HC Deb 11 November 1966 vol 735 cc370-1W
Mr. Ginsburg

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in his review of the case of Group Captain Day, he has ascertained by what branch of the German armed forces Group Captain Day and his colleagues were administered when they were first detained in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.

Mrs. White

The "Sonderlager" (Special Camp) for V.I.P.'s at Sachsenhausen was administered by units of the Waffen S.S., a part of the German armed forces.

Mr. Ginsburg

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in his current review of the case of Group Captain Day and others, he has ascertained that the part of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in which they were detained was visited by the protecting power, namely Switzerland, under the Geneva Convention.

Mrs. White

The "Sonderlager" (Special Camp) for V.I.P.'s at Sachsenhausen, in company with many other Prison of War camps under German control, was not, so far as I have been able to ascertain from the International Red Cross, inspected by the protecting power. Such an omission, while possibly constituting a breach of the Geneva Convention of 1929 for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, does not constitute Nazi persecution as defined for purposes of compensation to United Kingdom victims.