This blog post does not require a lot of explanation. We must remember how brutal the Nazis were and what World War 2 was about. This particular concentration camp is located about an hour from Gdansk. Many of the buildings were destroyed with bombing and the Nazis themselves before the war ended. However, many structures remained, were preserved and Stutthof Concentration Camp is now a museum and memorial. The buildings remaining – where the SS lived, the building where their dogs were kept, buildings that ‘welcome/indoctrinated’ the people to the camp, the building with the ‘hospital’ and the ovens. All artifacts are originals.

There are a couple of memorials on site. One is from the mountain of shoes left and one is a cement sculpture designed to contain the ashes left from the many thousands who died (pictured at the end of this blog post). The camp was named after the nearby town which has now changed its name. 110,000 people went through this camp. It began being built the day after the Nazis invaded Poland – 2 September 1939. Wikipedia can provide you with the history in detail. I felt it was important to share the pictures of what I saw. Learning about this camp from a woman who grew up in Poland knowing people who had family members here was moving.😢

Those that didn’t die at the camp and were capable of walking went on a “Death March” in January 1945. This is when the Nazis knew the Russians were closing in on them, made the people who still could walk to march to the Baltic Sea using the camp survivors as human shields. Most did not make it to the sea. Stutthof Concentration Camp was liberated on 9 May 1945.