Author shines light on grisly history of prison used to hold Nazis in World War II
Jenny Morrison It is more than six decades since the last signs of life – and death – behind its barbed wire.
Camp 21 Comrie – Britain’s bestpreserved prisoner of war camp – has long been the subject of myths and legends including a rumour it played host to Rudolf Hess.
Thanks to a new book by Valerie Campbell, the grisly history of the camp at Cultybraggan, Perthshire, is at last laid bare.
Not only does she offer proof Adolf Hitler’s deputy did not spend the night, the writer also sheds light on the infamous murder of German interpreter Feldwebel Wolfgang Rosterg and the escape tunnels hidden deep below the camp.
Va l e r i e , 4 8 , of Ti l l icoultry, Clackmannanshire, has spent years researching war records , as wel l as tracking down former German prisoners of war and their families.
She said: “Myths and legends spring up in all areas of history and Hess was one of those who bore the brunt of such a legend.
“Why people thought he was held at Camp 21 grew from what was once thought to be a missing night – but his whereabouts have since been accounted for.
“During my research, I also discovered more about the dramatic death of Rosterg, who was tortured and beaten by his fellow inmates before finally being hung after they suspected him of being a British spy. For a while, the camp was guarded by a unit of Polish guards who despised all things German following the invasion of their country in 1939.
“They tended to be harsh on their German prisoners.
“If two prisoners from different compounds tried to speak to each other through the wire, the Polish guards fired warning shots as this was forbidden.
“One day a prisoner – Feldwebel Heinrich Schwarz – was speaking to another through the fence when a guard’s shot rang out. And this time killed him.”
Other serious incidents included the death of prisoner Willi Thorman, who was found hanged just weeks before Rosterg’s murder. It was never confirmed whether Thorman’s death was murder or suicide.
More than 500,000 Ital ian and German fighters were brought to Britain as prisoners of war during World War II.
They spent the remainder of the war in commandeered stately homes, old Army barracks or hasti ly thrown together huddles of huts, often built by the prisoners themselves
Camp 21 Comrie – also known as Cultybraggan Camp – was one of more than 60 prisoner of war camps set up in Scotland.
Valerie said: “It was originally classed as a black camp, designed to hold the prisoners deemed the most hard-line and potentially dangerous Nazis. Guards at the camp uncovered a dramatic escape attempt, finding a number of tunnels that had been secretly dug by inmates.
“It could hold up to 4000 inmates at a time, in a series of corrugated Nissen huts, many of which are still standing.”
The camp went on to become a Cold War bunker, before more recently being used by the Combined Cadet Forces for training purposes.
It is now owned by the Comrie Development Trust, who run everything from a visitor centre to community allotments at the site. Camp 21 Comrie: POWs and Post-War Stories from Cultybraggan, published by Whittles.