stutthof concentration camp

Well kept, informative with very helpful staff. Everyone should visit such a site. Lest we forget !!!Bus No 870 from Gdansk, 60 mins door to door for £2. Free to view but donations accepted. Outstanding value !!

Bus from Gdansk tourist information provided timetable cheap to travel on local bus. First time to visit a concentration camp, very sad to see loads on information in English and Polish no tours available last week but plenty for you to make your way round yourself.

This was an experience unlike any I've ever had before. I went to Stutthof in darkest December with my girlfriend; we caught a little commuter bus (not a tourist bus or anything, literally just a regional bus that casually stops at a Nazi concentration camp) and the further we drove, the bleaker and emptier the landscape got. We got to Sztutowo (the town next to it, right up near the Russian boreder) after a long journey - I would recommend bringing food - and walked into the forest at side of the road.Everything is still in tact. The creepiest thing is that nobody has removed the narrow-gauge railway tracks that run along the road for literally miles, then lead straight into the camp. It's a constant reminder of the industrial scale of the murders at these places. We happened to go on a day when it hit around -10°C, and we were strangely the only people in the entire camp. Thus, it was the single creepiest, saddest and most desolate experience I have ever had while travelling. But the insane cold, combined with a excellently-presented museum of endless stories of human experimentation and mass killing, just felt apt, if that's not too crass. There were no tourists to spoil it, no hot weather to lift your spirits; it was just dark and bleak and brutal.And this was before we even got to the far end of the camp, where the ovens and the gas chamber are situated. I don't need to say more. This is a harrowing but necessary visit if you're in Gdansk.P.S. this camp is infamous for being not only the first to be constructed outside of Germany, but also for being the camp where soap was made from the remains of dead inmates. This particular camp is seriously not for the faint hearted.

I caught the bus to and from the concentration camp from Gdansk. I did have a bit of trouble working out which bus to catch, however I asked one of the woman that worked there and she wrote down for me where I wanted to go in Polish to give to the driver which made things a lot easier. The bus drops you right outside the camp and picks you up from there in the afternoon.The camp itself is very isolated and as you travel there by bus you drive along the death railway. There is an optional video for a small cost that you can watch at the camp, I would recommend watching it because it gives some context to the horrible things that happened there. The camp itself is a well preserved piece of history that hit me extremely hard. Be aware that this probably isn't a good place to bring children just because of how graphic and shocking it was. If you have a spare day in Gdansk I would strongly recommend making the journey to this camp. I learnt a lot from the few hours I spent at Stutthof and would really recommend a visit.

We only heard about this place from trip advisor. Easy to get to by bus from the main bus station in Gdansk - number 870 cost out 14 zlotys. Ticket bought from the kiosk in the main bus station. Journey is approx. 80 mins. I watched on my phone for the location. You will see a sign saying Stutthof museum, leave the bus immediately on seeing this. After alighting the bus walk back where you have travelled and cross the road past the little brown shelter. Free entry. Allow at least two hours visit. We had already visited Auschwitz so knew what to expect. This site is obviously not on the same scale but still nonetheless a very poignant place to visit. When we visited in February, was very cold, bleak and harrowing. The lady in the office is very knowledable and advised on the return journey. If you can watch the films in the cinema it is well worth 3 zlotys per person. Overall a very worthwhile and informative visit

We lots said about aushwitz and burkenow ..... Which I have visited both ...... But Stutthof was the first concentration camp opened by the Germans and the last one freed by a troup of Russian and Ukraine soldiers ...... Although smaller in stature in the final stages of the war Germans used forced marches into the Baltic sea or the surrounding forests for mass execution ...... We hear about the Nuremberg trials and we seldom here of the trials at the Stutthof camp of woman guards who did unspeakable horros re to their prisoners ...... You walk through the camp and feel all the hardships .... Realize how we can never let anyone repeat this horror

Stutthof is one of those places that after paying it a visit you're might be ashamed of being a human. It was extremely sad and after reading about tortures or actually anything that happened there you were just speechless.It's a reminder of how cruel a man can be. I think everyone should visit a concentration camp at least once.

