De hoek in zicht: Het Transit Camp

What was the Engelse Kamp?

The Engelse Kamp, officially 113 Transit Camp, was a large military transit camp in Hoek van Holland. The camp was established immediately after the Second World War, on 20 July 1945, to house British soldiers of the Rhine Army travelling to and from Germany. The camp was strategically located due to the railway connection with Germany and the shipping route from Harwich. The camp, which was also referred to as 'British territory', had extensive facilities such as kitchens, a shop, a barber shop, a cinema, a radio station, a church and a hospital.

Daily life in the Transit Camp

The camp consisted mainly of Nissen huts, barracks with curved roofs made of corrugated iron. Approximately 1,300 British soldiers and 1,170 Dutch civilians worked there to care for and entertain the thousands of soldiers passing through. There was even an English school for children of British soldiers living in Hoek van Holland. Public order was maintained by the British military police, both inside and outside the camp. From 1945 to 1961, the Transit Camp played an important role in post-war Rotterdam.