Quick Guide to Visiting Flossenbürg Concentration Camp & Memorial

Even if you’ve visited other concentration camps before, there’s a good chance visiting Flossenbürg will stand out among the rest. Before my visit, I’d been to ten other such former camps and still found visiting Flossenbürg to be a totally unique experience.

This quick guide will tell you everything you need to know in order to plan your own visit to the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial in Germany. It may not be close to any major cities but it’s definitely worth the trip.

What is Flossenbürg?

Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp established in May 1938 at the site of some already well-established granite quarries in eastern Germany. Even though concentration camps had originally been built for the purpose of imprisoning political opponents, by 1938 they had taken on a new aim–to exploit prison labor for profit. And Flossenbürg was a prime example of that.

As the official history puts it: “Prisoners were put to work in SS-​owned economic enterprises for the production of building materials. To this end, the SS founded new camps, and deported ever larger numbers of people to the camps.” In the case of Flossenbürg, that meant the backbreaking work of excavating granite for the German Earth and Stone Works, an SS company.

Flossenbürg as a slave labor camp

Flossenbürg’s prisoners were forced to work in the quarries—hauling heavy rocks, pushing wagons, moving soil, and more—without adequate clothing, footwear, food, or rest. Day and night, twelve hours at a time, no matter the weather or temperature.

At the end of the shift, the prisoners then hauled the bodies of those who didn’t survive the day back to the camp. If the prisoners didn’t die from work-related exhaustion, they just as often faced starvation, torture, random violence, and systematic executions.

Once prisoners became too worn down to continue work in the quarries, they were often sent to extermination camps in Poland like Auschwitz and Majdanek. Some particularly ill prisoners were sent to the euthanasia center at Hartheim Castle in Austria. Women unable to work were sent to Ravensbrück–the notorious women’s concentration camp in northern Germany.

Flossenbürg Concentration Camp operated from May 1938 until April 1945 when the US Army liberated the camp. In that time, 100,000 people had been imprisoned here and at least 30,000 died here. Flossenbürg’s prisoners included political opponents of the Nazi regime, Jews, Polish citizens, resistance members, foreign forced laborers, Soviet POWs, and many others.

Flossenbürg’s liberators

The US Army’s 90th Infantry Division liberated Flossenbürg on April 23, 1945. After landing at Utah Beach during the Normandy invasion, this division continued on through France, into Belgium where it fought in the Battle of the Bulge, then all the way across Germany to Flossenbürg. The monument to the 90th Infantry Division at Utah Beach was constructed using granite from the Flossenbürg quarry.

Flossenbürg today

After the war, a housing development was constructed on the grounds of the camp. (One of the first things you’ll notice when visiting Flossenbürg is how the nearby homes come right up to the memorial site.) The map under the arch of the main building shows how far it used to extend. The remains of the rest of the camp were essentially neglected. It wasn’t until the fall of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany (1989) that an interest in its Nazi past started to grow.

The first memorial space at Flossenbürg opened in 1995. Today, several of the camp’s original buildings still stand and they house some really well-done museum-style exhibits on the camp’s history. You can visit many beautiful memorial spaces as well as the chapel, the crematorium, and the building that housed the SS canteen.

Where is Flossenbürg Concentration Camp?

The Flossenbürg Concentration Camp and Memorial Site is located in the town of Flossenbürg, Germany. It’s about halfway up Germany’s eastern border, just a couple miles from the Czech Republic.

Where to Park at Flossenbürg

Once here, you’ll find a large gravel parking lot near the entrance. Parking is free and there are even charging stations for electric cars.

Tours to Flossenbürg

Unfortunately, no tour companies currently offer any roundtrip tours to Flossenbürg Concentration Camp from any of the surrounding cities. There are guided tours you can take advantage of once you arrive, but getting here (and back) is fully up to you.

What to see at Flossenbürg Concentration Camp

Though much of the camp was developed for other uses after the war, there’s still a great deal to see here. You’ll find original camp structures, museum exhibits, memorial spaces, the crematorium, burial grounds, and more. (Which I describe in more detail below.) There’s also a restaurant/café on site.

