Amicale de Neuengamme et de ses Kommandos
August 1945: Creation of a board of directors by 21 French survivors, headed by Marcel Prenant. They aim at:
- Helping the families of those who did not come back or the survivors experiencing difficulties.
- Revealing the barbarous acts committed by the Nazis and their accomplices in Vichy and demanding punishment for the perpetrators.
September 1945: First publication of the quarterly magazine “N’oublions jamais”.
October 14, 1945: First General Assembly.
April 21-22, 1946: First Congress in Paris. The participants write a founding text “Serment à nos camarades” (“Oath to our Fellows”) in which they pledge to remain faithful to their memory until death. In 2010, the Amicale writes a “Manifesto”, based on the same spirit and answering the need to renew the engagement.
1948: first “pilgrimage” to Neuengamme camp.
1995: publication of the “Memorial book of the French persons deported to Neuengamme and its satellite camps” (more than 9600 names). A digital version is due to be on line in 2017.
2006: creation of the first Website, updated in 2010: www.campneuengamme.org
2008, 2010: publication of “Neuengamme, camp de concentration nazi” (Ed. Tirésias).
2013: publication of the first booklets of the « Dossiers de Neuengamme » on the satellite camps and evacuation places (21 booklets published in November 2016).
Amicale de Neuengamme et de ses Kommandos
25 rue Marius Lacroix
17000 La Rochelle
Amicale Internationale de Neuengamme (A.I.N.)
On May 17 and 18, 1958, the representatives of the national associations of the Neuengamme camp meet in Brussels and decide to unite with the aim of protecting the sites of the main camp and its satellite camps. The Amicale Internationale de Neuengamme (AIN) was born. It was presided by Lucienne Bouffioux (Belgium), Jean-Aimé Dolidier (France), Renée Aubry (France), Robert Pinçon (France), Janine Grassin (France), Victor Malbecq (Belgium), Jean-Michel Gaussot (France).
December 4, 1964 : Laying of the first stone for a memorial inaugurated on November 7, 1965. It is a monument with an obelisk measuring 27 metres adjoined by a statue „The Deportee in Agony“ by the Auschwitz and Ravensbrück survivor Françoise Salmon.
Thanks to the efforts by the AIN the site of the main camp has been freed from all profane activities and has been turned into a memorial for those who did not return from the hell created by the Nazis. Today it offers a Gedenkstätte, a place for education and commemoration with a permanent exhibition with five main themes, archives that are in part open to the public, a center for historical studies and a library.
