SONDERLAGER KOMOTAU
Information on this special camp (Sonderlager) is sparse. It existed between 1943 and 1945 in Defense District (Wehrkreis) IV, in the town of Komotau (today Chomutov, Czech Republic) (map 4e). The camp was subordinate to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District IV (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis IV).
The camp held French officers whose names were found on the rolls of the Deuxième Bureau (French military intelligence service) and who were arrested after German troops occupied the southern part of France in November 1942. The number of officers in the camp reached 300. The ranking officer was General Altmeyer. Among the officers were Pierre de Gaulle (the brother of General Charles de Gaulle), seven prefects, Michel Clemenceau, Colonel François de la Roque, and Leon Jouhaux. The camp also held a number of senior civil servants as internees.
The treatment of the prisoners and the conditions of their confinement in the camp were satisfactory, by and large, and in compliance with the main provisions of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (1929). The exact number of prisoners who passed through the camp is not known.
SOURCES
Primary source information about Sonderlager Komotau can be found in TsAMO.
Additional information about the Sonderlager Komotau can be found in the following publication: Ministère de la Guerre, État-Major de l’Armee, 5ème Bureau, Documentation sur les Camps de Prisonniers de Guerre (Paris, 1945), p. 114.
