You have permission to edit this article. Although her uncle passed away in 1970, records accessed through the National Archives and Records Administration indicate he was drafted into the U.S. Army and entered service at Jefferson Barracks on November 10, 1942. [1] Approximately 90% of Italian POWs pledged to help the United States, by volunteering in Italian Service Units (ISU). Seriously underwater., Neman: Missouri womans saga of trying to find common sense at Walmart, I can still hear the roaring of the engine, says father of teen maimed in downtown St. Louis. Pfc. In Missouri alone there were 4 main base camps. In addition, Article 43 of the Convention required the appointment of POW administrators, and often, Nazi officers would assume this role, becoming in effect, camp commandants. d3K/,diWAgCZ,7Y>&WqU(lt1iJ5cuy#}iv^L),ybY[Y="Ni' i~l + endobj His hometown really wasnt all that far from Camp Weingarten, she added. The camps were located all over the US, but were mostly in the South, due to the higher expense of heating the barracks in colder areas. Had program to instill democratic values in Germans based on newspaper. <>/ExtGState<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 9 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> Now called Dennis Whiles, Gaertner told Jean he had been raised in an orphanage, thus eliminating any questions about his family. A few continued into the early 1970s in Las Animas County where Trinidad is located. "Life as a POW in the thirty camps scattered across Missouri was a surprisingly pleasant experience. St. Louis on the Air hostDon Marshand producersMary Edwards,Alex HeuerandKelly Moffittgive you the information you need to make informed decisions and stay in touch with our diverse and vibrant St. Louis region. You may come to the Missouri Valley Room to view it or request a photocopy from the Library's Document Delivery service. stream 1942-1946: German POWs. The front gate of the POW camp at Hellwig Brothers Farm on Gumbo Flats, part of the Missouri River bottomland in St. Louis County. The photo was taken in March 1945, shortly after radio commentator Walter Winchell told his national audience that POWs from Gumbo could sneak across the river and blow up the munitions plant at Weldon Spring. Glidden (left), commander of Camp Weingarten, looks across part of the 960-acre prisoner-of-war compound in Ste. Interestingly enough, no marriages were a direct result of the prisoners time in Missouri. Returning to Germany would just be going from a Nazi dictatorship to a Russian dictatorship, Levin wrote in German. Photo by Jack Gould of the Post-Dispatch, The front gate of the POW camp at Hellwig Brothers Farm on Gumbo Flats, part of the Missouri River bottomland in St. Louis County. Waste material generated from the former Fort include aviation and vehicular fuels, oils, greases, metals, paints and solvents. After completing his initial training, he was designated as infantry and became a clerk with the 201st Infantry Regiment. As of July 1, 1944, there were 353 camps in 39 states with 18 more camps under construction. Photo by Buel White of the Post-Dispatch. As author David Fiedler explained in his book The Enemy Among Us: POWs in Missouri During World War II, the state was once home to more than 15,000 German and Italian prisoners of war (POW). "His hometown really wasn't all that far from Camp Weingarten.". American commanders said it couldn't happen. However, I want to ensure it is recognized for the treasure that it is and it is not simply thrown away, said McDowell. During one of my uncles visits back to Alton, he asked his mother for an aluminum pie pan, said McDowell. According toSociety for Military History, because of its scant experience dealing with POWs, the U.S. chose to follow the edicts of the untried 1929 Geneva Convention. Genevieve County in June 1943. aka: POW Camps (World War II) During World War II, the United States established many prisoner of war (POW) camps on its soil for the first time since the Civil War. The 3,600 prisoners planted tomatoes and took over cooking, attracting American guards with their spicy enhancements to GI fare. The Chicago Tribune reported on October 23, 1943, that the prisoners at Camp Weingarten soon put on weight by eating a daily menu superior to that of the average civilian.. It is a beautifully crafted cigarette case, but the irony of it all is that my father never smoked, she jokingly added. Photo by Buel White of the Post-Dispatch, The main avenue at Camp Weingarten lined by small barracks buildings in June 1943. Four years later, the government offered the buildings at auction to relieve the post-war shortage of housing. "During one of my uncle's visits back to Alton, he asked his mother for an aluminum pie pan," McDowell said. According to the Coloradoan, Gaertner had decided to escape because he knew that upon his release, he would be repatriated to eastern Germany, where his family lived. Fort Leonard Wood, in