20 of their names have been identified by the Ludwigsburg VVN, an antifascist organization. These names are remembered on a plaque in the Prisoner's Cemetery. Transit camp for deportation to concentration camps (1940–1943) In May 1940, the prison was used as a way station during the first centrally planned deportation of Sinti out of southwest Germany, west of the Rhine River (Mainz, Ingelheim, Worms). The deportation was carried using a special train, families were escorted through the village by foot, with police surveillance. In the prison, examinations were conducted by the Ritter Research Institute, which decided the fate of the inmates. The institute was named for the "scientific racist" Robert Ritter. Further deportations were sent to the General Government, the area of Germany-occupied Poland. Non-gypsies were sent back. At least until the beginning of 1943, the prison was used as a way station for Sinti who were being sent to concentration camps. Later deportations led to the Gypsy Family Camp, the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where prisoners were murdered. Post-war period 1946-1947 The U.S. Seventh Army used Hohenasperg as an Internment camp. In the book, "The Prison Called Hohenasperg", American born and raised author Arthur D. Jacobs provides his experience as a twelve- and thirteen-year-old prisoner in Hohenasperg. In June 1959 Karl Jäger a former Einsatzgruppen officer hung himself in Hohenasperg prison. Today The prison later became a civil prison for the detention of non-political prisoners and now also houses the central hospital of the prison service in Baden-Württemberg. The serial killer Heinrich Pommerenke died in Hohenasperg in the central hospital on 27 December 2008. There is a small museum detailing the lives of some of the prison's notable inmates ("Hohenasperg. Ein deutsches Gefängnis"). Literature M. Biffart: Geschichte der württembergischen Feste Hohenasperg und ihrer merkwürdigen Gefangenen. Stuttgart, 1858 Theodor Bolay: Der Hohenasperg - Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Bietigheim, 1972 Horst Brandstätter: Asperg - Ein deutsches Gefängnis, Berlin: Wagenbachs Taschenbücherei 1978. Erwin Haas: Die sieben württembergischen Landesfestungen Hohenasperg, Hohenneufen, Hohentübingen, Hohenurach, Hohentwiel, Kirchheim/Teck, Schorndorf. Reutlingen, 1996 Paul Sauer: Der Hohenasperg - Fürstensitz, Höhenburg, Bollwerk der Landesverteidigung. Leinfelden-Echterdingen, 2004. Theodor Schön: Die Staatsgefangenen auf Hohenasperg. Stuttgart, 1899 References Schön, 1899. Die Staatsgefangenen von Hohenasperg. Stuttgart. Biffart, 1858. Geschichte der Württembergischen Feste Hohenasperg. Stuttgart. External links Keltischer Fuerstensitz Hohenasperg Patrick Nowak & Daniel Behrmann: Asberg - Auschwitz. Der NS-Völkermord an den Sinti und Roma am Beispiel der Pfalz. - Auschwitz.pdf Prisons in Germany