Oflag VII-C

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Oflag VII-C / Ilag VII
Laufen, Germany
Laufen Castle, which housed the camp
Oflag VII-C / Ilag VII is located in Germany
Oflag VII-C / Ilag VII
Oflag VII-C / Ilag VII
Coordinates47°56′19″N 12°56′12″E / 47.93861°N 12.93676°E / 47.93861; 12.93676
TypePrisoner-of-war camp
Internment camp
Site information
Controlled by Nazi Germany
Site history
In use1940-1945
Battles/warsWorld War II
Garrison information
OccupantsBritish POWs
British and U.S. internees

Oflag VII-C was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp for officers located in Laufen Castle, in Laufen in south-eastern Bavaria from 1940 to 1942. Most of the prisoners were British officers captured during the Battle of France in 1940. To relieve overcrowding, some of the officers were transferred to Oflag VII-C/Z in Tittmoning Castle. The Oflag existed only for a short time. In early 1942 all the officers were transferred to Oflag VII-B in Eichstätt.

The castle was then used as an Internment Camp

U.S. 3rd Army
on 5 May 1945.

Eight Channel Island internees died in Laufen camp during the period of internment.[1]

Notable inmates

  • John Lingshaw, Channel Islander internee and subsequent German collaborator.
  • Josef Nassy, a black expatriate artist of Jewish descent, holding a US passport who created a visual diary of life in the camp.[2]
  • Captain Pat Reid, arrived 5 June 1940, escaped 5 September 1940, later British escape officer at Colditz.
  • Ambrose Sherwill, President of the Controlling Committee in Guernsey, who became British Camp Senior.
  • Jean-Claude Miller, youngest inmate (18 years old), interned early December 1942 with his father John Vassar Miller, because they were Americans trapped in Europe when war was declared.[3]
  • Lieutenant J.E.M. ‘Jimmy’ Atkinson of the 7th Battalion
    The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders who wrote the Scottish country dance, the Reel of the 51st Highland Division
    whilst in the camp.
  • Desmond Llewelyn, actor, known for playing Q in 17 James Bond films
  • John Buxton, scholar, university teacher, poet, and ornithologist.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Death Rolls of Channel Islands Internees". thisisjersey.co.uk. 2012. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  2. ^ United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (2012). "Josef Nassy". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  3. ^ "JEAN-CLAUDE MILLER".

POW memoirs