central Missouri Camp Weingarten, near Ste. Boatmen's Bank building, Saint Louis, 1941 Photogrammar/ Edward Gruber On, December 23rd, 1941, the bits and pieces of needed war goods exhibit opened in the Boatmen's Bank building. In late October of 1950, over 800 POWs left Manpo for village camps closer to the Chinese border near Chungung, known as the Apex Camps. Shelf Location . Fiedler recounted the tale of one Italian gentleman who, after he returned to his home country, wrote to a farmer he worked for in Sikeston remarking on how much he liked working with him. The location of the former POW camp is a residential area now. There were comparatively few Japanese prisoners of war brought to the United States during those years and none were held in Missouri. American women fell in love with prisoners and a couple of times it turned into aiding escapes, which was considered a traitorous act and a criminal offense.. Located between Farmington and Ste. Located 14 miles (23km) SE of Roswell. Southeast Missouri State University Cape Girardeau, MO 63701 Phone: (573) 651-2245; Fax: (573) 651-2666; Email: semoarchives@semo.edu Guide to the Weingarten P.O.W Camp Collection . It was noted many of the Italians were "semi-emaciated" when arriving in the United States because of a poor diet. About 100 POWs lived there and worked on area farms, replacing Americans who had gone to war. American commanders said it couldn't happen. Aware that POWs were actually eating better than many civilians, the War Department, sensitive to public perception, cut back severely on the POWs' rations. Eastern Germany had fallen under Russian control, and as a former Nazi, Gaertner feared he would be sent to a gulag. A number of prisoners of war did later return as immigrants and about a dozen of those immigrants settled in St. Louis. These branch camps held 50 to 250 prisoners and were placed in communities in which the prisoners could be of use to community businesses such as bakeries, farms, maintenance jobs, dock workers for the railroad and riverboats, and factories. A walled patio and fireplace with masks of Comedy and Tragedy were built near the theater and are still landmarks on the university campus. Army Col. H.H. Some fought floods with sandbags. Italys surrender in 1943 changed the status of the Italian POWs, who remained here but were granted more freedom, including occasional trips to the Hill neighborhood. Some escaped out of homesickness, some out of patriotism, some out of fear of being returned to their altered homeland. Here are some rare photos that show what living in the state of Missouri during this time looked like. 3 0 obj Consequently, the POWs had little concern about getting caught. One of the first three designated camps for anti-Nazis, along with. Little remains of the once sprawling POW camp located approximately 90 miles south of St. Louis, with the exception of a stone fireplace that was part of the Officer's Club. Subscribe with this special offer to keep reading, (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). The farmer did not want to respond by letter but his daughter did, which would eventually result in a marriage. As noted in American Reeducation of German POWs, 1943-1946, in discussions with their guards, prisoners would sometimes use America's discriminatory practices as a "what about" counter argument. This report was prepared with help from our Public Insight Network. Early on, however, that wasnt always the case. Post-Dispatch file photo, Two German POWs watch the film of Nazi atrocities during a mandatory assembly at their camp at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. 4 0 obj As documented in by theSociety for Military History, between September 1943 and April 1944, in camps across the country, "6 murders, 2 forced suicides, 43 'voluntary' suicides, a general camp riot, and hundreds of localized acts of violence occurred." [2][3][4][5][6], At its peak in May 1945, a total of 425,871 POWs were held in the US. The camps were located all over the US, but were mostly in the South, due to the higher expense of heating the barracks in colder areas. POW Fritz Ensslin noted in a letter (via The Fallen Foe) that at his Missouri camp a "cabaret theater and even a dance group consisting of 12 'girls' trained by a ballet master" gave performances that were regularly attended by American officers. PublishedDecember 8, 2016 at 3:26 PM CST, Credit Kelly Moffitt | St. Louis Public Radio. 