Flossenbürg Museum

Two of the original camp buildings still stand today and have been converted to house modern museum exhibitions. Inside the former camp laundry building is the exhibit titled “Flossenbürg Concentration Camp 1938-1945.” Using archival photographs and several original artifacts, it details the entire history of the camp from establishment to liberation.

And inside the former camp’s kitchen building is the exhibition titled “What Remains.” This exhibit focuses on the post-war life of the camp, its survivors, and things like the post-war Nazi trials (a topic I’m especially interested in).

I found both exhibitions to be incredibly well-done and I especially loved the “What Remains” exhibit. Of all the concentration camps I have visited, this is the first one I’ve seen that’s dedicated so much attention to the lives of the camp’s survivors in the decades following the war. I found it so interesting to see how many different ways they’ve coped with their experiences here. (Like using their prisoner number as their license plate!) This exhibit was definitely a highlight for me.

Original Camp Structures

The museum exhibitions above are located in two of the camp’s original structures—the kitchen and the laundry building—but those aren’t the only two you can visit. In addition to the ones mentioned below, you can also see the foundations of several prisoners barracks and other buildings as well as a few original guard towers.

Commandant Headquarters

At the entrance you’ll see a large imposing building. During the camp’s operation this served as the Commandant’s headquarters and SS administrative offices. Since this building is used today as the official Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial offices and library, you can’t go inside but there’s still plenty of information about it on the outside.

SS Canteen

The large building on the left side of the entrance is the former SS canteen. It housed a kitchen, dining hall, and restaurant primarily for the SS guards. It’s still used as the site’s café today as well as the education center and meeting rooms.

Crematorium

At the back of the memorial site, in the area known as the “Valley of Death,” you can visit the original crematorium. Inside, you’ll also see the “autopsy” room where SS guards would remove gold teeth and search the bodies for other valuables before burning them. Up the hill behind the crematorium you can see the original ramp. As the number of dead bodies drastically increased, this ramp acted as a literal chute down into the crematorium.

Restaurant and Café

The original SS canteen now functions as a small restaurant/café and education center. I ate here during my visit because I still had a couple more hours of driving to do and because there wasn’t anywhere else open to eat in town. And let me tell you, the experience of eating here was not a comfortable one.

I’ve eaten at other camps before; Dachau has a decent café on site, for example. But at Dachau, you’re in a new building that’s outside the bounds of the camp. The same goes for the restaurant at Mauthausen. But here at Flossenbürg, you’re eating in the original SS restaurant. Not only that, you’re sitting on a patio overlooking the camp’s roll call square and Commandant headquarters.

You’re seeing it all from up on high the way the SS guards saw it. All I could picture were the scenes from Schindler’s List where Amon Goeth is shooting prisoners at will from his balcony. It probably won’t be a delightful lunch for you, but if you need to eat, it’s here. (And for what it’s worth, the food and service are both great.)

Oddly enough, the café and patio were pretty packed at one point. I think this is just where people who live nearby come to eat lunch. It’s seems weird to me, but I guess when you live up against a concentration camp it’s just something you come to terms with pretty quickly.

Visiting Flossenbürg: What to Expect

After parking at Flossenbürg, you’ll first encounter a few informative signs near the building at the entrance. You can also pick up a map here. Upon entering the camp, you’ll first see the SS canteen (restaurant) to your left up the big staircase and the Commandant’s headquarters in front of you.

There is no official “entrance” or anywhere you need to check in. You’re simply free to visit the site as you wish. There are informative panels at each of the many visitor locations around the camp in both English and German. The map you picked up near the parking lot is easy to follow.

Inside the laundry building with the main museum exhibit, there’s an information counter where you’ll find someone who can answer questions, etc. From here, walk across the large square to the former kitchen building for the next exhibition. Continue on past the kitchen building and you’ll enter the memorial space. Pass the Jewish memorial and the chapel and you’ll be able to walk down into the Valley of Death (Tal des Todes).

Like this post? Have any questions about visiting Flossenbürg Concentration Camp? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading.

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