Camp Ashcan
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Central Continental Prisoner of War Enclosure No. 32, code-named Ashcan, was an Allied prisoner-of-war camp in the Palace Hotel of Mondorf-les-Bains, Luxembourg during World War II. Operating from May to August 1945, it served as a processing station and interrogation center for the 86 most prominent surviving Nazi leaders prior to their trial in Nuremberg, including Hermann Göring and Karl Dönitz.
A British counterpart of Ashcan, in Castle Kransberg near Frankfurt am Main, housed prisoners of a more technical inclination including Albert Speer and Wernher von Braun.
History[]
The camp was established by order of Allied Command.[1] It was commanded by U.S. Army Col. Burton C. Andrus, and staffed by men of the U.S. ,[2] Allied intelligence services and 42 German prisoners of war selected for their skills, including a barber, dentist, doctor and even a hotel manager.[3]
The place selected for the camp was the Palace Hotel, a four-story luxury hotel dominating the small spa town, which had earlier in 1945 been used as a billet for U.S. troops.[1] The hotel was transformed into a high-security area with a 15-foot (4.6 m) high electrified barbed wire fence, guard towers with machine guns and klieg lights.[4] Security was so tight that even the MPs guarding the perimeter knew not what went on inside; they quipped that getting in required "a pass signed by God, and then somebody has to verify the signature".[2] Conditions in the prison were Spartan. The hotel furniture was replaced by Army cots and collapsible tables.[3]
On 10 August 1945, the prisoners were transferred to Nuremberg to stand trial, and the camp was disbanded shortly afterwards. The building continued to serve as a hotel until 1988, when it was demolished to make way for a more modern spa.
Prisoners[]
Prisoners at Ashcan included most of the accused in the Nuremberg Trials along with many other senior Nazi Party, government and military officials such as:
- Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe and Reich Air Minister
- Joachim von Ribbentrop, Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Robert Ley, head of the German Labour Front
- Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of Staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
- Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
- Großadmiral Karl Dönitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine and Reichspräsident
- Walther Funk, Reich Minister of the Economy and President of the Reichsbank
- Fritz Sauckel, General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment
- Hans Frank, General Governor of Poland
- Wilhelm Frick, Reich Minister of the Interior and Reich Protector of Bohemia-Moravia
- Arthur Seyß-Inquart, Reichskommissar of the Netherlands
- Julius Streicher, Gauleiter of Franconia and publisher of Der Stürmer
- Franz von Papen, Vice-Chancellor
- Alfred Rosenberg, Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories
- Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Reich Minister of Finance and Chief Minister of the Flensburg government
- Richard Walther Darré, Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture
- Franz Seldte, Reich Minister of Labor
- Wilhelm Stuckart, State Secretary and later Reich Minister of the Interior
- Hans Lammers, Head of the Reich Chancellery
- Otto Meissner, Head of the Presidential Chancellery
- Kurt Daluege, Chief of the Ordnungspolizei (Order Police) and Deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia-Moravia
- Karl Brandt, Reich Commissioner for Sanitation and Health and co-head of the Aktion T4 euthenasia program
- Franz Ritter von Epp, Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of Bavaria
- Walter Buch, Chief of the Supreme Party Court
- Franz Xaver Schwarz, National Treasurer of the Nazi Party
- Ernst Wilhelm Bohle, Gauleiter for the Nazi Party/Foreign Organization
- Admiral Miklós Horthy, Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary
- Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, Commander-in-Chief in the West
- Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, Commander-in-Chief in the South
- General of Artillery Walter Warlimont, Deputy Chief of Operations of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
- Albert Göring, brother of Hermann Göring, later released without charges
Footnotes[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Dolibois, 86.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Dolibois, 85.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Dolibois, 87.
- ^ Dolibois, 84.
References[]
- Dolibois, John E. (2001). Pattern of Circles: An Ambassador's Story. Kent State University Press. ISBN 9780873387026.
- Galbraith, John Kenneth (22 October 1945). "The "Cure" at Mondorf Spa". Life. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
- Goda, Norman J. W. (2007). Tales from Spandau: Nazi criminals and the Cold War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521867207.
- Schnee, Philipp (28 October 2009). "Hotel der Kriegsverbrecher". einestages (in German). Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
- Jacobsen, Annie (2014). Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America. Little, Brown & Company. ISBN 031622104X.
External link[]
- World War II prisoner of war camps
- Mondorf-les-Bains
- Nuremberg trials