Bad Nenndorf Interrogation Centre - Allegations of Abuse

Allegations of Abuse

From the outset, the camp appears to have had organisational problems. The commanding officer, Lt Col Robin Stephens, noted that its staffing "was generous, but in practice was never filled. Later there was a reduction to the bone. That was inevitable owing to Treasury requirements. Then trouble began. Work was on the increase, demobilisation took heavy toll and replacements were inexperienced."

In January and February 1947, a number of prisoners from No. 74 CSDIC were taken to a civilian hospital in Rotenburg, near Bremen, suffering from frostbite, malnutrition and a variety of physical injuries. Two of the prisoners subsequently died. British medical and military personnel at the hospital were shocked at the poor condition of the prisoners and complained to their superiors, prompting senior Army officers to commission an investigation by Inspector Thomas Hayward of the Metropolitan Police.

In March 1947, the British Labour Party Member of Parliament Richard Stokes visited the camp to perform an apparently ad hoc inspection as part of a long-running effort on his part to promote the welfare of prisoners of war and other post-war detainees. He told the House of Commons that "in cross-examining some of these it may be necessary to indulge in forms of verbal persecution which we do not like, but there is no physical torture, starvation or ill-treatment of that kind." However, he criticised the poor conditions at the camp. The 65 men and four women being held there were mostly in solitary confinement, in unheated cells at temperatures of -10°C; the camp had no coal for heating, so the prisoners had instead been given seven blankets each.

Inspector Hayward's investigation, which appears to have been concluded after Richard Stokes' visit to No. 74 CSDIC, produced a list of serious allegations of abuse. These were later summarised in a Foreign Office memo:

(1) insufficient clothing; (2) intimidation by the guards; (3) mental and physical torture during the interrogations; (4) they were kept in solitary confinement for long periods with no exercise; (5) they were confined to punishment cells, not for any offence, but simply because the interrogator was not satisfied with their answers; (6) in the punishment cells, during the bitter winter, they were deprived of certain articles of clothing, had buckets of cold water thrown into the cell and were forced to scrub the cell floor for long periods, and were assaulted and man-handled; (7) medical attention was grossly inadequate; (8) food was insufficient; (9) discharge of prisoners was unnecessarily delayed; (10) personal property of the prisoners were stolen

— Camp 020

The report caused dismay among British government officials, who recognised the serious damage that the case could do to Britain's international image. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Frank Pakenham, noted that "we are alleged to have treated internees in a manner reminiscent of the German concentration camps." The junior Foreign Office minister, Hector McNeil, told Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin: "I doubt if I can put too strongly the parliamentary consequences of publicity. Whenever we have any allegations to make about the political police methods in Eastern European states it will be enough to call out in the House 'Bad Nenndorf', and no reply is left to us."

The camp's highly secret nature was another complicating factor. The Army cautioned against allowing the Soviets to discover "how we apprehended and treated their agents", not least because it might deter future defectors. However, the affair was still brought before Army courts-martial, though some of the evidence was heard behind closed doors to ensure that security was safeguarded. The camp was closed down in July 1947.