London Cage

by Helen Fry

  Storch worked out a full escape plan for over the Christmas period. The camp guards would be killed with the weapons the prisoners had made. They would then seize the dead guards’ rifles, collect transport and make a dash for the east coast of England before the authorities even realised that they were missing. It was decided that en route to the coast they would attempt to free other German prisoners in camps. But, thanks to the swift action of the German-speaking American officer, it never came to pass.

  As the interrogators tried to build up a comprehensive picture of who had been behind the escape plan, different sections of prisoners within the camp discussed it, clearly nervous that they could be implicated in Storch’s scheme and charged with serious offences. This would be the interrogators’ key tool – to play on the prisoners’ fears of being severely disciplined. The interrogators tricked them into gradually letting slip details of the plan, not by questioning them directly about the escape, but by giving the impression that they were more interested in the seriousness of the offence of stealing food and making weapons. Their patience paid off, as evidence gradually built up against named individuals. The prisoners were told that they were going to be charged with a camp crime which deprived them of any defence under the Geneva Convention and that they could be severely punished. All this happened before the suspects were taken to the London Cage.

  For Colonel Scotland, who was masterminding the investigation from London, it was important to understand how the escape plan had been communicated across the different segregated compounds within the camp. Interrogations established that the common meeting point had been the staff office in the camp. Here, two English-speaking German prisoners were engaged in keeping records about prisoners employed in various types of paid work near the camp. The prisoners frequently congregated in small groups, and their exchanges had gone largely unnoticed by camp guards. The prisoner overseeing the administration work was Wolfgang Rosterg, who, as the details unfolded, turned out to be a key figure. He was described as a ‘good type’.8 Although questioned closely, he denied that the office had been the central meeting point for discussing the escape. But, after hours of interrogation and sifting of the information, it was established that thirty-five prisoners had probably been involved in the escape plan. These were the men who were transferred to the London Cage in the middle of the night on 14 December 1944.

  Dissenters in the cage

  For five days, the London Cage was in a state of pandemonium, as the staff left the prisoners to simmer and their anger bubbled to the surface. It was a deliberate ploy to see if any of them inadvertently gave away information. Scotland described the scene:

  In the interrogation rooms our trainees watched with interest and amusement as the tough young Nazis argued with one another, denying each other’s statements, shaking their fists and squaring up to fight and threatening all kinds of revenge for treachery. As they argued, so the truth gradually came out; it was about as much like a normal interrogation as a golf match is to a game of Rugby and about as physically aggressive as the latter. And, not content with arguing in the interrogation rooms, the prisoners continued to shout to one another from their rooms until lights out at 10 p.m. Remarks were bawled from room to room, and there were loud discussions about what had been disclosed and by whom. Our guards entered into the spirit of the occasion, letting the noise continue until they flicked the switches to put the cage in darkness; and, during the day, moving the prisoners into the interrogation rooms at the trot so that they had no time to shout warnings or to make up their minds what they intended to say.9

  In the interrogation room, an accusation – real or imaginary – would be made against the prisoner by the interrogator. If the prisoner hesitated, the interrogator would shout at him: ‘Come on, out with it. Quick!’ As soon as the prisoner answered, the interrogator rapidly fired another question, then another. The strategy confused the prisoner and succeeded in making him shout back his answers. As the interrogation descended into a shouting match, so the tension rose. This approach was found to be effective, revealing that, though not all the prisoners held had been involved in planning the escape, the cage did have all the men it was seeking. As the names of the guilty men became apparent, the younger interrogators turned up the temperature of their interrogations. It was easy to raise the pitch when the young German prisoners were so eager to prove their innocence. It also gave the relatively inexperienced young interrogators an excellent grounding for the tough work they would undertake from 1945 on war crimes investigations in Norway and Germany.

