Monument national du camp d’Amersfoort

During the mobilisation period of 1939 and 1940, the terrain was used as a barracks complex for the Dutch military. After 1941, the German occupier started to use the camp as a transit and work camp. During the war, political opponents of the Nazi regime and also many people who had gone into hiding to evade forced labour were imprisoned. On 19 April 1945, management of the camp was transferred to Ms. Loes van Overeem, who worked for the Red Cross. Over 600 of the approximately 37,000 prisoners did not survive the camp.

After the war, the camp was used as an internment camp for people of the NSB (Dutch National Socialist Party), SS, and collaborators. In 1946, the camp was transferred to the Department of War to be used as and army camp again. Almost the entire camp was later demolished. Since the 1980s the Police Academy has used a large part of the terrain. On the remaining grounds, the Camp Amersfoort National Monument was established, which was completed in 2004. Already in 1953, a national monument was erected here. This statue ‘de stenen man’ (the stone man) can nowadays be found at the end of the shooting range, a lane dug by the prisoners of the camp where many executions took place. Besides the monument there is also a visitor centre with a permanent exhibition. A watchtower, bunker, monuments and several reconstructions can be seen around the grounds.