Hinzert concentration camp Hinzert ( " SS - Sonderlager Hinzert " or " Konzentrationslager / KZ Hinzert " ) was a German concentration camp located in Rhineland - Palatinate , Germany , 30 km from the Luxembourg border . Between 1939 and 1945 , 13 , 600 political prisoners between the ages of 13 and 80 were imprisoned at Hinzert . Many were in transit towards larger concentration camps where most would be killed . However , a significant number of prisoners were executed at Hinzert . The camp was administered , run , and guarded mainly by the SS , who , according to Hinzert survivors , were notorious for their brutality and viciousness . Location and description of the camp . Located on the " Hochwald " plateau , and overlooking the Hunsrück mountain range , the Hinzert concentration camp was named after the nearest village , now called Hinzert - Pölert . At an altitude of 550m , the plateau is exposed to much humidity , wind , strong precipitation , fog and glacial temperatures in winter . The camp was surrounded by a coniferous forest that provided lumber for the camp ' s construction and maintenance . An access road that first bordered the prisoners ' cemetery led to a first area guarded by the SS . This area contained seven huts , a guard post , the camp ' s " Kommandantur " or command post , a garage , workshops , the officers ' mess and two " SS " housing huts . This area was decorated with floral and garden arrangements . Prisoners were kept in another area measuring approximately 200m by 200m , bordered by a 3m high barbed wire fence with watchtowers . The prisoners ' area also contained the camp commander ' s quarters , the clothing workshop , the carpenter ' s area , the quarantine area , the morgue , a disinfection area and the " cloakroom " where the prisoners ' belongings were kept . Prisoners were housed in four huts , each hut containing two rooms that in turn contained 26 bunk beds for a total theoretical capacity of 208 prisoners . Later , straw mattresses were added to increase the total capacity to 560 . Certain rooms were reserved for a particular category of prisoner , such as the Night and Fog prisoners . Three other buildings in the camp contained the local Gestapo offices , the administrative offices and the kitchen . The different areas were located around one central roll call area , the size of which was later reduced as the SS created a neighbouring vegetable garden . A mast stood in the centre of the roll call area bearing loudspeakers through which orders were delivered . Prisoners sometimes had to stand still for hours facing the mast as punishment . The roll call area was also used as a drill and exercise area , where prisoners had to jump up and down at 4 . 30 am to the sound of a drum . History of the camp . The Hinzert concentration camp was first established in 1938 to house workers who were building the West Wall . However , it burnt down on August 16 , 1939 , and was rebuilt in October 1939 as a police detention and re - education camp , or " Polizeihaft - und Erziehungslager des Reichsarbeitsdienst es ( RAD ) " , for prisoners condemned to light sentences ( under 14 days ) and for those workers that had demonstrated what the Nazi regime would call " antisocial behavior " . These workers , many of whom had been brought in by the Bremen Gestapo worked not only on the West Wall , but also on other military infrastructure projects such as air bases in Mannheim and in Mainz . On July 1 , 1940 , the camp was placed under the jurisdiction of the Inspector of Concentration Camps . After the invasion of the Belgium , the Netherlands , Luxembourg and France in 1940 , Hinzert also became a prison camp for political prisoners from those countries who needed to be " re - germanised " or who were placed under " Schutzhaft " . On February 7 , 1942 , command over the camp was transferred to the SS Central Office for Economics and Administration ( WVHA ) . It also then became a camp for the Gestapo of the Luxembourg and Trier area . Until the first Night and Fog prisoners arrived , the camp operated following the organisational structure of other camps , and namely contained a " Kommandantur " , a " Politische Abteilung " or political section , a " detention and security " camp , a medical unit and the guard units . Following the arrival of Night and Fog prisoners , the political section and " detention and security " camp were closed down . Hinzert remained mainly autonomous until November 21 , 1944 , when it was administratively linked to the Buchenwald concentration camp . The camp was partially destroyed by an air raid on February 22 , 1945 , but remained in operation until March 3 of the same year when many of the surviving prisoners were sent on a death march to upper Hessen , others having been transferred to the Buchenwald concentration camp . Camp commanders . On October 9 , 1939 , SS Standartenführer Hermann Pister assumed command over the camp , a position he held until December 1941 when he took over the command of the Buchenwald concentration camp and was replaced by SS Hauptsturmführer Egon Zill . Zill , who had