Exhibition "The Bird-Cage"

During the period of Oflag VII C (1939-1942) Dr. Ulrich Frey was camp commander in Schloss Laufen. Imprisoned British officers accused him of hostility towards them and of disregarding the Geneva Conventions. There is evidence that Frey was involved in war crimes, such as covering up the shooting of British Lieutenant Edward Dees. Nothing is known about his whereabouts after the war.

To maintain order in the camp and act as a mouthpiece for the command, the prisoners appointed 'camp seniors'. In Oflag VII C, this function was assumed by Brigadier Claude Nicholson. During the Ilag VII period (1942-1945), British and American internees each appointed their own camp seniors. For the British, these were Frank Stroobant then Ambrose Sherwill. For the Americans, these were Emerson Kidder, Jacques Risseeuw, and then Herbert Gompertz.

Martin Kochenburger was camp commander from summer 1943 to early 1945. Following the escape of British journalist Giles Romilly from the Tittmoning subcamp, Kochenburger was dismissed and court-martialed, but later acquitted and returned to Laufen in an unknown capacity. His successors until the camp's liberation in May 1945 were Kurt Kudla and, finally, Herbert Maass at liberation. In addition to the commandant, the Nazi camp personnel included a camp doctor, a translator and other officers. On 27 April 1945, all German camp personnel were officially dismissed. At the request of Sherwill and Gompertz, Kochenburger and the other German officers remained in the camp to protect it from possible attacks by SS units and other Nazi organisations.

After the war, the US military in Dachau launched investigations into the personnel of Ilag VII. Former internees were questioned as witnesses until the end of 1946. Hardly any charges were brought, and all of the personnel were acquitted.

American internee Theodor Mrozek spoke about Martin Kochenburger: ‘He arranged a walk outside the camp for us until that was stopped by the Gestapo. Furthermore, he arranged for us to go to movies outside the camp and many small things which another officer would not have given us as privileges.’ Camp senior Sherwill said: ‘They have always been most friendly and helpful, in some cases amazingly so.’