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The Bunker Tragedy was an atrocity committed by the staff at the
The Bunker Tragedy was an atrocity committed by the staff at the Herzogenbusch concentration camp
, , german: Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch
, location map = Netherlands
, map alt =
, map caption = Location of the camp in the Netherlands
, coordinates =
, known for =
, location = Vught, Netherlands
, built by = N ...
(also known as ''Kamp Vught'') in the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, in January 1944 during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Events
When one woman from barrack 23B was locked up in the camp prison (the 'bunker'), other women protested against it. At the encouragement of Hermann Wicklein, the commandant Adam Grünewald, as a punishment, had as many women as possible incarcerated in one cell. Eventually, 74 women were pressed together in cell 115, which had a floor area of 9m2 and hardly any ventilation. After 14 hours of confinement, the inmates were released from the cell. Ten women did not survive the night. The incident soon became known outside the camp and was written about in resistance newspapers. Theoccupying power
Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...
was not pleased with the fact that the news had leaked. Grünewald and Wicklein were both court-martialed for excessive cruelty. They were both convicted of manslaughter; Grünewald was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison and Wicklein was sentenced to six months in prison. They were both pardoned after serving a month in prison. However, Grünewald was then demoted and ordered to fight on the Eastern front, where he was killed in combat in January 1945.
, one of the bunker victims, wrote:
'When the lights went off, a great panic rose among the women. It was a strange swelling sound, which sometimes would diminish, but soon swell up again. It was caused by praying, screaming and yelling women. Some tried to yell over it to calm the women down, so they could save oxygen. Sometimes it would help a bit, but then it would start again. It would not stop, it continued the whole night. It diminished, though, because the heat was suffocating.'
This event is being remembered annually in closed circle.
See also
*Black Hole of Calcutta
The Black Hole of Calcutta was a dungeon in Fort William, Calcutta, measuring , in which troops of Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, held British prisoners of war on the night of 20 June 1756. John Zephaniah Holwell, one of the Britis ...
*Nazi concentration camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...
Sources and Notes