, fails, and the middle and the west of Brabant have to wait for liberation for another month and a half.&nbsp;On 26 October 1944, Scottish troops from the Black Watch and the English tanks of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry move into Vught. In a combined attack they come from the direction of Halder, and a little later also from the direction of Boxtel. As a result, a relieved inhabitant of Vught can write in his diary: “Tommies bij de toren!” (“Tommies at the tower!”) One day later, the Scots are at the gate of the abandoned camp Vught, the first SS concentration camp in Western Europe to fall into Allied hands.&nbsp;

Tommies at the tower

On September 5 and 6, the Germans had already evacuated the 'Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch' in the Vught. This is the only SS camp outside Nazi Germany, where between January 1943 and September 1944, over 31,000 people were detained, including 12,000 Jews, political prisoners, resistance fighters, Jehovah's Witnesses, hostages, criminals and so-called 'a-socials', vagrants and black marketeers. In the months prior to the evacuation, the SS executed 329 prisoners.Despite persistent rumours the Allies are coming, there will be more than a month of shelling, anxious nights in shelters and fierce battles before Vught is finally liberated on October 26, 1944.

Air Armada above Vught

In the permanent exhibition 'Camp Vught: seven seasons and 32,000 stories', visitors can explore the history of the Camp through personal stories and objects relating to people from up to 36 different nationalities. Special attention is paid to the roles people were forced, or not, to assume: that of victim, perpetrator, bystander and helper.Outside, there are reconstructions and a stone model showing all the Camp's buildings at that time. The reconstructed barracks show how prisoners lived in Camp Vught, and covers half the original size: a sleeping area with 240 bunk beds, a living area, a toilet and washroom. Every hundred metres there was a watchtower with guards wielding machine guns and floodlights.At the edge of the compound is the children's memorial on which are written the names of the children murdered in Sobibor extermination camp, located in occupied Poland in June 1943. Research shows that at least 1,296 children were involved, and were gassed, along with one or both parents, after their arrival, making a total of 3,014 people killed.Digital card indexBy entering their own data (age, gender and province), visitors can 'meet' a prisoner with a similar background, meanwhile on the wall, the dates, numbers and types of prisoners are projected continuously. Thus, the number of 32,000 prisoners gives way to 32,000 stories: people like you and me. This section is further complemented by dates, biographies and photos of prisoners.ReflectionFinally, visitors enter the here and now, in a space with several short films. First, some 'third-generation' portraits: how does the war live on in families? After this, three semicircles invite visitors to watch the other films quietly, with iconic photos of brave people as well as portraits of everyday people faced with different choices. The last film shows three fictional scenes, in which the characters are victims, perpetrators or bystanders - or are they?<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tBPAN1iRXtg?showinfo=0" frameborder="0" class="ql-video"></iframe><div data-youtube-video=""><iframe class="video" width="640" height="480" allowfullscreen="false" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/blBqptlnXMw" start="0"></iframe></div>

The Camp Vught National Memorial (Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught ) is located on part of the former SS camp Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch, also known as Camp Vught (January 1943 – September 1944).

The combined memorial centre and museum features various exhibitions, a memorial room and wall of reflection. The museum is spread out over several buildings and outdoor areas. A model of the camp, made of natural stone, shows the extensive size of the camp and the many buildings it included. The watchtowers, which were built a hundred meters apart, have been reconstructed. The barracks, rebuilt at half their original size, show how the prisoners lived. The Children’s Memorial lists the names and ages of the 1,269 Jewish children who were deported in June 1943. There is also a crematorium, where the bodies of prisoners who died or were executed at the camp were burned. The Execution Area is located in the woods, at about a 15-minute walk from the museum. A memorial has been erected here that displays the names of the 329 prisoners who were executed at this site.

Liberation Route Vught

Photos

Sites et histoires le long de la route

The dark side of the Canadian liberators

Tommies at the tower

Air Armada above Vught

Camp Vught National Memorial