It was my first visit to concentration camp. We visited from Gdansk. We went by a bus and the journey was nice, because we got to see local countryside and drove by small villages. The camp is big, quiet and the entrance is free. There isn't any staff in the barracks and other buildings. Only in the info building and in a small kiosk in the end. There were good exhibitions in the buildings, lots of information in polish or german. Some in english. But of course the places itself and the photos tell their own story. for me, it was a powelfull experience. I can recommend.

This is a painful experience to see how people can do the most horrific things to each other. You should visit and get yourself a real eye-opener. Gdansk is a city with much history and this site shows the history is really cruel.You pay 3 sloty to see a movie that lasts 20 minutes. You will then get a good impression of the camp, before moving around inside the camp.It's scary that this happened not so long ago. And if we do not remember our history, this could happen again ... just look around you today .. .. wake up everybody.

Went here with my friends. Already when walking up towards "the death gate" my stomach turned inside out. After looking at the big pile of shoes left behind I hade tears in my eyes and then we went inside the old camp and I had one of the strongest experience in my life. This is the type of experience I wish all people will have just once in their life. When you with your own eyes walk in to the house where the female prisoners lived and read the stories about how they would hide their kids from the SS men. When you walk pass the operating room, the washing room, up towards the gas chamber. When you see the oven where they use to burn people and all the ashes. The train line and the train that stopped just outside the gas chamber and the factory where the men worked all day... I wish everyone at least once would visit a concentration camp.

I say that this is a must see because if you have never been to a concentration camp then it is a must see.They do a good job of having English signs and you can keep up with what went on there. You will be moved and wished that what happened there could never happen again. Yet, we know sadly that history has repeated itself.

Stutthov was the first concentration camp to be built during WWII. It remains intact with all of the buildings, gas chamber, railroad car, crematorium and guard tower. The buildings that held the prisoners have been made into a museum with photographs and information lining the walls. The original bunks, medical facility, latrines and eating area with metal dishes are still there. One building has a large glass enclosure full of shoes that were taken from the inmates when they arrived. All that is there is the soles, but there are thousands of them. There is large free standing glass enclosure that is filled with coal and bones from the crematorium. This was a somber place to visit. I saw several people crying. I recommend visiting Stutthoff one time to see and learn of how the people lived, died and survived here.

At a late stage of life we had the opportunity to gain a better , first hand, understand of the holocaust. We have seen museums in the US but never an on the ground experience where it actually happened. The bus ride is very unsuspecting for what you will see. You have to see the facility to understand the magnitude of the tragedy. Many buildings and artifacts remain. The dorms, medical facilities, crematoriums, gas chambers and the burial ground. Examples of the trains and cars used to transfer detainees are also there. The road in follows the narrow gauge tracks which many poles traveled to the camp. It is well worth the time and ride to see for travelers of both old and young who seek a better understanding and perspective of the atrocities committed on Poles during the second world war.

Very thorough and a good hours worth of info and huts and gas chamber and crematorium, which bizarrely they call a crematory on the sign in English outside. It's really well done and there is English on the main signs, such a shame inside everything it is all in polish but nevertheless it is very moving and respectful. One point though although the guide book says it's free, if you go by car you have to pay to park and there is a small charge too for a short movie you can watch. I'd rather there was just a 10 zloty entrance fee which includes everything. I hate hidden extras.

We took the bus from behind the main train station in Gdansk. It leaves once an hour (15 past the hour when we were there). For 2 people one each way the cost was about 14 zloty. As other reviewers have said the ride was about one and a quarter hours. I used the gps on my phone to track our journey and reminded the bus driver that we wanted that stop as we got nearer. We spent about 3-4 hours slowly working our way through the buildings, reading the displays of the history of this sad place. Most of the information is is English. We had not visited any other camps like this, so it was a very moving experience. The lady in the bookshop was very nice, and told us about the return bus times, and where to catch it (turn left and walk a bit further than where the bus dropped us off.) There are no food and drink facilities, we had brought our snacks and water with us.