Prisoners from Benelux and Skandinavia

Prisoners from the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg

Around 6,600 people from the Netherlands were imprisoned in Neuengamme, about 250 of them women. Another 5,000 Neuengamme prisoners were deported here from Belgium, around 150 of them women. There also were around 50 male prisoners from Luxemburg. Most of them had been arrested for political reasons, particularly for “anti-German behavior”, refusal to obey orders from the German occupying authorities, or active resistance. Attempts to escape forced labor in Germany could also lead to arrests. The German occupying forces took increasingly drastic measures to combat the growing number of resistance activities. Most of the Dutch prisoners came to Neuengamme via Amersfoort camp, the majority of the Belgians arrived in Neuengamme from Fort Huy and Breendonck fortress. In 1944, the Gestapo brought the entire male population of Putten (the Netherlands) and Meensel-Kiezegem (Belgium) to Neuengamme. These prisoners had been arrested during “retaliation measures”.

Prisoners from Denmark

In April 1940, the Wehrmacht occupied Denmark and Norway. By 1943, resistance in these countries had become so strong that the occupying authorities declared martial law. In Norway, a strong resistance movement developed as early as 1940, and the Gestapo arrested a large number of people. From autumn 1943, the SS deported hundreds, and later thousands, of Danish people to German prisons and camps. In September 1944, nearly 2,000 Danish police men were taken to Buchenwald concentration camp via Neuengamme, and on 5 October, 141 members of the Danish border police arrived in Neuengamme. Further transports from Frøslev prison camp near the German-Danish border followed. 

Prisoners from Norway

Almost all of the Norwegian prisoners in Neuengamme came here in the course of the rescue operation carried out by the Swedish Red Cross from March 1945. Including these prisoners, a total of around 4,400 Danish and 2,800 Norwegian people were imprisoned in Neuengamme.

Drawing by Odd Nansen from: Odd Nansen: Fra dagtil dag, Volume 1, Oslo 1946. Underneath the drawing,Nansen wrote: “The transports to Germany are takenaboard in the black of night, but in the dim lights of Oslo port.”