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Camps in Holland - Camp Schoorl


Inmates exercising in front of the barracks at Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Schoorl. Initially this camp was an internment camp for French, Belgium, and English nationals.

       The conquering Germans interned all male British, French, and Belgium citizens from age 16 and up who found themselves trapped behind enemy lines after the war in the Netherlands was decided in favor of the Nazis. These unfortunate people were incarcerated in a few former military barracks at Schoorl, a camp that had been used by a Dutch infantry regiment just prior to the outbreak of the war. Shortly after the Dutch army was defeated that same camp was briefly used by a unit of the Wehrmacht - German Army. It was not long after that, the all French and Belgian citizens were released and sent home. Later, British teens, aged 16 to 18, were released also. It is not clear what happened to them. The older British citizens were transferred to a civil German internment camp in Tost near Gleiwitz. When war was declared between the USA and Germany, also American citizens who had worked and resided in the Netherlands were sent to Gleiwitz. But not until after they had first spent some time in the Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Amersfoort - police controlled transit camp Amersfoort.

 

 

Arnold Schmidt

 Johann Stöver

Karl Peter Berg 


       It is probable that Schoorl initially was called Internierungslager - interment camp Schoorl. It fell under the supervision of the Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienst - Commander of the Secret Police and Secret Service. The first commandant was SS-Untersturmführer - Subaltern in the SS, Arnold Schmidt. Very likely he was in Schoorl only a short while. Perhaps during the period that Allied people were interned there. Very little if any is known about him. NIOD has no information on him. The second commandant was SS-Untersturmführer - Subaltern in the SS, Johann Stöver. He became commandant as of December 1940. The exact date is not known. He was replaced by SS-Untersturmführer - Subaltern in the SS, Karl Peter Berg in August of 1941. He had been second in command to Stöver. Berg was cruel man who beat his prisoners, mostly Jews and communists. He showed his true nature in camp Amersfoort after he was transferred there following the closure of camp Schoorl. I believe Schoorl was referred to as Polizeiliches Durchgangslager - Police controlled transit camp Schoorl from this time forth. A more suitable name would have been Internment or Concentration Camp Schoorl. The camp was closed toward the end of October 1941. In the short time between the camp's inauguration and the date it was closed, not counting the earlier mentioned interned foreigners, the camp held a total of about nineteen hundred prisoners.

 

Rollcall for female inmates in Schoorl

Around the middle of August 1941, 450 prisoners were transfer- red to Camp Amersfoort. Among the total of nineteen hundred in- mates were approximately 25 women. Most had been active members in the Dutch Communist Party. These women were transferred to the notorious women's camp called, KL Ravensbrück. Lagerkommandant - camp commandant Berg remarked to one of the women being transferred, "Over there it is not as pleasant as it was here." To be sure, Schoorl was not a pleasant camp at all, but the evil Commandant Berg must have had information with regard to Ravensbrück that the latter was a worse place than Schoorl had ever been. History would reveal just how evil that Nazi concentration camp really was.



       Jews and Communists who were locked up in Camp Schoorl endured hardship at the hands of Berg. He took delight in vexing and mistreating them and occasionally he handed out exhausting punishment as can be seen in the picture at the top. Yet, it is a known fact that no one ever perished in Schoorl as a result of harsh treatment or execution. Berg, after Schoorl had closed its doors in the Fall of 1941, was transferred to Amersfoort in March of 1942. He was promoted to commandant of Amersfoort one year after his arrival. There he turned into a cruel and unpredictable Nazi brute who was responsible for much of the suffering endured by the prisoners.