The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945

Despite its designation, KGL Samos was not part of the regular German prisoner of war camp system but rather an ad hoc collection camp. Regular troops on temporary detail provided the guard force. The camp was in existence from late November until mid-December 1943 on the Greek island of Samos in the Aegean Sea (map 8). It was subordinate to the German commandant of the island of Samos/Admiral Aegean (Admiral Ägäis)/Army Group (Heeresgruppe) E.

German forces (Battle Group—Kampfgruppe—Müller) occupied the island in late November 1943. At the same time, during the clearing of the island on November 27, 1943, one Italian officer and 26 men were shot as “partisans.”¹ The Germans placed the remaining Italian military prisoners from the Infantry Division Cuneo (about 4,000 people) into a purpose-built camp, pending transport to the Greek mainland.² Details on conditions are not available, but the Germans were generally hostile toward their erstwhile allies (as the shootings indicate), so treatment in the camp was most likely to have been harsh. On December 7 and 13, 1943, respectively, 2,400 and 1,620 prisoners were taken by ship to Piraeus.³