The German term
Prominente (singular masculine
Prominenter) was used in World War II to describe high-profile prisoners from various countries that were imprisoned in, for example, the POW camp for officers
Colditz (
Oflag IV-C)
or the Nazi concentration camps Sachsenhausen and Dachau for possible use as hostages. These prisoners had among them former statesmen, politicians, political dissidents and priests as well as prisoners of war related, or believed to be related, to allied politicians and royals. The
Colditz POWs were liberated on 14April 1945 by the U.S. Army, whereas the prisoners from Sachsenhausen and Dachau were liberated from their SS-guards in turn by troops from the
Wehrmacht and shortly thereafter by units from the 42nd Infantry Division and the 45th Infantry Division after the transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol.
