Joint commemoration of the anniversary “75 years liberation of the camps”

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(Postponed due to Corona Pandemic)

To mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the camps on the right bank of the Rhine, the memorial sites in Baden-Württemberg planned a joint commemoration for April 4 and 5, 2020. It was to take place on the site of the former hospital and death camp Vaihingen-Enz. Due to the Corona Pandemic, the celebration had to be postponed by one year. The new date is April 10 and 11, 2021, and the location and sequence will be identical.

The event is divided into two parts: On the evening of April 10, there will be historical contributions and pictures on the “double end” of the Natzweiler concentration camp and the liberation of the Vaihingen/Enz subcamp. On the morning of April 11, an international ceremony will be held in memory of the victims at the concentration camp cemetery in Vaihingen/Enz.

On the historical context: The “first end” of Natzweiler took place in fall 1944, when all camps on the left bank of the Rhine were evacuated. On November 25, 1944, US troops discovered the empty main camp. The “second end” fell in spring 1945, and the prisoners of the remaining nearly 30 subcamps on the right bank of the Rhine were sent on death marches. One can speak of “liberation” for only one camp: On April 7, 1945, French troops stood in horror at the terminally ill and dying people of the Vaihingen/Enz subcamp.

Original program sheet