1945-48 Internment for "denazification
Civilian Internment Camp No. 6

After the liberation of Stalag VIIA by American troops on April 29, 1945, and the removal of the prisoners of war, the Stalag grounds served as "Civilian Internment Camp No. 6," the Moosburg internment and labor camp, from June 8, 1945, to April 22, 1948. In this internment camp for civilians, the Americans and, from the fall of 1946, the Bavarian State Ministry for Special Tasks detained functionaries of the Nazi regime as well as persons suspected of collaborating with the Nazi regime or of being war criminals. These persons were initially interned under a so-called "automatic arrest" until their case could be heard by the Spruchkammern (Court Chambers).

The starting point for the establishment of the internment camps was the denazification policy of the Americans. In addition to democratization and demilitarization, they had proclaimed the "denazification" of Germany as a war goal. The Americans were concerned with the complete elimination of National Socialism and militarism. Therefore, functionaries of National Socialist Germany were to be deprived of their power and ousted from leading positions in state and society. Denazification was then also a cornerstone of the American military government's occupation policy and was much more important here than in the British or French zones. In addition, the American forces pursued the goal of arresting war criminals.

Beginning in the spring of 1948, the Special Ministry gradually began to close internment camps, Moosburg being the first. On April 1, 1948, the camp was dissolved as an independent unit.

Reading tip: After extensive research, including at the National Archives in Washington, a detailed publication with many facts and sources about the internment camp was published in mid-2021:
„Internment Camp No 6 – Ein Internierungslager in der US-Zone 1945-1948"

reading tip: A compact account of the internment camp based on the aforementioned book has been published with this edition:
„Under Suspicion - in Internment Camp No. 6 Moosburg 1945-1948"