Natzweiler - Definition and Overview

Camp entrance

Natzweiler-Struthof was a Nazi concentration camp located close to the Alsatian village of Natzwiller (German Natzweiler) in France about 50 km from the city of Strasbourg.

Natzweiler-Struthof was the only concentration camp established by the Nazis on French territory. It was operational between May 21, 1941 until the beginning of September 1944 when the SS evacuated the camp. The camp was liberated by the Americans on November 23, 1944. Its system of subcamps is listed in List of subcamps of Natzweiler-Struthof.

The total number of prisoners reached estimated 40,000 originating from various countries including Poland, the Soviet Union, Netherlands, France, Germany, Norway. The camp was mainly a labour camp but it also held a gas chamber and crematorium. Strenuous work, poor nutrition and mistreatment by the SS guards resulted in an estimated 25,000 deaths. Among those who died here were four women executed together on July 6, 1944. The women were SOE agents Diana Rowden, Vera Leigh, Andrée Borrel and Sonya Olschanezky. Since the female prisoner population in the camp was very small, only seven SS women served in Natzweiler Struthof camp (compared to over 600 SS men), and fifteen in the Natzweiler complex of subcamps. We know the names of all of the seven women who served in the main camp; Maria Aichele, Berta Bommer, Maria Luise Merkle, Elisabeth Peschke, Else Rueck, Kreszenzia Ruf (who served at Natzweiler and Geislingen) and Anna Zengerle, who served as an Aufseherin in Ravensbruck and Natzweiler.***

Between April 9 and May 5 of 1946, the British held a war crimes trial at Wuppertal, Germany for those in charge of Natzweiler-Struthof. The commandant and five others were tried and all of the accused were found guilty of which three were sentenced to death. SOE agent Brian Stonehouse and PAT Line operator Albert Guerisse testified that while being held prisoner there, they had seen the four female SOE agents who were executed.

• • • All of the information on the Natzweiler SS women came from Daniel Patrick Brown's book, "THE CAMP WOMEN The SS AUxiliaries Who Assisted the SS in Running the Concentration Camp System."

Fritz Hartjenstein died in prison before sentence could be carried out. The remaining two death sentences were carried out by hanging, on October 11, 1946. Those tried were:

1. Franz Berg: Death sentence (Executed)
2. Kurt Geigling: 10 Years Imprisonment
3. Fritz Hartjenstein (commandant): Death sentence (Died before sentence was carried out)
4. Josef Muth: 15 Years Imprisonment
5. Peter Straub: Death sentence (Executed)
6. Magnus Wochner: 10 Years Imprisonment