Oranje Hotel The Hague
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- #221
The grimm side of the war:
In The Hague, or better said, Scheveningen was a prison. Part of that prison was used by the Gestapo to lock up "political criminals". Here they were kept and interrogated until the were either shipped to camps in Germany or were executed at the Waalsdorper vlakte, in the dunes close by. The occupation ranged from members of the resistance to Jews and people who had said something wrong. There was no legal system, only show processes. The prison was called the "Oranje Hotel" or "Orange Hotel" for obvious reasons (Orange being the colour of our royal house in exile). All and all, about 25000 people have been held here during the war. How many of them survived the war is still in research.
The outside of the prison, this is the staff's offices, hence the bigger windows.
The big gate and the small gate. If you left, you went through the small door. Usually you went to one of the working camps like Bugenwalt or Neuengamme. If you left at dawn, around 6 a.m. you were usually shot in the dunes. Every time a prisoner was let to his execution, the whole prison would burst out in singing the "Wilhelmus", our national anthem.
The big door is now permanently left open as a symbol.
The Death cell. This is where prisoners with a death sentence were held. The cell is otherwise identical to the other cells. Cells were 6 square meter (2 by 3m). The contained one bed, a little desk and a stool. Usually 2 to 3 prisoners were crammed in there at any time, except for the death cells. You were not supposed to lie or even sit on the bed during day hours. This was randomly checked and if the catched you sitting on the bed, your rations would be cut. You had no window apart from a little one, heigh up against the ceiling.
One of the hallways.
In The Hague, or better said, Scheveningen was a prison. Part of that prison was used by the Gestapo to lock up "political criminals". Here they were kept and interrogated until the were either shipped to camps in Germany or were executed at the Waalsdorper vlakte, in the dunes close by. The occupation ranged from members of the resistance to Jews and people who had said something wrong. There was no legal system, only show processes. The prison was called the "Oranje Hotel" or "Orange Hotel" for obvious reasons (Orange being the colour of our royal house in exile). All and all, about 25000 people have been held here during the war. How many of them survived the war is still in research.
The outside of the prison, this is the staff's offices, hence the bigger windows.
The big gate and the small gate. If you left, you went through the small door. Usually you went to one of the working camps like Bugenwalt or Neuengamme. If you left at dawn, around 6 a.m. you were usually shot in the dunes. Every time a prisoner was let to his execution, the whole prison would burst out in singing the "Wilhelmus", our national anthem.
The big door is now permanently left open as a symbol.
The Death cell. This is where prisoners with a death sentence were held. The cell is otherwise identical to the other cells. Cells were 6 square meter (2 by 3m). The contained one bed, a little desk and a stool. Usually 2 to 3 prisoners were crammed in there at any time, except for the death cells. You were not supposed to lie or even sit on the bed during day hours. This was randomly checked and if the catched you sitting on the bed, your rations would be cut. You had no window apart from a little one, heigh up against the ceiling.
One of the hallways.
