Camp Ommen came into being when Bereitsschaftführer Werner Schwier, director of Referat Internationale Organisationen - Report on International Organizations, also was appointed to the position of Camp Commandant of Ommen. The purpose of the Referat - Report was to liquidate property of organizations considered hostile to or unwanted by the Reich - Empire. However, Schwier saw potential in keeping a campground, which had belonged to a religious cult, for the purpose of transforming it into a concentration camp. Before the outbreak of the war the campground had been used by followers of the cult leader Jiddu Krishnamurti. The cult held meetings annually; the last meeting held took place in August of 1939. The place of the meeting was a camp near Ommen called Sterkamp - Star camp.

       Construction of the camp began on 13 June 1941 after Schwier had offered the position of Lagerführer - Camp commander to the Dutch collaborator Karel Lodewijk Diepgrond. The latter had been an interpreter for the SD - Security Service in Amsterdam. Schwier had known him since the outbreak of the war. Diepgrond accepted the offer. His first task was to interview and subsequently hire forty-eight camp guards. He arrived in Ommen together with the guards on 13 June, according to a business diary he faithfully maintained.

       The guards were assured by Diepgrond and Schwier that the nature of the camp would remain strictly Dutch. Exactly how Dutch would be revealed within a very short time. Schwier renamed the camp calling it Arbeitslager Erika - Labor Camp Erika. All reports were written in the German language and orders were given in German as well. Guards were called KK - Kontroll Kommando - Control Commando. German ranks were introduced. Diepgrond received the most prominent rank, that of Lagerführer - Camp Commander.

       The first prisoners arrived 19 June 1942, but the camp was officially opened for business on 22 June. Initially, black marketers and forced-labor dodgers were sent to Ommen where they received harsh treatment from the KK. Prisoners arrived at the railroad station of Ommen by train guarded by Dutch constables. Leaving the train station by foot they had to march three KM, approximately a mile and a half, in order to reach the camp at gate A. There the collaborating constables would turn the prisoners over to the Dutch SS camp guards. Almost immediately upon entering the prisoners would experience cruel treatment, the kind the Dutch SS camp guards were well capable off. They would scream, curse, and hit the prisoners mercilessly. Anyone who dared to open his mouth in response was beaten with a truncheon.

Left: The notorious Dutch guard Bikker who escaped prosecution. Right: Prisoners returning from work detail.

       Following initiation the prisoners were assigned to work details. Sixty men were housed in each barrack and instead of sleeping in beds prisoners slept in hammocks, three high. Bedding and clothing were inadequate. Food was insufficient. Work had to be carried out in high tempo. Each alleged trespass was punished severely. Prisoners were ill-treated continually. Each guard had his own method of inflicting pain or otherwise making life miserable for the prisoners. They wanted to make certain that forced-labor dodgers and black marketers would learn their lesson. One of the more notorious Dutch SS guards was Herbertus Bikker. After the war he escaped justice by fleeing into Germany where he obtained German citizenship. I would like to make a correction to my report on Ommen. Not only forced-labor dodgers and black marketers were incarcerated in this heinous camp. Although initially it appeared as though that was the only purpose for the existance of the camp, later in time also some Jews and several captured men belonging to the resistance movement as well as individuals who had broken one or another Nazi law experienced the fierce treatment of the brutal Dutch SS guards.

       Werner Schwier was arrested after the war and transferred to an internment camp near Brussels. He escaped and fled to Germany. He never went on trial in the Netherlands. Karel Diepgrond was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on 13 May 1949. He was pardoned and set free in 1957 after having served only eight years of his sentence. J. de Jong was shot and killed in 1945 a few weeks after he fled from camp Westerbork where he had been incarcerated since the end of the war. Driehuis received the death sentence on 3 June 1946 which was carried out in 1947.