Nieuw Vosseveld
Encyclopedia
Nieuw Vosseveld is a high security prison
in the Dutch
town
of Vught
, part of the Custodial Institutions Agency
(Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen, DJI) of the Dutch Ministry of Public Safety and Justice within the Dutch criminal justice system. Penitentiaire Inrichting Vught (English: Penitentiary Institution Vught) is now the general term used instead of Nieuw Vosseveld.
, Nazi Germany
occupied the Netherlands
(1940–1945). The Nazis transported Jewish and other prisoners from the Netherlands via the transit camps Amersfoort and Westerbork to concentration camps such as Auschwitz
and Bergen-Belsen
.
When Amersfoort and Westerbork appeared to be too small to handle the large amount of prisoners, the Schutzstaffel
decided to build a concentration camp in Vught
near the larger city 's-Hertogenbosch, with a series of sub camps.
The building of the camp Herzogenbusch, the German name for 's-Hertogenbosch, started in 1942. The camp was modeled after the concentration camps in Germany. The camp held male and female prisoners captured in Belgium and the Netherlands. The guard staff included SS men and a few SS women, headed by Oberaufseherin
Margarete Gallinat
. The Nazis initially used this location as a transit camp to gather prisoners for classification and transportation to Poland and other camps. The first prisoners, that arrived in 1943, had to finish building the camp. The camp was used from January 1943 until September 1944. During this period, the camp held nearly 31,000 prisoners: Jews, political prisoners, resistance fighters, gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, homeless people, black market traders, criminals and hostages. Dutch underground members Corrie
and Betsie ten Boom
were held at Vught in 1944, before being sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. Poncke Princen
, who would later become known for going over to the Indonesia
n guerrillas opposing Dutch rule, was also imprisoned at Vught for his anti-Nazi activities.
Due to hunger, sickness and abuse at least 749 children, women and men died in the concentration camp. 329 of them were executed at the execution site, just outside the camp. When Allied forces were approaching Herzogenbusch, the camp was evacuated and the prisoners were transferred to concentration camps further to the east. When the camp was liberated in September 1944, by the 4th Canadian Armored Division
and the 96th Battery of the 5th Anti-Tank Division, the camp was almost deserted.
Later, the barracks of Camp Vught were made available to Indonesian Moluccans, for use as their living quarters. The former barracks were first converted into a number of home units.
who had been given a lengthy (ie: over 5 years), sentence. The current building was designed by architects and Maris van den Berg, with a capacity of 120 to 140 detainees. The regime in the establishment was quite progressive for the time, with cell doors left open during the day.
In the early 1970's, an adult facility was added, which included a hospital. When in 1993 the high security EBI unit was move to Nieuw Vosseveld, and the hospital moved to Scheveningen prison. In 1999, a forensic psychiatric unit, where inmates with a serious mental disorder can be placed.
Recently, the prison opened a department where terrorist suspects can be held, which uses part of the original juvenile building. This department was in the Dutch news because the cells did not meet the fire safety requirements. This came to light in a nationwide investigation following the fire at the deportation center at Schiphol airport.
Presently, PI Vught has 15 different regimes and a capacity for 750 prisoners and TBS-ers.
The regime in the EBI is very stringent, with detainees given minimal freedom from their cells. Detainees are moved between units by being handcuffed, and even external exercise cells are caged-enclosed. The EBI presently has a capacity of 25 detainees.
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
in the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
of Vught
Vught
Vught is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. It is a town where lots of commuters live and has recently been named "Best place to live" by the Dutch magazine Elsevier.-Politics:...
, part of the Custodial Institutions Agency
Custodial Institutions Agency
The Custodial Institutions Agency is responsible for the incarceration of adults in the Netherlands. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Public Safety and Justice...
(Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen, DJI) of the Dutch Ministry of Public Safety and Justice within the Dutch criminal justice system. Penitentiaire Inrichting Vught (English: Penitentiary Institution Vught) is now the general term used instead of Nieuw Vosseveld.
World War II
During the World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
occupied the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
(1940–1945). The Nazis transported Jewish and other prisoners from the Netherlands via the transit camps Amersfoort and Westerbork to concentration camps such as Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
and Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
.
When Amersfoort and Westerbork appeared to be too small to handle the large amount of prisoners, the Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
decided to build a concentration camp in Vught
Vught
Vught is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. It is a town where lots of commuters live and has recently been named "Best place to live" by the Dutch magazine Elsevier.-Politics:...
near the larger city 's-Hertogenbosch, with a series of sub camps.
The building of the camp Herzogenbusch, the German name for 's-Hertogenbosch, started in 1942. The camp was modeled after the concentration camps in Germany. The camp held male and female prisoners captured in Belgium and the Netherlands. The guard staff included SS men and a few SS women, headed by Oberaufseherin
Female guards in Nazi concentration camps
Of the 55,000 guards who served in Nazi concentration camps, about 3,700 were women. In 1942, the first female guards arrived at Auschwitz and Majdanek from Ravensbrück...
Margarete Gallinat
Margarete Gallinat
Oberaufseherin Margarete Gallinat was the head overseer at Vught. She was not known for viciousness unlike other Nazi concentration camp personnel. Gallinat later served as a supervisor at Ravensbrück concentration camp.-References:...
