KRIEGSGEFANGENENLAGER (KGL) EUBÖA
Despite its designation, KGL Euböa was an ad hoc collection camp, not part of the regular prisoner of war (POW) camp [End Page 529] system, and it was guarded by regular troops on temporary detail. It existed from September to October 1943 on the Greek island of Euboea (German: Euböa) in the Aegean Sea (map 8). It was subordinate to the German commandant of the island of Euboea/Admiral Aegean (Admiral Ägäis)/Army Group (Heeresgruppe) E.
German troops occupied the island in early September 1943 and created a temporary camp, into which they placed the approximately 6,000 Italian military personnel who were stationed there, pending their transfer to the Greek mainland in late October. Details on conditions in the camp are not available, but given German attitudes toward their erstwhile allies, life in the camp is likely to have been harsh.
On September 12, 1943, 3,000 POWs were taken to Saloniki (today Thessaloniki, Greece) by ship,1 and, on October 28 and 30, 1943, respectively, 501 prisoners were transported to Saloniki and 2,500 to Piraeus.2
SOURCES
Additional information about KGL Euböa can be found in the following publication: Gerhard Schreiber, Die italienischen Militärinternierten im deutschen Machtbereich 1943–1945: Verraten, Verachtet, Vergessen (Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1990).
