Ilag

• Ilag XVIII Spittal ==Internment camps in Czechoslovakia==

• Ilag IV Eisenberg ==Internment camps in France 1940–1944==

There were 219 internment camps in France during the Second World War. Several Ilags were set up in France by the German Army to hold citizens of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth countries that were caught by the rapid advance during the Battle of France. The main camps were: Besançon The camp at Besançon was called Frontstalag 142, or Caserne Vauban. At the end of 1940, 2,400 women, mostly British, were interned in the Vauban barracks and another 500 old and sick in the St. Jacques hospital close by. In early 1941 many of them were released; the rest were transferred to Vittel. Saint-Denis The camp was located in the old barracks built in the middle of the 19th century at Saint-Denis, close to Paris. The camp was opened June 1940 and existed until liberated by the United States Army in August 1944. Part of the grounds were surrounded by barbed wire to provide open space for exercise. In early 1942, there were more than 1,000 male British internees in the camp. The meagre food rations were augmented by the International Red Cross packages, so that, overall, their diet was satisfactory. Life was tolerable because there was a good library and recreation was provided by sports activities and theatre. Vittel Also called Frontstalag 121, this was one of the more hospitable internment camps as it was located in requisitioned hotels in this spa near Epinal in the Department Vosges. Most of the British families and single women were transferred here from St. Denis and Besançon. In early 1942, women over 60, men over 75 and children under 16 were released. The overall population was thus reduced to about 2,400. The inmates included a number of American families and women. Provisions for recreation included a local theatre and a park with seven tennis courts. A young New Zealander and two British women escaped in August 1941 and made their way to England. Other camps in France • Ilag Clermont • Ilag Compiègne • Ilag Drancy • Ilag Giromagny • Ilag Rouen ==Internment camps in Germany World War II==

Ilag V Liebenau A camp in , near Meckenbeuren in Württemberg, on Lake Constance, opened in 1940 and operated until 1945. It was in a castle and four adjacent buildings. Previously it had been a mental hospital run by nuns. On Adolf Hitler's orders about 700 of the patients were exterminated by injection under a program retrospectively named Aktion T4. The first internees were about 300 British citizens from Poland. More British were brought in 1941 from Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands and other countries. Red Cross packages augmented the food rations. The guards were older German veterans of World War I and treated the internees well. Several had been prisoners of war in British camps where they had been treated well. In January 1943 many of the married women were transferred to Vittel (see above). Ilag V-B Biberach Built in 1939 as barracks, this camp became an Ilag accommodating Channel Island families interned as a reprisal for the deportation of German nationals from the Kingdom of Iran to Camp 10 in Loveday, South Australia. The camp was located on a plateau northwest of Biberach an der Riß in southeastern Baden-Württemberg. It consisted of 23 concrete huts that had previously served as Oflag V-B for officers who were prisoner of war. Initially, the camp was administered by the German Army, but in the spring of 1943 the administration was transferred to the Interior Ministry; this caused a worsening of food rations. Otherwise, the International Red Cross considered conditions in the camp to be satisfactory. In January 1943, the camp held 1,011 internees: 429 men, 437 women, and 145 children. 20 Channel Island civilians died in Biberach. Ilag V-C Wurzach This camp also held Channel Island families. It was located in the town of Bad Wurzach and southeastern Baden-Württemberg. Previously, it had been used as an oflag housing French officers. Conditions were less satisfactory because it was located in a three-story 18th-century castle that had recently been a monastery, and the rooms were dark and damp. The deportees now learned first hand about conditions elsewhere. Other camps in Germany • Ilag 6 Bad Godesberg • Ilag Bad Neuenahr • Ilag Buchenwald • Ilag Dachau • Ilag 6 Dorsten • Ilag 10 Sandbostel • Ilag VII/Z Tittmoning • Ilag 3 Treuenbrietzen • Ilag XIII Wülzburg ==Internment camps in the Netherlands==

• Ilag Haaren, North Brabant • Kamp Sint-Michielsgestel, North Brabant ==Internment camps in Poland==

• Ilag 21 Chludowo • Ilag (Oflag 6) Kreuzburg • Ilag (Stalag 344) Kreuzburg • Ilag VIII/Z Kreuzburg • Ilag Tost • Ilag VIII Tost • Ilag VIII/H Tost ==Repatriation==

• At least one small group of internees returned from Laufen to Jersey prior to D-Day in 1944. • A small number of Guernsey internees, considered too ill to remain in Laufen, were repatriated individually as the occasion arose accompanied by a couple of German soldiers and a Guernsey internee in his capacity as Red Cross representative. The route taken was across occupied France to St Malo where they would embark by boat to Guernsey; the accompanying party would return after a few days. • After lengthy negotiations in Switzerland, 900 British internees, mostly elderly or ill, were exchanged in Lisbon for a similar number of Germans interned in South Africa in July 1944. • In September 1944, 125 elderly and infirm Channel Islanders were repatriated on the via Sweden to the UK. Following a three-day January trip by the Laufen senior, Ambrose Sherwill to Berlin to meet the Swiss delegation, 24 from Laufen were included in a further 212 being repatriated in April 1945. Laufen was liberated on 4 May 1945, by Americans of 40th Armoured Division. ==See also==