. The Nazis initially used this location as a transit camp to gather prisoners for classification and transportation to Poland and other camps. The first prisoners, that arrived in 1943, had to finish building the camp. The camp was used from January 1943 until September 1944. During this period, the camp held nearly 31,000 prisoners: Jews, political prisoners, resistance fighters, gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, homeless people, black market traders, criminals and hostages. Dutch underground members Corrie
Corrie ten Boom
Cornelia "Corrie" ten Boom was a Dutch Christian, who with her father and other family members helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. Her family was arrested due to an informant in 1944, and her father died 10 days later at Scheveningen prison where they were first held...
and Betsie ten Boom
Betsie ten Boom
Elisabeth ten Boom was one of the leading characters in The Hiding Place, a book written by her sister Corrie ten Boom about the family's experiences during World War II. Nicknamed Betsie, she suffered with pernicious anemia from her birth...
were held at Vught in 1944, before being sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. Poncke Princen
Poncke Princen
Johan Cornelis Princen , better known as Poncke Princen, was a Dutch anti-Nazi fighter and colonial soldier...
, who would later become known for going over to the Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n guerrillas opposing Dutch rule, was also imprisoned at Vught for his anti-Nazi activities.
Due to hunger, sickness and abuse at least 749 children, women and men died in the concentration camp. 329 of them were executed at the execution site, just outside the camp. When Allied forces were approaching Herzogenbusch, the camp was evacuated and the prisoners were transferred to concentration camps further to the east. When the camp was liberated in September 1944, by the 4th Canadian Armored Division
4th Canadian (Armoured) Division
The 4th Canadian Division was created by the conversion of the 4th Canadian Infantry Division at the beginning of 1942 in Canada. The division proceeded overseas in 1942, with its two main convoys reaching the United Kingdom in August and October....
and the 96th Battery of the 5th Anti-Tank Division, the camp was almost deserted.
Camp in post-war times
After World War II, the camp was first used as a prison for Germans and "wrong" people: Dutch SS-men, (suspected) collaborators and/or their children, and war criminals. At first, they were guarded by allied soldiers, but shortly after by the Dutch. As a parliamentary enquiry (the Committee A.M. Baron Tuyll van Serooskerken) showed in 1950, this resulted in maltreatment and even summary executions.Later, the barracks of Camp Vught were made available to Indonesian Moluccans, for use as their living quarters. The former barracks were first converted into a number of home units.
Nieuw Vosseveld
In 1953, part of the camp was fenced off for use as a facility for juvenilesMinor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
who had been given a lengthy (ie: over 5 years), sentence. The current building was designed by architects and Maris van den Berg, with a capacity of 120 to 140 detainees. The regime in the establishment was quite progressive for the time, with cell doors left open during the day.
In the early 1970's, an adult facility was added, which included a hospital. When in 1993 the high security EBI unit was move to Nieuw Vosseveld, and the hospital moved to Scheveningen prison. In 1999, a forensic psychiatric unit, where inmates with a serious mental disorder can be placed.
Recently, the prison opened a department where terrorist suspects can be held, which uses part of the original juvenile building. This department was in the Dutch news because the cells did not meet the fire safety requirements. This came to light in a nationwide investigation following the fire at the deportation center at Schiphol airport.
Presently, PI Vught has 15 different regimes and a capacity for 750 prisoners and TBS-ers.
TEBI and EBI
Increasing violence of some detainees create a need for a facility where inmates with a high risk of violence could be securely detained. In 1993 Nieuw Vosseveld initially became a temporary security facility, where in 1996 a permanent facility known as EBI rather TEBI was built.The regime in the EBI is very stringent, with detainees given minimal freedom from their cells. Detainees are moved between units by being handcuffed, and even external exercise cells are caged-enclosed. The EBI presently has a capacity of 25 detainees.
PI Vught TBS
PI Vught TBS houses two units, designed in close collaboration with Prof WPJ Pompestichting. There is a section for active treatment of 24, added to in 2007 by a new long-stay unit opened for the accommodation of 22 patients.Detainees
Amongst the criminals imprisoned at Nieuw Vosseveld have included:- Samir AzzouzSamir AzzouzSamir Azzouz is a Dutch national of Moroccan descent. He is currently incarcerated in Nieuw Vosseveld on suspicion of attempting to procure heavy firearms and planning terrorist attacks...
, terrorist with ties to Hofstad NetworkHofstad NetworkThe Hofstad Network is an Islamist group of mostly young Dutch Muslims of mainly Moroccan ancestry.The name "Hofstad" was originally the codename the Dutch secret service AIVD used for a set of individuals and leaked to the media... - Mohammed BouyeriMohammed BouyeriMohammed Bouyeri is an Islamist Dutch–Moroccan and convicted murderer. He is currently serving a life sentence without parole for the assassination of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh. He holds both Dutch and Moroccan citizenship...
, murderer of Theo van Gogh (film director)Theo van Gogh (film director)Theodoor "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch film director, film producer, columnist, author and actor.Van Gogh worked with the Somali-born writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali to produce the film Submission, which criticized the treatment of women in Islam and aroused controversy among Muslims... - Willem HolleederWillem HolleederWillem Frederik Holleeder is perhaps one of the best known Dutch criminals. In 2007 he was sentenced to nine years in prison for several counts of extortion, including the extortion of Willem Endstra, who was murdered in 2004 after falling-out with Holleeder. He is currently serving his sentence...
, one of the perpetrators in the kidnapping of Freddy HeinekenFreddy HeinekenAlfred Henry Heineken was a Dutch major stock holder and president of Heineken International, the brewing company bought in 1864 by his grandfather Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam.... - Johan Verhoek nicknamed 'de hakkelaar', drug dealer
- Curtis Warren, British drug trafficker