No high-security cells in Fugate war legacy: ‘Your letter moved me’

“I am moved by your letter,” outgoing Legal Protection Minister Franc Weerwind (D66) wrote to National Monument Camp Figget on Tuesday. According to the memorial organization. As a result, the former SS prison Camp Fuggert remains intact.

Geert Wilders (PVV) and Ulysse Ellian (VVD) want to transform the huge bunker prison and build more high-security cells for top criminals. The plan won a parliamentary majority in February but was immediately met with fierce criticism. Jeroen van den Eind, director of the Fette National Monument Camp, accused the House of Representatives of “agreeing out of ignorance”.

This national monument is located next to the Vught Extra Security Prison (EBI), one of the most heavily guarded prisons in the Netherlands, with a storied history. During World War II, an SS concentration camp was located on the site, holding tens of thousands of people. Around 12,000 Jews were deported from Vught, and members of the resistance were shot in the camp.

The old Bunker prison is located at the heart of the site. Members of the resistance were trapped within its walls and shot near the end of the war, and there was another tragedy in 1944. That year, 74 women were held in the cramped cell 115 for one night, and 10 of them died from lack of oxygen.

‘Irreparable damage’

Wilders and El-Erian want the building to be remodelled to house eight new high-security cells. The memorial organisations and the chief government architect said the loading site would suffer “irreparable damage” and would be inappropriate from a “moral, emotional and historical point of view”.

In recent years, the Bunker Prison has been used as a storage facility after being condemned as a prison. Solemn commemorations of the bunker tragedy are held every five years.

After the criticism, Wilders and El-Erian submitted a motion last week proposing a different plan. Instead of rebuilding the war legacy, they insisted on expanding the EBI to 12 units to better distribute the top criminals. The majority in parliament also saw the merits of this, after which Minister Wilders abandoned the previous plan.

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