Dutch institution NIOD digitizes Kamp Erica archives

OMMEN – The archives at Kamp Erica, a notorious wartime secondary penal camp operated by the Nazis, will be closed to researchers for the next 18 months. The collection is currently being digitized by the Dutch institution for war, Holocaust and genocide studies NIOD in Amsterdam. Opened in June 1942 to help relieve overcrowding at penitentiaries, the camp became so notorious for its brutalities that Dutch judges balked at or even refused to send convicted black racketeers to this place near the hamlet Besthem. The Nazis also imprisoned people accused of resistance activities at the camp. Very few Jews were sent to the Ommen site. Ommen’s historical societies regret that no one will be able to access the archives but digitizing the collection offers the museum more options at greater accessibility in the future. Following the camp’s liberation on April 11, 1945, the site became a holding area for wartime Nazi collaborators and Dutch National Socialists (NSB).