From 1943 until 7 May 1945 a women’s concentration camp operated in Svatava, a sub-camp of the main camp at Flossenbürg. It was the largest on what was then Czech territory, and its area exceeded 18,000 square metres.[1]
Up to 750 women were imprisoned there, not only from Czechoslovakia but from all of occupied Europe. The camp was not an extermination camp but a labour camp: the women went to work at the Svatava factory producing aircraft parts. It was liberated by the US Army on 7 May 1945.[1]
Since October 2026 the Svatava memorial site has commemorated the women buried in 1945 in a mass grave behind the wall of the Sokolov cemetery.[1] The design is by the architect Jakub Chvojka, who also designed the renovation of the Sokolov cemetery. [1] The memorial consists of a memorial book, the Family Album, which tells the story of the women imprisoned in the Svatava camp, and seven stones. [1]
Chronology
- — The Svatava memorial site with a memorial book was opened by the cemetery in Sokolov; it commemorates women from the Svatava concentration camp buried in 1945 in a mass grave. → iROZHLAS Karlovarská Drbna
Pages linking here
Sources
- Karlovarská Drbna — 3 October 2026