Location Camp Conrad

In the first months of 1942, all of the 3 work camps in the municipality of Staphorst received new residents. Hundreds of Jews arrive from all parts of the Netherlands who were housed in the camps here to 'work'. However, the Jews' stay was part of the Germans' effort to round up and deport all Jews in the Netherlands. The local population therefore did not notice what was actually happening on the camp grounds. In the 1930s, a bystander later explained, there had also been workers in Camp Conrad who had been kicked out because of the lack of work.

In the early morning of October 3, 1942 (the day of Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish year), all the men had to line up with their luggage. Almost all of them went in convoy on foot to Meppel and from Meppel by train to Westerbork. For many, the final destination was an extermination camp. Of the 340 men, probably 3 or 4 survived the war.

In 1951, the Conrad camp was put into use to house 21 Ambonese families.
On the Conradkade at this location there is a monument in memory of the Moluccan period of Camp Conrad.

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Source

• Text: Robert Groenhuis
• Photos: Robert Groenhuis