Cultybraggan Prisoner Of War Camp, Guard's Block

Flat-roofed brick and shuttered concrete guard's block with advanced 3-bay section to centre, forming part of a group of buildings purpose-built as a World War II Prisoner of War camp.

Cultybraggan Camp was under construction in September 1941, and was originally intended as a labour camp for Italian POW, but does not appear to have been occupied at that time. By May 1944 (the date of the camp's first Red Cross inspection), Cultybraggan was a transit camp for German POW, holding 785 with a capacity of 4500. By 25 December 1944, the camp was holding 3988 POW and had been redesignated as a base camp. Most likely because of its remote location, Cultybraggan became known as 'Nazi 2', one of the two maximum security camps in Britain which held a high proportion of prisoners classified as 'black', i.e. the most ardent Nazis and potential troublemakers. On 22 December 1944 an infamous kangaroo court was held and Sergeant Wolfgang Rostberg was murdered as an informer by fellow POWs (5 of whom were later convicted in a high-profile trial and hanged at Pentonville). Cultybraggan was disbanded as a POW camp circa May 1947. The site was subsequently used as a training centre and location for TA summer camps. Its use as a military training camp continued until 2004.

Cultybraggan Camp is one of the three best preserved purpose-built WWII prisoner of war camps in Britain. The listed structures at Cultybraggan provide important physical evidence of the ways in which POW were detained during this period, supplemented by varying levels of documentary evidence. (Historic Scotland).