“Arbeitslager” or Labor camp “Oud Leusden” was a labor camp near Camp Amersfoort. The official name of Camp Amersfoort was Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Amersfoort, abbreviated PDA. In use from 18 August 1941 until the spring of 1943, when the PDA was closed for a short time to be renovated and expanded and more and more prisoners were sent to Amersfoort. They all had to be put to work. Companies in the area were approached to take in forced laborers. Camp “Oud Leusden” then functioned as shelter and sleeping place.
From concentration camp Vught, approximately 70 men were sent there from May 1943 to dig out a tank firing position in Amersfoort and returned to Camp Vught after a few months. In Camp Amersfoort, they were called “Zebra Jews”, because of the striped prison clothing they wore. Well-known photos are the men with wheelbarrows in the sand.
Sources included info Kamp Amersfoort, website Canon van Nederland/Kamp Amersfoort and website Oorlogsbronnen