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

The Wehrmacht established Ilag XVIII on May 19, 1944, in Spittal an der Drau in Defense District (Wehrkreis) XVIII (map 4f). The camp was subordinated to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District XVIII (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis XVIII).¹

Ilag XVIII held American and British civilian internees. The camp prisoner population increased from 65 in October 1944 to 125 in December 1944.² Switzerland served as the protecting power for the prisoners in Ilag XVIII, which entitled the Swiss embassy to periodically send a delegation to the camp to inspect the conditions. The prisoners were divided into two barracks, one for the Americans and one for the British. Each barracks contained 12 small dormitory spaces. The internees slept in double bunk beds with sheets, pillows, and two blankets each. Each barracks had a washroom with cold water, but the internees could bathe with hot water at any time in their own “bathhouse,” which was located outside the barracks area. In the barracks, there were toilets, running water, and wood- and coal-fired heating stoves; however, the internees had to obtain firewood themselves from the surrounding forests. Each internee was given an allowance of 10 RM per month, but they had little to spend the money on besides soap powder and soft drinks from the camp canteen. The internees regularly received food parcels from the International Red Cross. While most of the prisoners were treated decently by the Germans, the Jewish internees were treated poorly and subjected to abuses that the non-Jewish prisoners did not experience.³ The camp was liberated by British troops on May 3, 1945.