previously served in the Dachau , Buchenwald and Ravensbrück concentration camps , was transferred to the Natzweiler concentration camp in Alsace in April 1942 as the camp ' s Deputy Commandant . He was replaced by the third and last commander of Hinzert , SS Hauptsturmführer Paul Sporrenberg . Camp prisoners . Approximately 13 , 600 prisoners transited through Hinzert . The first prisoners were German workers who had worked on the Siegfried Line and had demonstrated " anti - social behavior " . Shortly afterwards , the camp was used to host forced laborers from occupied countries . Beginning in 1941 , large groups of prisoners were sent to Hinzert , mainly political prisoners from Luxembourg and France . Other prisoners , mainly forced laborers and POWs , were sent from Poland and the Soviet Union . Starting on December 7 , 1941 , when the Night and Fog directive was signed , " NN " prisoners transited through Hinzert on the way to larger concentration camps , such as Natzweiler , Dachau or Buchenwald where they would eventually " disappear " . Many Hinzert prisoners were also used as slave labourers in the surrounding region . 23 " Kommando s " were attached to Hinzert : Farschweiler , Finthen , Fluwig , Gelnhausen , Gusterath , Hermeskeil , Konz , Langendiebach , Mainz , Mariahute 1 and 2 , Neubrucke , Hoppstaden , Nahe , Nonnweiler , Poller t , Primstal , Rheinsfeld 1 and 2 , Wachtersbach and Waechtersbach . These " Kommandos " performed mainly maintenance work in air bases as well as marsh drainage and forestry work . Other internal Kommandos existed within camp grounds : Because of the secrecy concerning their condition , many Night and Fog prisoners were attached to these internal Kommandos . The camp had initially been built to house 560 prisoners but housed an average of 800 prisoners . This number reached 1600 at times . Murders and war crimes . Prisoners of the Hinzert concentration camp were kept under very harsh conditions ; beatings were delivered on a regular basis and torture and execution sessions took place in public in order to establish a climate of constant terror and fear . Although the majority of the Hinzert prisoners were transferred to other camps or were kept imprisoned until their liberation , an important number of prisoners were tortured and murdered at Hinzert . Despite being " only " a transit camp , 321 prisoners were killed at Hinzert . The victimes were often shot , drowned or were killed by lethal injection . Furthermore , according to trial records , SS guards also tortured prisoners , left them to die of sickness or hunger , or fed them to dogs . In 1941 , two trucks transported 70 Soviet POWs to Hinzert . The prisoners were told that they would undergo a medical examination , but were injected with potassium cyanide , a deadly poison , and died shortly thereafter . They were buried in the neighboring forest . Following the 1942 Luxembourgish general strike directed against the German occupier and a new directive that enrolled the Luxembourgish youth into the " Wehrmacht " , 20 strikers were arrested by the Gestapo , sentenced to death and shot between September 2 and 5 , 1942 . They were also buried nearby . In the subsequent years , over 350 Luxembourg resistance fighters were arrested by the Gestapo ; 50 resistants were sentenced to death . Of these 50 sentences , 25 were carried out . However , of the remaining 25 , 23 were subsequently executed as a response to acts of resistance in Luxembourg . The exact number of victims murdered at Hinzert remains unknown . Between 1600 and 1800 Luxembourgers had been sent to Hinzert . The Luxembourg " Conseil National de la Resistance " has confirmed 321 deaths , including 82 Luxembourgers , but not all remains of murdered victims have been found . In 1946 , following the liberation of the camp by the Allies , the remains of many of the aforementioned victims were found and transferred to their respective homelands with full national honors . Those not repatriated were buried on site in a memorial cemetery . The bodies of the Luxembourgish victims were transferred back to Luxembourg on March 9 – 10 , 1946 . All along the way , citizens lined the roads , some wearing the striped uniform of camp prisoners , to pay tribute . The bodies were first laid temporarily at the Place d ' Armes , in the center of the city of Luxembourg , where dignitaries paid their respects , and were then buried in the Notre - Dame cemetery . The French Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation also estimates that approximately 1500 Night and Fog prisoners were sent to Hinzert ; 390 survived and returned to France and at least 804 died . Memorial . A bronze monument by the Luxembourgish sculptor Lucien Wercollier honors the prisoners and those murdered at the camp . On December 10 , 2005 , a memorial and documentation center was opened on the site of the former concentration camp . Designed by the architect firm Wandel Hoefer Lorch & Hirsch , the steel modern building houses a permanent exhibition of camp artefacts , photos and explanation notes . < div style = " clear : right " / >