Bunker Tragedy

The Bunker Tragedy was an atrocity committed by the staff at the Herzogenbusch concentration camp (also known as Kamp Vught) in the Netherlands, in January 1944 during World War II.

At the encouragement of Hermann Wicklein, the commandant Adam Grünewald, as a punishment, had as many women as possible incarcerated in one cell.

Eventually, 74 women were pressed together in cell 115, which had a floor area of 9m2 and hardly any ventilation.

However, Grünewald was then demoted and ordered to fight on the Eastern front, where he was killed in combat in January 1945.

[1] Tineke Wibaut [nl], one of the bunker victims, wrote: 'When the lights went off, a great panic rose among the women.