Oranjehotel
Coordinates: 52 ° 6 ′ 34.8 " N , 4 ° 18 ′ 5.3" E
The Oranjehotel was the name given to the Scheveningen prison , where members of the Dutch resistance were imprisoned during the German occupation in World War II .
The prison
During the Second World War, the prison in Scheveningen, a district of The Hague , was initially used by the Dutch authorities to house German prisoners of war . After the surrender of the Netherlands as a result of the German invasion that began on May 10, 1940 , the German occupying power took over the building, which comprised three areas: a remand prison for criminals, a military prison and a police prison, the so-called Oranjehotel. This police prison served as a transit station to briefly detain and interrogate Dutch people who were suspected of resisting the occupation - some as hostages. From there, many prisoners were taken to German camps and around 250 of them were executed .
As a rule, 1200 to 1500 prisoners were in the Oranjehotel at the same time , several of whom were sitting in one of the more than 200 cells. In 1941 another building was added to the prison. The youngest prisoner at the time was three years old; the child was held hostage along with his four-year-old sister. The children's father, a professor at the University of Amsterdam who, together with his students, had conspired against the Germans and had gone into hiding, was supposed to be forced to surrender in this way.
On June 7, 1944, one day after the Allies landed in Normandy , the inmates of the prison were taken to the Herzogenbusch concentration camp. After the liberation, members of the German occupation were imprisoned in the Oranjehotel , such as SS-Untersturmführer and member of the security service Ernst Knorr , who was found dead in his cell on July 7, 1945. It is unclear whether he committed suicide or was killed, especially since his body showed signs of abuse.
It is estimated that up to 30,000 people from the Netherlands were imprisoned at the Oranjehotel between 1940 and 1945 . There is no precise information, as the Germans destroyed all documents towards the end of the Second World War. It is also not known how the prison got its name Oranjehotel , which was soon popularly used.
The memory
The Stichting Oranjehotel has set up a memorial on the grounds of the Scheveningen prison, which is now called Penitentiaire Inrichting Haaglanden , and where the United Nations Detention Unit of the International Criminal Court is also located. The memorial, which is only open to the public once a month because of its location on the grounds of a prison, consists of the (reconstructed) death cell No. 601, the gate through which the death row inmates were brought to Waalsdorpervlakte for execution , and a memorial plaque dating from 1950 Queen Juliana was revealed. Once a year the victims are solemnly commemorated.
Numerous inscriptions by the prisoners were found on the walls of the cells. Many of these inscriptions were included in the Dodenboek by EP Weber, which was compiled in 1945. This book lists the names, photos and life dates of all 734 people who were killed by the German occupiers after their stay at the Oranjehotel . It is now in the Nationaal Archief in The Hague .
The Waalsdorpervlakte
The Waalsdorpervlakte is located near the Oranjehotel , a depression in the dune area of Meijendel , north of The Hague . This is where the German occupiers executed prisoners sentenced to death . Today bronze crosses remember in the dunes of the executed, and in 1959 was there an imposing drone - bell erected.
Web links
- Oranjehotel 1940–1945 (Dutch)
- Oranjehotel 1940-1945 In: denhaag.com (German)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Oranjehotel 1940–1945 (digital edition of the memorial book). ga het na, accessed September 27, 2014 .
- ↑ Gevangen in het Oranjehotel. ga het na, accessed September 27, 2014 (Dutch). The names of the children and father are not given, but it is suggested that all three survived the occupation.