Exhibition "The Bird-Cage"

During the period that Laufen served as the Oflag VII C officer POW camp (1939–1942), six prisoner deaths were officially recorded: that of three Polish officers and three British prisoners of war. They were John Bateman (ruptured liver), Edward Gollogly (heart failure) and Edward Dees (gunshot wound). However, there are indications that the true number of deaths may have been higher. The concealment of the shooting of Edward Dees, as well as a 1940 letter from the mayor of Laufen warning of a potential lack of burial space, suggest that additional fatalities may have gone undocumented or unreported.

When Schloss Laufen was used as a civilian internment camp (1942–1945), thirteen male internees died, ranging in age from 21 to 85. Ten of them were buried in the cemetery opposite the castle, now known as the Old Cemetery.

The thirteen civilian internees were:

• Emanuel Solomon (45): sinus thrombosis and respiratory failure (Jewish)
• Nathan Guter (85): heart failure (Jewish)
• Dilwyn Davies (25): tuberculosis
• Norman Hey (62): heart failure
• Augustus Dunkley (66): pneumonia
• Alfred Weismann (81): stroke (Jewish)
• Arthur Dimery (52): heart failure
• Percy Herrington (53): heart paralysis
• Henry Le Goupillot (21): gunshot wound
• Albert Stern (84): pneumonia (Jewish)
• Paul von Neindorff (74): Blood poisoning and pulmonary oedema
• Alfred Warner Chaskin (56): lung cancer
• Hermon Bentley (51): cause of death unknown

Of the Jewish deaths, only Emanuel Solomon was born in Britain. Alfred Weismann, while not born in Britain had British citizenship. It is likely that von Neindorff, Chaskin and Bentley are not listed on the memorials dedicated to British citizens because they were buried in the municipal cemetery in Salzburg. To this day, there is still no public memorial to the deceased officers of Oflag VII C.

Henry Le Goupillot occupies a special position: He died after the liberation of Ilag VII from the consequences of a gunshot wound, as a shot was accidentally fired from the pistol of David T. Fisher, who was sitting opposite him, during a medical transport on June 1, 1945.