Esterwegen is a municipality in the Emsland district, in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Geography

Esterwegen lies in northwest Germany, less than from the Dutch border and about from the sea.

Demographics

In 2015 the population was 5,280.

Government

The mayor is Hermann Willenborg.

Concentration camp

In 1933 a concentration camp was established in Esterwegen.Official german list
In 1936 the camp was dissolved and used till 1945 as a prisoner camp, for political prisoners and later for prisoners of the decree

Nacht und Nebel ''Nacht und Nebel'' (German: ), meaning Night and Fog, was a directive issued by Adolf Hitler on 7 December 1941 targeting political activists and resistance "helpers" in the territories occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II, who were to ...

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R31497, KZ Esterwegen, Rudolf Diels vor Häftlingen

Notable inmates

* Julius Leber, politician *

Carl von Ossietzky Carl von Ossietzky (; 3 October 1889 – 4 May 1938) was a German journalist and pacifist. He was the recipient of the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in exposing the clandestine German re-armament. As editor-in-chief of the magazine ''Die ...

, journalist and

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

Laureate * Georg Diederichs, later

Minister-President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. It ...

Karl Germer Karl Johannes Germer (22 January 1885 – 25 October 1962), also known as ''Frater Saturnus'', was a German occultist and the United States representative and later a successor of author and occultist Aleister Crowley as the Outer Head of the Ord ...

, Outer Head of the Order (OHO) of Ordo Templi Orientis

Notes

External links

memorial of Camp Esterwegen and the other 14 Emsland camps (in German, English, Dutch, French)
* :de:KZ Esterwegen
homepage of the memorial (in German)
* United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Concentration Camps, 1933-1939
Emsland {{Holocaust-stub no:Esterwegen