Salaspils camp
| Salaspils concentration camp | |
|---|---|
Nazi propaganda photograph of Salaspils camp in 1941 | |
| Also known as | Kurtenhof Salaspils Police Prison and Re-Education Through Labor Camp |
| Location | Salaspils, Latvia |
| Date | 1941–1944 |
| Incident type | Imprisonment without trial, forced labor, starvation |
| Perpetrators | Rudolf Lange, Otto Teckemeier |
| Organizations | SS Latvian Auxiliary Police |
| Victims | 2,000–3,000 |
| Memorials | At site |
The Salaspils concentration camp (Latvian: Salaspils koncentrācijas nometne; German: Lager Kurtenhof) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Salaspils, Latvia from 1941 to 1944. It was the largest civilian concentration camp in the Baltic states during World War II.
Salaspils camp was established by Rudolf Lange as a prison camp for the Sicherheitspolizei but it soon developed into a de facto concentration camp operated by the Schutzstaffel (SS). Its prisoner population was variable, including Jews deported from Central Europe, political prisoners, Latvian anti-Nazi partisans, and Latvian pro-Nazi collaborators. An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people died at Salaspils due to the deplorable living conditions, and the camp has had a lasting legacy in Latvian and Russian culture due to the severity of the treatment, especially with regard to child prisoners. Memorials to the victims were erected in 1967 and 2004.