Laufen Castle (Germany)

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Laufen Castle
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Schloss Laufen
Laufen in  Germany
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Laufen Castle
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Laufen Castle
Coordinates 47°56′19″N12°56′12.34″E / 47.93861°N 12.9367611°E / 47.93861; 12.9367611
TypeCastle
Site information
ConditionIntact
Site history
Built15th Century
In use15th Century – 1945
Events Second World War

Laufen Castle (German : Schloss Laufen) is a square-shaped castle overlooking the Salzach river that was built for the Archbishop of Salzburg in the 15th century. The castle is located in the town of Laufen in the German state of Bavaria. During the Second World War, it was the site of Oflag VII-C (a prisoner-of-war camp for captured Officers), and later of Ilag VII (an internment camp for men from the Channel Islands).

Contents

History

Laufen Castle, which is assumed to be built on the ruins of an ancient Roman structure, was first mentioned in the reign of Bishop Vergilius of Salzburg, and once again in the 13th century. On March 29, 1166, Emperor Barbarossa held court here.

During World War II the castle was used first as a prisoner-of-war camp for officers, Oflag VII-C. Then In May 1942 the officers were transferred to another camp, and the castle was used as an internment camp Ilag VII housing some hundreds of men deported from the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey and some American civilians that had been caught in Europe by the declaration of war by Germany on the United States on 11 December 1941.

Literature

Werner Meyer: Castles in Upper Bavaria – A handbook. Publisher Weidlich, Würzburg, 1986, ISBN   3-8035-1279-4, S. 49th

P.R. Reid, M.B.E., MC.: The Colditz Story' Hodder and Stoughton, 1952

See also

47°56′19″N12°56′12.34″E / 47.93861°N 12.9367611°E / 47.93861; 12.9367611