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Prior to the famous trial in Nuremberg, more than half (13 out of 22) of the leading Nazis accused by the Allies as major war criminals were interned and interrogated starting in May, 1945 by the Americans in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The secret prison in the spa town of Bad Mondorf was given the code name “Ashcan.”

Bad Mondorf was within reach of General Eisenhower’s forward headquarters in Reims in northern France, which was to coordinate the interrogation of the prisoners.

The perfect hiding place

On April 30, the Americans took over the keys of the Palace Hotel in Bad Mondorf and began to convert it into Camp Ashcan. In the process, they had to reckon with liberation attempts by fanatical Nazis — as well as acts of revenge by Résistance commandos or the local population.

The center of Ashcan was the old Palace Hotel that had fallen into disrepair under the German occupation. With the help of German prisoners of war and local craftsmen, it was transformed into a prison with a high security fence and watchtowers.

The windows were barred and covered with Plexiglas. The hotel furniture in the rooms was replaced by basic military equipment with a cot, chair and two bed sheets.

Nevertheless, the hotel still looked like a luxury hotel from the outside. As it turned out, the concern of the inspectors sent by U.S. headquarters that high-ranking German prisoners of war were seeming to enjoy the luxury of a spa hotel was not unfounded.

The star inmate

In mid-May 1945, the camp was put into operation and the first prisoners were transferred to Bad Mondorf. On May 20, Hermann Göring, Hitler’s deputy, was brought there. On May 9, he had surrendered to the 36th U.S. Infantry Division in Austria with his wife, daughter and some staff.

If Göring’s capture had already caused a great stir, in Bad Mondorf, much to Eisenhower’s dismay, he immediately advanced to the status of “star prisoner.”

Drug-addicted and overweight, Göring brought with him in his seven suitcases not only large quantities of paradozin (a morphine preparation), but also a large number of valuables and uniforms, which were immediately confiscated.

Under the supervision first of a German and later an American military doctor, Göring was subjected to a drug deprivation cure. Thanks to the prison diet, which corresponded to the 1600 calories prescribed by the Geneva Convention for prisoners of war, he soon lost weight.

When Göring was transferred to Nuremberg in August 1945, he was in the best physical condition he had been in for years.

Everyday life in prison

The prisoners took their meals together in the dining room of the former hotel and could spend their free time, when there were no interrogations, in the reading room or playing games. Many sat on the terrace or in the garden on sunny days.

The accommodations were much better than in the normal POW camps, which particularly offended the Soviets, for understandable reasons.

Ready to take responsibility for their crimes?

In a report handed over to Stalin on June 30, 1945, the Commissar of State Security Serov wrote:

Sorgente: The US Secret Prison that Housed Leading Nazis – The Globalist

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