  Most of the information pointed to Storch as the main ringleader and originator of the mass escape idea: he had sent out the reconnaissance parties through the barbed wire fence at night, and he had proposed killing the guards. Storch, who was described by Scotland as a ‘congenital liar’, tried to argue that the only reason for the escape plan had been to destroy incriminating evidence in Germany that showed him to be a communist. But, according to Scotland, when he was confronted with the facts of the case he became angry that his comrades had given him away. In retaliation, he began to incriminate others, principally Erich Pallme Koenig and Josef Mertens.

  As Scotland pondered his next course of action, the Devizes prisoners continued to fight amongst themselves, and various men were savagely attacked. To stop the fighting, Scotland decided to act out a charade and arouse the anger of the prisoners that the main ‘traitor’ in their midst was Storch. Scotland now trod a thin line in pitting the anger and emotions of the prisoners against each other:

  We decided that the best way was to tell them that their own leader, Storch, had given us full details of their plan; and to let them have it out with him. We had to get him away from them after ten minutes for they beat him up severely, though many of them received some useful exchanges from Storch, a powerful man who had been a butcher by trade and was normally well able to look after himself.10

  All Devizes prisoners, with the exception of Storch, were informed that they were being transferred to a camp at Comrie in Scotland. Before they left the cage, Scotland paraded them in his office:

  They looked a tough, unruly lot, some of them with black eyes and other facial bruises from their fighting, still furious and resentful at their plan having been discovered. And I know only too well that given an inch they would willingly have torn me to pieces.11

  He explained that he had all the information he needed, that the matter was closed and that they had had their opportunity to deal with the guilty man. The quarrelling was to stop, he said, and there was to be no more nonsense in the new camp. He issued a stark warning: ‘If you misbehave, you will be brought back to London and we will treat you very differently then. You will find yourself in a court on a crime charge and you will be dealt with in civilian gaols of England.’12

  The men were duly transferred to Comrie. Storch was left behind. In the quietness of the cage, Scotland sat down with him for an informal chat. The German told him about his family and military service, and filled in more details about the escape plan. He admitted that he should not have let matters get as far as they had, and that he had crossed a line. He did not blame his comrades for beating him up, and expressed his thanks to Scotland for not sending him to Comrie. He and Scotland were said to have parted on amicable terms, and nothing more was heard of him. The prisoners who were dispatched to Comrie were a very different matter. Their anger continued to burn, and they would take matters into their own hands – with fatal consequences.

  Murder at Comrie

  Camp 21 at Comrie housed the toughest and most dangerous of all German prisoners who had been captured at various stages of the war. Interpreter Herbert Sulzbach described it as ‘a very fanatical and Nazi-minded camp with four thousand privates and NCOs – Germans – fanatical ones … When they marched to their football grounds, they sang horrible Hitler marching songs … that was the atmosphere.’13

  The entire camp was surrounded by a double barbed wire fence, guarded by equall
y tough British and Polish guards. One misjudgement was in allowing the prisoners to wear their uniforms and flaunt their decorations and ranks. Consequently, morale was high, and the internees displayed contempt for the democratic world. All attempts at interesting them in democracy by providing carefully chosen literature, such as pro-Allied newspapers, failed. The Lagerpost was one such German newspaper, written by sympathetic Germans in London; copies were regularly sent up to Comrie in the hope that it would influence the prisoners. It proved very unpopular with the Nazi prisoners, who declared it to be a banned publication.

  The new arrivals from the London Cage were not well received by these Nazis, who congregated in cliques in the different Nissen huts within the various compounds of the camp. More or less ostracised by the other prisoners, it became clear that they would not be accepted into the company of the elite Nazis unless they proved themselves worthy of the honour. Wolfgang Rosterg, one of the men from Devizes, was singled out by his comrades. He showed an independence of mind and was not particularly impressed by the Comrie elite. Because Rosterg had worked in the office at Devizes, his comrades seized on the idea that perhaps he had informed on Storch. In Hut 4, where he was being accommodated with 120 other prisoners, he came under the close watch of the Nazis.

