The Gross-Rosen camp was established in August 1940, at first as a sub-camp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, whose prisoners were assigned to work in the local granite quarry. The first convoy arrived on 2 August 1940. On 1 May 1941, Gross-Rosen became an independent concentration camp. It is regarded today as one of the harshest. From 1944 onwards, numerous sub-camps were created throughout the region. In January 1945, the camp became a stage in the evacuation of deportees from the camps located further East. During the last weeks of January, the camp quickly became overcrowded owing to the arrival of deportees from Auschwitz, hastily evacuated from 16 January 1945: barracks designed for 100 inmates housed up to 400 of them. In all, around 125,000 prisoners passed through the Gross-Rosen camp and its sub-camps. 40,000 met their death there. The camp was liberated on 14 February 1945 by the Red Army.
In application of the "Night and Fog" decree, which ordered the deportation of all enemies or opponents of the Third Reich, prisoners arrived at the Gross-Rosen camp in 1941 and were placed in a barrack known today as the "French barrack". It seems, however, that these were mainly Belgians and Dutchmen. The name is said to have been given to the barrack because of their language and not their nationality. Moreover, in July-August 1944, nineteen agents of the French section of the secret organisation Special Operations Executive were captured, held in barrack 14 of Gross-Rosen, and executed at the camp. A plaque honours their memory.
A museum, created in 1983, presents the history of the camp. It is of high quality and bears witness to extensive archival work. Audio guides are available and offer a route through the former camp, along which the daily life of the inmates is described. The "French barrack", however, is not part of the visit and is not signposted.