Landsberg Prison is a penal facility located in the town of
Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the
German state of
Bavaria, about west of
Munich and south of
Augsburg.
The prison was used by
Allied power during the
Occupation of Germany for holding
Nazi War Criminals. In 1946
General Joseph T. McNarney, commander in chief, U.S. Forces of Occupation in Germany renamed Landsberg:
War Criminal Prison Nr. 1. The Americans closed the war crimes facility in 1958. Control of the prison was then handed over to the
Federal Republic of Germany.
Landsberg is now maintained by the Prison Service of the Bavarian Ministry of Justice.
Early years
Landsberg prison, which is in the town's western outskirts, was completed in 1910. The facility was designed with an
Art Nouveau frontage by Hugo Höfl. Its four brick-built cell blocks are orientated in a cross-shape which allows guards to watch all wings from a central location.
Landsberg, which was used for holding convicted criminals and those awaiting sentencing, was also designated a
Festungshaft (meaning fortress confinement) prison. Festungshaft facilities were similar to a modern protective custody unit. Prisoners were excluded from
forced labor and had reasonably comfortable cells. They were also allowed to receive visitors.
Anton Graf von Arco-Valley who shot Bavarian prime minister
Kurt Eisner was given a Festungshaft sentence in February 1919.
In 1924
Adolf Hitler spent 264 days incarcerated in Landsberg after being convicted of......
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