  On 22 December 1944, when the Ardennes campaign was in full swing, the morning newspapers were delivered to Hut 4. Rosterg, as the most proficient English-speaker in the group, frequently read out news of the progress of the war. He enjoyed the popularity this brought him, but that morning he impetuously announced that he was going to read the latest news on the Ardennes campaign from the Lagerpost. He opened the bundle of newspapers and pulled out a copy. As he began to read, the other prisoners slipped out of the hut, leaving him alone. Reading from the pro-Allied newspaper seemed to be the proof the inmates needed that Rosterg was not only an informer, but an anti-Nazi and traitor.

  At 11 p.m. that evening, the British guards locked the Nissen huts as usual and turned out the lights. The camp fell quiet. In Hut 4, candles were lit as the inhabitants gave vent to dangerous emotions. Rosterg was dragged from his bunk and hauled into the centre of the hut. A group of Nazis from Devizes began their brutal interrogation, demanding to know if he was a British spy, and whether he had informed against them in the Devizes camp and given away information about the escape plans. When they received neither an answer nor a denial, Rosterg was brutally beaten and struck across the face with an iron bar.14 The questioning, beatings and half-strangling carried on throughout the night, until Rosterg, racked with pain and realising the futility of denying the charges against him, answered ‘Yes’.

  Just before 6 a.m., when the British guard was due to unlock the huts, one of the Nazi prisoners danced around the badly beaten Rosterg and jeered: ‘What shall we do with him?’

  The others shouted: ‘Hang him!’

  The daily checks in the camp were lax. The guard unlocked the door to Hut 4, turned on the lights and left, not noticing the state of Rosterg. The gang produced a rope and dragged Rosterg out of the hut to the washroom, where, surrounded by jubilant Nazis, he was hanged over the water pipes of the toilet. The perpetrators quietly returned to Hut 4.

  Rosterg’s body was found that morning in the washroom by a prisoner from another hut. The police were called, and the body was photographed and taken down. The official report concluded that it probably took him fifteen minutes to die.15

  The following day was Christmas Eve. Colonel Scotland had not yet received news of the brutal murder at Comrie. He was on his way to Whitehall for a meeting with the chiefs of staff and various cabinet ministers to answer questions about the Devizes escape plan. The first question was put to Scotland by A.V. Alexander, first lord of the Admiralty, on how the prisoners had secured information about the small fleet at the mouth of the River Weser – a fact known only to a few in the highest circles in England. Scotland suggested that the information could only have come from a batch of newly arrived prisoners, some of whom were from the Bremerhaven area of Germany. He reassured the meeting that life had returned to normal at Devizes, the guards had been strengthened at all POW camps over the Christmas period, and that put an end to the affair.

  Trial at the cage

  Scotland returned to Kensington Palace Gardens to news of the murder at Comrie. The War Office informed the local police that it would now handle the case, and instructions were issued to transfer twelve men from Hut 4 at Comrie to London: Kurt Zühlsdorff, Rolf Herzig, Josef Mertens, Joachim Goltz, Herbert Wunderlich, Heinz Brüling, Erich Pallme Koenig, Hans Klein, Klaus Steffan and three others, identified only as soldiers Bienek, Recksiek and Jelinsky. Interrogators at the London Cage were to investigate who was guilty of Rosterg’s murder.

  There was no need for aggressive tactics in interrogation. The serious consequence of being found guilty of murder was outlined to the prisoners, and consequently they were advised to tell their story with honesty and without elaboration. It was here that psychology played a vital role. The interrogators observed the prisoners’ reactions during interrogation, and that became key to cracking this murder. They noticed that the younger men seemed indifferent to Rosterg’s death: they argued that it was not the business of the British, but was a German matter, to be tried in a German court. But the war had not yet been won, and Scotland knew that to send these men back to Nazi Germany for trial (which was what they were asking for) would mean that they would not face justice. He outlined to them that they were subject to British law and would be tried by a British military court.

  As the men in their cells at the London Cage prepared for the trial, they were offered English lawyers to defend them, in order to ensure a fair process. Pallme Koenig refused and insisted on being represented by a German lawyer; but the other six accused agreed to English lawyers.

