Exhibition "The Bird-Cage"

Laufen castle was liberated by the 8th armoured infantry battalion of the 20th armoured division on 4 May 1945. Three days before, the SS decided to blow up the Länderbrücke, but the citizens of Laufen and Oberndorf were able to defuse the bombs.

Rumours repeated in the diaries of several internees suggest that the SS intended to gas them in the cellars during one of the many air raids of that time, and that the SS came to the camp commandant and demanded that the camp be handed over and blown up; this was refused. It is unknown whether these rumours were true.

A Union Jack was hung out of a camp window, which caught the eye of an American officer, who entered the Schloss. Frank Stroobant recorded what happened:

Before we knew quite what was happening we were being liberated. Though this was what we had been hoping and praying for during these last three years, and had got ourselves worked up for in the last few days, when it happened we could scarcely believe it. There were a few who greeted the event with hilarity, but the majority of us were so grateful that we were dazed by our good fortune.

Men left the camp to explore the area and go hunting for souvenirs such as weapons and cameras. American soldiers are rumoured by some internees to have committed rape in the area.

Channel Islanders left Laufen between 17 to 21 June 1945. They were taken to Salzburg Aerodrome and flown to Hendon in the UK. They were processed in a reception centre and then joined relatives in the UK or went to a Displaced Persons camp. In late Summer 1945 they were allowed to travel back to the Channel Islands. Many found that their homes had been looted and taken by others. Others found it hard to reconnect with their wives who they had last seen several years previously.

Many Americans endured long waits before they could return home. Home was far away, they had no transportation, and some who had been living in Europe had no homes to return to. It took a long time for all internees to recover physically and mentally from their ordeal.