Straflager WauwilermoosEstablished in 1940, Wauwilermoos Military Prison was located in Lucerne, Switzerland. The prison held many nationalities, including Swiss criminals. Surrounded by several rows of barbed wire, the compound was patrolled day and night by armed guards with attack dogs. The barracks were wooden single-wall construction, and prisoners slept on boards covered with dirty straw. Lice and rats also inhabited the barracks. The latrines consisted of slit trenches inside or outside of the barracks, and no hygiene facilities except the chance to be hosed-off every few weeks. Food was poured from slop pails into troughs or tin pans. Internees lacked medical care, proper nutrition, Red Cross contact, or access to any mail or aid parcels. Most prisoners left Wawilermoos severely underweight, and covered with boils or other ailments. American internees were sent to Wauwilermoos without any trial or legal due process, and were kept there indefinitely until the American Legation found out and petioned their release. Although the Red Cross inspected the camp on a few occasions, they simply noted that sanitary conditions could be improved, and prisoners were not aware of the length of their sentences or why they were in the camp in the first place.
The commandant of Wauwilermoos was Swiss Army Captain Andre Beguin. Although serving in the Swiss Army, Beguin was also a Nazi, as member of the National Front. He was known to wear the Nazi uniform and sign his correspondence with "Heil Hitler." He was given his command at Wauwilermoos despite his prior dismissal from the Swiss Army in 1937 for financial fraud and various confrontations with the police. While in command, he publicly bereted Americans, sentenced them to solitary confinement, and denied requests for Rules of Conduct required under the Geneva Convention on the basis that Switzerland was not a signatory. In 1946, Beguin was court-martialed in a trail that lasted 149 days. He was convicted of administrative misdemeanors, dishonoring the Swiss and her army, embezzlement, and withholding complaints from inmates. In its decision, the court described Beguin as a "crook, embezzler, con-man and inhuman." Beguin was sentenced to several years of inprisonment, fined, and stripped of his civil rights. |
