Ein Fingerring von einem NSDAP Kriegsgefangene der Internierungslager 71

A finger ring from a NSDAP prisoner of war from Internment Camp 71

This is an aluminium made ring with the initials EJ, on the side written in English Ludwigsburg 1945 Internment Camp 71. The US 7th Army was in control of this and other army camps surroundig Ludwigsburg. In this camps NSDAP and other political but also high ranking officers were locked up between 1945 and 1946 for investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

History of this specific camp. The camp was build by the Germans already in 1935 but was used from 1939 as Transit camp for Polish prisoners. From around 1940 it was used as a main camp and named “Stalag V A”. The roofs of the buildings within the camp were marked with “KG” for (Kriegsgefangene) prisoners of war. There were also red crosses on the roofs to ensure that Allied aircraft did not target the camp. The headquarters of Stalag V A was located in the Ludwigsburg Krabbenloch barracks. A branch camp for Soviet prisoners had been set up in Münsingen.

In 1945 the camp was evacuated and the prisoners of war, who came from almost all nations participating in the war, were forced to march across southern Germany.

The US Army then used the camp as an internment camp for Nazi officials until 1946 under the name Internment Camp 71. From 1947 onwards, the civilian housing estate Grünbühl emerged from the barracks camp and from 1955, Pattonville, adjacent to it to the south.

Code: 53344