Entrance to Natzweiler-Struthof
The entrance to the former concentration
camp at Natzweiler-Struthof in Alsace is shown on the right in
the photo above; in the background on the left is the small building
where one must buy a ticket to visit the camp. Parking space
is available in the area between the ticket building and the
entrance. The camp is wheelchair accessible, but good brakes
are needed, as it is built on a hillside.
The Memorial site is open daily from
9 a.m. to noon and from 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. between March and
June; It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in July and August and
from 10 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. between September
and December. The camp is closed in January and February. Visitors
are not allowed to remain in the former camp during the 2-hour
lunch period except during July and August. The closest restaurant
is in the village of Natzwiller, which is a few miles down a
narrow road with a lot of switchbacks and hairpin curves.
The photo below shows another view of
the entrance to the former camp, with the monument called Memorial
to Deportation in the background. The monument was designed to
represent a flame, which is evocative of the flames emitted from
the crematorium chimney as the bodies of the dead French resistance
heroes were burned.
The simple wooden gate into the camp,
as shown in the photo below, indicates that this was a small
camp intended for the incarceration of German criminals and Resistance
fighter who were sent here initially to work in the nearby granite
quarries.
The latch on the entrance gate, shown
in the photo above, caught my eye because there is one just like
it at Mauthausen, a concentration camp in Austria where prisoners
were also sent to work in a granite quarry.
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