Herzogenbusch concentration camp Herzogenbusch concentration camp ( ) ( , ) was a Nazi concentration camp located in Vught near the city of ' s - Hertogenbosch , Netherlands . Herzogenbusch was , with Natzweiler - Struthof in occupied France , the only concentration camp run directly by the SS in western Europe outside of Germany . The camp was first used in 1943 and held 31 , 000 prisoners . 749 prisoners died in the camp , and the others were transferred to other camps shortly before the camp was liberated by the Allied Forces in 1944 . After the war the camp was used as a prison for Germans and Dutch Collaborators . Today there is a visitors ' center with exhibitions and a national monument remembering the camp and its victims . History . During World War II , Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands ( 1940 – 1945 ) . The Nazis transported Jewish and other prisoners from the Netherlands via the transit camps Amersfoort and Westerbork to concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Bergen - Belsen . When Amersfoort and Westerbork appeared to be too small to handle the large amount of prisoners , the Schutzstaffel ( SS ) decided to build a concentration camp in Vught near the city of ' s - Hertogenbosch . The building of the camp at Herzogenbusch , the German name for ' s - Hertogenbosch , started in 1942 . The camp was modelled on concentration camps in Germany . The first prisoners , who arrived in 1943 , had to finish the construction of the camp ; it was used from January 1943 until September 1944 . During this period , it held nearly 31 , 000 prisoners : Jews , political prisoners , resistance fighters , Gypsies , Jehovah ’ s Witnesses , homosexuals , homeless people , black market traders , criminals , and hostages . Due to hunger , sickness , and abuse , at least 749 men , women and children died there . Of these , 329 were murdered at an execution site just outside the camp . When allied forces were approaching Herzogenbusch , the camp was evacuated and the prisoners were transferred to concentration camps further east . When the camp was liberated in September 1944 , by the 4th Canadian Armored Division and the 96th Battery of the 5th Anti - Tank Division , the camp was almost deserted . In the first years after the war , the camp was used for the detention of Germans , Dutch SS men , alleged collaborators and their children , and war criminals . At first , they were guarded by allied soldiers , but shortly after by the Dutch . Diary of David Koker . A Jewish student , David Koker ( b . 1921 ) , lived with his family in Amsterdam until he was captured on the night of 11 February 1943 and transported to Vught camp . During his internment he wrote a diary , which was smuggled out of the camp in parts ; it is now complete and conserved . It records events from 11 February 1943 until 8 February 1944 . David wrote poems in his diary and taught Jewish children in the camp . On 2 June 1944 he and his family were transported by train to Auschwitz - Birkenau . David got the chance to throw a letter from the train . The family was later tranported to the Groß - Rosen camp ( Langenbielau ) . David ' s mother and brother Max survived the war , but David died during a transport of sick people to Dachau in 1945 . Diary of Helga Deen . Helga Deen ( Stettin , Germany , 6 April 1925 – Sobibor , 16 July 1943 ) was the author of a diary , discovered in 2004 , which describes her stay in a Dutch prison camp , " Kamp Vught " , where she was brought during World War II at the age of 18 . After her last diary entry , in early July 1943 , Helga Deen was deported to Sobibór extermination camp and murdered . She was 18 years old . Commanders . Karl Chmielewski . The first commander of Herzogenbusch was 39 - year - old Karl Chmielewski . During the first few months , the camp was poorly run : prisoners didn ' t receive meals , the sick were barely treated , and the quality of drinking water was very low . Subsequently , many died during Chmielewski ’ s reign . He was sacked in 1943 for stealing from the camp on a large scale . In 1961 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the concentration camps . Adam Grünewald . The second commander was 40 - year - old Adam Grünewald . Immediately after assuming command over the camp , he set very strict rules . In January 1944 he ordered that a group of female prisoners was to be put into one cell . This resulted in what has become known as the Bunker Tragedy : twelve of the women packed into the cell died during the night . His superiors , unhappy that this tragedy was leaked to the press , brought him before an SS judge and he was sent to the Russian front as a common soldier . He was killed in battle in 1945 . Hans Hüttig . The last commander of Herzogenbusch was 50 - year - old Hans Hüttig . He fought during the First World War and was already a member of the Nazi party in 1933 . The SS leadership was satisfied with his performance . Under his leadership , at least 329 men were executed . Current state . The execution site near the camp is now a national monument , with a wall bearing the names of all those who died there . The wall has suffered numerous acts of vandalism : Swastikas were drawn on the wall , using tar , which has seeped into the stone and is impossible to remove . The camp was partially demolished after the war . The grounds now house an educational museum about the camp ( known in Dutch as " Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught " ) , a Dutch military base called Van Brederodekazerne , a neighbourhood of Maluku refugees , and a high security prison called Nieuw Vosseveld . Still , parts of the old camp remain . Central to the prison , the Bunker Tragedy bunker still stands . Large parts of the southern camp buildings are now used by the Dutch military , including the former SS Barracks that is shaped like a German cross .