This was the first camp on Polish territory – it was in operation already in 1939, only several dozen kilometres from Gdansk, at the head of the River Vistula Spit. The first prisoners were brought here as early as 2nd September 1939. Initially mainly Poles were brought here but by 1942 the Stuthoff Camp received concentration camp status. From that time nationals from many countries were brought here, especially from Central and Eastern Europe. The camp was closed in April 1945 after the evacuation of its last group of prisoners.

Totally about 110,000 people were detained in this camp. As a result of the cruel living conditions and the firing squads, the murder in the gas chambers with the use of Zyklon B gas, killing with Phenol injections into the heart, the beatings and torture during the evacuation on foot and by sea, about 65,000 people were killed.

In the post war period the victims of the camp were commemorated. In the village of Sztutowo the Stuthoff State Museum was founded in 1961 which encompasses part of the preserved buildings and equipment. In 1968 the Monument to the Struggle and Martyrdom designed by Viktor Tolkin was unveiled with the inscription “Our Fate should be a warning to you not a legend”.

Stuthoff Museum in Sztutowo (woj. Pomorskie)

www.stutthof.pl