Frøslev Camp

Facts

Denmark's only concentration camp

By Karl Peder Pedersen , Arkivar og seniorforsker i Statens Arkiver, ph.d. (7 stories)

Frøslev Camp was a POW camp from August 1944 until May 1945 for Danes arrested by the Germans. After the liberation, its name was changed to Fårhus Camp. From 1949, the Danish authorities used it as a POW camp for traitors. Then in 1949 the army took over. It was renamed Padborg Camp and housed the army until 1968. The civil defence had it for the next seven years. In 1975, the National Museum of Denmark moved in. Frøslev Camp's Museum had been opened back in 1969, and since then, several other museums have called it home.

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Saved by the concentration camp

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Story written by Karl Peder Pedersen

Time / Periode 1944

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When the German occupying forces took power in Denmark in August 1943, the death penalty and deportation to concentration camps became standard punishments for saboteurs. The Danish authorities offered to build a POW camp to prevent deportation. It was to be located in Denmark, managed by Danes and run according to Danish catering standards. The Germans agreed. On 13 August 1944, Frøslev was ready to receive its first prisoners, who were transferred from Horserød Camp. A total of 12,000 Danes were detained at the new Camp until the liberation in May 1945. The Germans deported 1,600 to German concentration camps, where about 220 died. So the new camp saved the lives of many who would otherwise have perished under the miserable conditions at the German camps.