Next year, two freight wagons, which were deployed during the war years, will be on display in National Monument Camp Vught. The wagons have arrived at the site of the Van Brederode barracks in Vught. There they are restored. They should be on display to the public on May 4, 2022, writes Broadcasting Brabant.
The wagons are of the type used for the transport of prisoners during the Second World War. Director Jeroen van den Eijnde of Kamp Vught: “After a very careful investigation, we know for sure that these are wagons that ran on German tracks during the war years. We are just not sure whether these wagons were also used specifically for the transport of prisoners.”
The wagons will be parked in front of the National Monument building. “At the location where a railroad used to run to the camp.”
A railway line was built in 1944 at the concentration camp in the Brabant village to transport scrap from an aircraft scrap yard. Prisoner transports generally went through the station in the center of Vught. But in the course of 1944, Jews and political prisoners were also deported over the camp railway.
“The wagons in which people were transported have really become an iconic image of the persecution and terror. I think it is important to emphasize these elements in the story of which camp Vught is also part,” says Van den Eijnde.
Transportation was difficult
The transport of the old wagons from the access road to the barracks area was quite difficult. The top of the wagons had to be unscrewed first because otherwise they would be too high,
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