6 & 7, Chesterfield, MO 63017. St. Louis on the Airbrings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. From July to December 1945, 450 German POWs were housed in the Sheboygan County Asylum, which was built in 1878 and abandoned in 1940 when a new facility was completed. However, I want to ensure it is recognized for the treasure that it is and it is not simply thrown away," McDowell said. Sited on the abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps camp about 1.6 miles east of the Stark Covered Bridge in Stark, Coos County. As author David Fiedler explains in his book "The Enemy Among Us: POWs in Missouri During World War II," the state was once home to more than 15,000 German and Italian prisoners of war. (POW) camp in 1943. As Fiedler put it: Who wanted to rush back into the war? Now Tampa International Airport and Drew Park. Because the branch camps were often short-lived, and some records have been lost or destroyed in the sixty years that have since gone by, it is likely that a couple have been omitted. Although America's treatment of POWs earned high marks from most German prisoners, its repatriation policy was widely criticized. 339-351. Camp was located in North Thibodaux along Coulon Road. The Army selected the Neosho site for the post due to its proximity to water, a cross roads to two major railroads (Kansas City Southern and the Frisco railroads), and two major U.S. highways (US 71 running north-south and US 60 and US 66, running east-west). Glidden (left), commander of Camp Weingarten, looks across part of the 960-acre prisoner-of-war compound in Ste. Sunday, Dec. 11, marks 75 years since the United States declared war on Germany and Italy. From this branch camp, the POWs did mostly farm labor, from 1943 to 1946. Each man had food and a change of clothing. Shortly after Taylor received assignment to Camp Weingarten, Italian prisoners of war began to arrive at the camp in May 1943. They were contracted to work on farms and in canneries, mills, and tanneries. This movements became known as the "Tiger Death March," so called for the brutal treatment that the prisoners . The men ate well and were quartered under the same conditions as the Americans assigned to guard them, and the prisoners often enjoyed a great deal of freedom. Two German POWs watch the film of Nazi atrocities during a mandatory assembly at their camp at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. As noted in New Georgia Encyclopedia, the hard-liners doled out harsh discipline and attacked fellow prisoners for their lack of patriotism, among other offenses. After the war was over, prisoners of war were not allowed to stay in the United States. Although her uncle died in 1970, records accessed through the National Archives and Records Administration indicate he was drafted into the U.S. Army and entered service Nov. 10, 1942, at Jefferson Barracks. The Missouri National Guard retained 4,358 acres of Camp Crowder for use as a training site. Cook, Williamsburg R.; Daniel J. Schultz (2004). 12 0 obj These camps housed more than 142,000 Germans, 15,000 Italians, and 500 Japanese. ", "August 1943 description of the Camp Maxey", "World War II Camp Had Impact on CIty" by Michael Hawfield, The News-Sentinel 15 December 1990, Camp Thomas A. Scott - Fort Wayne, Indiana - WWII Prisoner of War Camps on Waymarking.com, https://web.archive.org/web/20220720230229/https://www.unionleader.com/nh/travel/historical_markers/roadside-history-camp-stark-nhs-wwii-german-pow-camp-housed-about-250-soldiers/article_9dd52830-ef9f-57d6-9ef3-ce2472704b70.html, "Waterloo Township officials say rundown prison camp is a hazard and should be razed", "Uboat.net - the Men - Prisoners of War - German POWs in North America", "Fomer [sic] Site of the Caven Point Army Depot - Jersey City, New Jersey", The German POW camps of Michigan during WWII, Map of WWII POW Camps in the US with links, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_World_War_II_prisoner-of-war_camps_in_the_United_States&oldid=1129515906, Originally an Army Airfield flight training facility. When Levin and Straussberg fled Hellwig farm on June 16, 1945, they were among roughly 100 German POWs who lived there. The prison camps were identical to housing areas that our own troops occupied.. Having experienced the "American way of life," some POWs sought U.S. sponsors or worked for U.S. occupational forces in Germany in order to return to the U.S. POW John Schroer recalls that he made his decision to immigrate upon seeing the Statue of Library as he departed New York. Weingarten was the location of a large prisoner of war camp during WWII. About 500 American soldiers were assigned to guard 3,600 Italians at the camp. In 1946, the post was deactivated and placed in a caretaker status. According to theSociety for Military History, because the Geneva Convention limited how differently one POW could be treated from another, camp authorities initially made "no distinction between ideologically hardened prisoners and those who are 're-educated.'" <> The Factory also created Der Ruf, a German-language newsletter, "written by German POWs for German POWs." In 1985, Gaertner surrendered to the INS and, as a publicity stunt, to Bryant Gumbel on "Today." All enlisted men were required to work, and they were paid 80 cents a day, the same rate American privates received. Photo by Buel White of the Post-Dispatch, The chow line on a boat camp at St. Louis in 1945. The installation housed around 900 Germans, who worked as gardeners and maintenance men around the base and surrounding community. Copyright 2017 Vernon County Historical Society - All Rights Reserved. