Exhibition "The Bird-Cage"

Considering that the youngest inmate of Ilag VII in November 1942 was 16 years old and thus born in 1926, it can be assumed that, with few exceptions, only the descendants of the prisoners in Laufen are still alive. The impact of this is that, without formal links between Laufen and America or the Channel Islands, memory is dying out, especially since there are no more living survivors of Laufen in the Channel Islands today.

2,300 Channel Islanders were deported in total and spread over several German camps, including Laufen, Biberach and Wurzach. There are mainly two reasons why the memory of Biberach and Wurzach is more vivid. These camps held families, including babies and small children, some of whom are still alive. In addition, Biberach entered into a partnership with the Channel Island of Guernsey, and Bad Wurzach with St. Helier in Jersey.

In Jersey, the first memorial to those who were deported was erected in 1985 by a former internee to mark the 40^th anniversary. In Guernsey, the first memorial to internees, listing the names of the dead, was erected in 2015. It commemorated the 70^th anniversary of liberation of the camps.

Return visits were made to Laufen until the mid-1970s, when the former Channel Islands Ex-Internee Association visited the town for the unveiling of the memorial plaque in Laufen cemetery. It is not known when the last internee visited the town.

The heterogeneous composition of the American section of the camp prevented a unified organization of former internees. The British prisoners of war in Oflag VII presented a similar situation: they came from all parts of Great Britain, often even from the colonies that still existed at the time, which is why there was never an association of former prisoners of war in Laufen. Nevertheless, individual former prisoners of Oflag VIIC and American internees of Ilag VII certainly paid private visits to Laufen.