Stutthof to Various Destinations

Members of the Boys were held in Nazi labour and concentration camps and used as slave labourers.

From 1933-1945 Nazi Germany operated over 1,000 concentration camps and subcamps in its own territory and across German occupied Europe. Among them was the Stutthof concentration camp.

As the camps were evacuated thousands of people, among them members of the Boys, endured horrific evacuations from the camps on foot, in freight wagons and open top trains, as well as perilous journeys across the Baltic Sea. 

The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after the war for rest and rehabilitation.

In January 1945, as the Red Army advanced westwards, the Stutthof concentration camp was evacuated.

On the morning of 25 January 1945, the first columns of marchers set off from the central camp. In total, nearly 33,000 prisoners embarked on the death march—11,000 from the main camp and 22,000 from its subcamps.

It is estimated that approximately 17,000 people perished during the evacuation.

The SS executed some 5,000 prisoners, driving them into the icy waters of the Baltic and gunning them down. Others were taken from the camp and compelled to march to Lauenburg, today Lębork, about 100km west. Cut off by advancing Soviet forces, the SS returned them to the site of the camp. Severe cold or SS cruelty took the lives of thousands in this back-and-forth.

In late April 1945, the remaining prisoners were removed from Stutthof by sea, since Stutthof was completely encircled by Soviet forces. Again, hundreds of prisoners were forced into the sea and shot.

Over 4,000 were sent by small boat to Germany, some to the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg, and some to camps along the Baltic coast. Many drowned along the way.

Shortly before the German surrender, some prisoners were transferred to Malmo, Sweden, and released to the care of that neutral country.

Soviet forces liberated Stutthof on May 9, 1945, and liberated about 100 prisoners who had managed to hide during the final evacuation of the camp.