Struthof - a brief history lesson
I don’t really know Alsace, it’s a long way from south-west France and we never visited the region when we lived in the UK. The region has a long and colourful history, which in the 20th century was substantially due to its next-door neighbour, Germany.
Alsace actually formed part of Germany after the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, until the end of the First World War, and then was again annexed to Germany during World War Two.
Apparently (and remarkably) much of the traditional architecture of the region remained undamaged through the conflict, and there are many beautiful villages in the region, and some fine castles. It is a very popular place with tourists, especially in the Vosges Mountains region.
Then I came across the story of Struthof.
During the Second World War it was at the village of Natzwiller, in Alsace, that the Germans constructed Struthof, the only concentration camp to be built on French soil (although German at that point).
The camp was not a ‘mass-extermination’ camp like Birkenau (Auschwitz) and others, but still an estimated 25,000 people died at Struthof between 1941 and 1944, mostly from forced labour in the associated granite quarry where people were literally ‘worked to death’ and also from starvation and a gas chamber on the site.
The prisoners held at Struthof were usually political prisoners and resistance fighters - it was Nazi policy that such prisoners should ‘disappear without a trace’, and Struthof was where they often ended up.
I am pleased that such places have been preserved for the education of future generations, but wonder how long it will take for them to become places like Medieval Castles where the stories of battle and death don’t really mean anything, they are just another story to make the visit more exciting.
I was also pleased to see that the liberation of the camp took place on my birthday, 23rd November, although by that stage the camp was empty, all remaining prisoners having been sent to Dachau.
But all this leaves me in a quandary - does such a place deserve an entry in a travel guide about France?
To maybe help a bit with your dilemma (the English-Hebrew dictionary translated “quandary” to mean –dilemma), I wanted to point out the obvious. A blog, like yours, is read by a variety of people, encompassing a rainbow of viewpoints. You might never be able to imagine to whom you’re catering your thoughts and experience. On this instance, I can only point out that, personally, I found the story of Struthof very interesting. I enjoy reading blogs like yours (Anglo-Saxons abroad), not primarily for the purpose of visiting those places, but as a means to learn about the culture and way of life. (This, of course, includes history and interesting places). Probably, the best thing you can do, is continue to write about what interests you, your bound to hit someone’s taste!