  Insufficient evidence meant that four suspects would not be brought to trial. Eight men remained in the cells on the first floor of 8 Kensington Palace Gardens. In the former dining room on the ground floor, the military court convened on 2 July 1945, with Colonel R.H.A. Kellie presiding, alongside five officers with the rank of lieutenant colonel or major. The prosecuting officer was Major Robert A.L. Hillard of the Judge Advocate General’s Office. Standing trial were four Waffen-SS men – Erich Pallme Koenig, Kurt Zühlsdorff, Joachim Goltz and Heinz Brüling – together with Hans Klein (army), Josef Mertens (navy), Rolf Herzig (army) and Herbert Wunderlich (air force). The charge laid before them was ‘committing a civil offence, that is to say murder, in that they at Comrie on December 23rd, 1944 murdered prisoner of war number 788778 Feldwebel Wolfgang Rosterg’.16 Captain Kieser was one of two interpreters loaned by the London Cage to the court that day.

  The court first heard from witness Corporal Fritz Heubner. The rest of the first day was taken up with translations, to ensure that the defendants understood the proceedings. Over the next three days, there was evidence from witnesses and cross-examination of the accused. Evidence was given by an officer of the Intelligence Corps (his name was blanked out in files, but he is thought to have been Herbert Sulzbach) who had been preparing evidence for the trial at Comrie.

  On 5 July 1945, medical evidence was presented to the court by the camp doctor of the Royal Army Medical Corps (unnamed in the files that have been released) and by the doctor who conducted Rosterg’s post-mortem. The court heard how Rosterg’s head and face had suffered extensive bruising and how his eyes and ears had been injured from blows with a heavy weapon. By now it was clear that there was insufficient evidence to convict Klein, and he was sent to a POW camp. The following day, Kurt Zühlsdorff was questioned by Major Hillard and asked whether he had been prepared to help in the killing of Rosterg. ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘To hang him as befits a traitor.’17

  In the early stages of the trial, Pallme Koenig, Zühlsdorff and Brüling slouched in their chairs and made no attempt to conceal their boredom. But as the trial progressed, it became clear that the defendants were facing the possibility of
a death sentence – something they had not fully appreciated. It changed their outlook and they became more attentive. Rolf Herzig denied doing anything that would have caused Rosterg’s death, but believed fervently that Rosterg was a traitor. Whatever part the defendants had played in the events at Comrie, all were united in believing that Rosterg had betrayed his country and deserved to die. Pallme Koenig admitted that, after a physical struggle with Rosterg, he had found documents in Rosterg’s kitbag that ‘would have made any German angry’.

  Josef Mertens implicated himself in the murder when he admitted to the court:

  It was clear to me that he [Rosterg] was the traitor and it was also clear that the man was dead. I seized the rope and helped to pull it for the last few yards to the pipe (of the latrine). I assisted in hanging up the body … I was of the opinion that a traitor should be found hanging.18

  It was now 9 July, and Goltz, too, made no attempt to hide his guilt: ‘I took hold of the rope in my hand and pulled the noose tight around Rosterg’s neck again. The crying stopped when I knelt on Rosterg and pulled the rope tight. I assumed at this moment he died.’19

  On 12 July 1945, the court in the oak-panelled room of 8 Kensington Palace Gardens gave its verdict on the seven men. Wunderlich was found not guilty and Herzig was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. The remaining five were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. The condemned men were sent to Kempton Park to await their fate. From there, Pallme Koenig wrote a letter to Colonel Scotland, thanking him for the fairness of the trial:

  After the end of our trial, and most likely the end of our stay here, I should like in the name of my comrades and in my own name to express to you, sir, our gratitude. Due to your advice, we asked for British officers to be assigned to us for our defence, and we have been agreeably surprised. Without your service we would most likely have made a different choice. Due to your, and the Major’s instructions, our stay here has been alleviated. We were allowed to work and time passed quickly.20