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of News Tribune Publishing. Groundwater and soil contamination has been identified in various areas of the base's original property boundaries. A few escapees eluded capture for many years. My mothers brother, Dwight Hafford Taylor, was raised in the community of Alton in southern Missouri, said McDowell. 6 0 obj They decorated their barracks with their work. Five weeks after Germanys surrender, American security had become a bit haphazard. Even as conditions worsened for American POWs held in the European theater of World War II and word spread around the United States about Hitlers efforts to exterminate the Jews, the U.S. government remained firm that prisoners of war should be treated according to the Geneva Conventions. endobj 300 German POWs were interned at the Fond du Lac County Fairgrounds from June to August 1944 while they harvested peas on local farms and worked in canneries. As described in The Washington Post, the War Department, believing that a happy POW was a pliant POW, went above and beyond when it came to POW food, education, and entertainment. Genevieve, Missouri, A former CCC camp it was used for POWs who were with Rommel's Afrika Corps. This was no invasionary force; rather these were prisoners of war, part of a flood of almost a half-million men captured and sent to the United States, held here until the end of the war. The Chicago Tribune reported Oct. 23, 1943, that the prisoners at Camp Weingarten soon "put on weight" by eating a "daily menu superior to that of the average civilian.". According to Smithsonian Magazine, in 1942, as Great Britain was running out of places to hold Axis prisoners, the U.S. began work on creating its own network of POW camps. As chronicled by AP, on a September night in 1945, POW Georg Gaertner escaped from New Mexico's Camp Deming by slipping under a fence and hopping a train bound for San Pedro. The town was chosen for its relative isolation Despite the challenges of overseeing the internment of former enemy soldiers, the camp experienced few security incidents and conditions remained rather cordial, in part due to the sustenance given the prisoners. About 2,600 German POWs were held there during World War II. The U.S. government learned quickly to separate those elements, Fiedler said, and relationships improved. War History online proudly presents this Guest Piece from Jeremy P. mick, who is a military historian and writes on behalf of theSilver Star Families of America. As noted in Humanities Texas, POWs were put to work right from the start, although their assignments were limited due to fears of escape, sabotage, and overseas exploitation. The, This camp had a guard fire on and kill several German prisoners. These camps held anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 prisoners. | Updated May 7, 2018 at 11:23 a.m. Former Jefferson City resident Lyman Lester McDowell was given this cigarette case by his brother-in-law, Dwight Taylor, during World War II. The most elaborate escape attempt occurred in 1944, at one of the more spartan camps in Texas. In Oakland, he landed a steady salesman job, and in 1964, he met his wife Jean. Per articles of the Convention, American soldiers were compelled to salute higher ranking POWs, and the infamous Nazi salute was permitted. They worked as lumberjacks, mechanics, sign painters, tailors, and in hundreds of other positions, according to History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army 1776 to 1945. Taylor and his fellow soldiers, most of whom were assigned to military police companies, maintained a busy schedule of guarding the prisoners held in the camp, but also received opportunities to take leave from their duties and visit their loved ones back home. No Japanese prisoners were interned in Missouri. They stared "open-mouthed" as the POWs "jumped down from railroad cars and marched in orderly rows to the camp four miles west of town." Genevieve Camp Crowder, outside of Neosho, Missouri Camp Clark, outside of Nevada, Missouri Click here for a state map showing camp locations Camp Clark was established in 1908 and was used as an assembly point for troops serving in Central America, in the Mexican border war, and in World War I. Large German pow camp 2 miles outside of Thomasville. In the United States, at the end of World War II there were 175 Branch Camps serving 511 Area Camps containing over 425,000 prisoners of war (mostly German). All Rights Reserved. Most of the POWs went to large camps, including one covering 960 acres near Weingarten in Ste. Post-Dispatch photo, German POWs on a "boat camp" in the St. Louis area play chess and relax on the deck in 1945. They ruled with an iron fist, ordering work stoppages and holding kangaroo courts.
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