Glidden (left), commander of Camp Weingarten, looks across part of the 960-acre prisoner-of-war compound in Ste. Straussberg fled into the woods, but he didnt get far. Camps in the St. Louis area included Gumbo Flats in the Chesterfield Valley, Jefferson Barracks, riverboats, and an Ordinance Depot in Baden. The following October, the former POW camp was closed and many of the buildings were dismantled, shipped and reassembled as housing for student veterans at colleges and universities throughout the United States. 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. *wh};yeErfRV8n#z 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. Where are they going to escape to?. Although Nazi POWs denounced Der Ruf as Jewish propaganda, according to the New England Historical Society, most POWs loved reading it, and its effectiveness at changing hearts and minds was indisputable. Four years later, the government offered the buildings at auction to relieve the post-war shortage of housing. However, I want to ensure it is recognized for the treasure that it is and it is not simply thrown away, said McDowell. You can also listen to this Radiolab piece called Nazi Summer Camp, about prisoners of war in Idaho, or read this Smithsonian article about the nationwide POW movement. 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 . 4 0 obj
Had program to instill democratic values in Germans based on newspaper. endobj
Genevieve Camp Crowder, outside of Neosho, Missouri Camp Clark, outside of Nevada, Missouri Click here for a state map showing camp locations Other POWs were transported to work on farms and canneries in neighboring communities. The Factory's first step in the POW camps was the distribution of books banned by Hitler. | Indeed, in correspondence, one POW described his camp as a "goldener Kafig," or golden cage, while another wrote home to say imprisonment was like a "rest-cure. As a result, their supervision relaxed, sometimes to the point of being unguarded and unwatched. The last German POWs didnt head home until 1946. They were: Fort Leonard Wood Camp Weingarten near Ste. Gaertner stayed under the radar for years, and eventually the authorities stopped looking for him. The case was crafted by an Italian prisoner of war held at Camp Weingarten south of St. Louis. The case was crafted by an Italian prisoner of war held at Camp Weingarten south of St. Louis. I will someday donate the cigarette case to a museum for preservation and display, and I believe my brother, Harold McDowell, would agree. In 1946, the post was deactivated and placed in a caretaker status. The Bushwhacker military exhibit honors those Vernon County citizens who have served in armed conflicts, and especially those who have given their lives in service to their country. Photo by Jack Gould of the Post-Dispatch, Two Italian POWs hang out their laundry at Camp Weingarten in June 1943. My mothers brother, Dwight Hafford Taylor, was raised in the community of Alton in southern Missouri, said McDowell. From the Stars to the Steamers, from the Billikens to the World Cup, St. Louis has a storied soccer tradition. Weingarten was the location of a large prisoner of war camp during WWII. The farmer did not want to respond by letter but his daughter did, which would eventually result in a marriage. One of the first three designated camps for anti-Nazis, along with. Using a secret 60-foot tunnel equipped with lighting and air bellows, 12 German officers slipped away from their barracks and, armed with tissue-paper maps, went separately toward Mexico. Camps typically held between 50 and 250 POWs and the men were housed in any sort of structure that was available. 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." Others were confined in small outposts such as Hellwig Brothers Farm, near U.S. Highway 40 on the Missouri River bottomland then known as Gumbo Flats. Sunday, Dec. 11, marks 75 years since the United States declared war on Germany and Italy. 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). The camp was just east of the village of Weingarten, on Missouri Highway 32, west of Ste. About 15,000 of them were sent to 30 camps scattered across Missouri. 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. With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. The prisoners were given considerable freedom at these camps. Another episode involved entertainer Lena Horne, who, while performing at an Arkansas camp, became enraged when she saw that Black servicemen had been seated behind the POWs. They ruled with an iron fist, ordering work stoppages and holding kangaroo courts. 6 & 7, Chesterfield, MO 63017. Cole Camp: June 19, 1861 Benton County: American Civil War Benton County Home Guard-600, Missouri State Guard-300 43 KIA, 85 WIA, 25 POW United States vs. Missouri (Confederate) Confederate victory Carthage: July 5, 1861 Near Carthage: American Civil War Union-1,100, Missouri State Guard-6,000 244 United States vs. Missouri (Confederate) No one was happy to be a prisoner of war, but many were glad to bide time to count the days until they got back home, Fiedler said. Fort Crowder was a U.S. Army post located in Newton and McDonald counties in southwest Missouri, constructed and used during World War II. In Kansas, according to Smithsonian Magazine, they stacked hay and did masonry. xZOHa A 120 feet (37m) nearly completed escape tunnel was discovered by authorities. From 1942 through 1945, more than 400,000 Axis prisoners were shipped to the United States and detained in camps in rural areas across the country. All buildings but one have been demolished. 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. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, 4 killed, 4 critically injured in crash at South Grand Boulevard and Forest Park Avenue, Parents push back on allegations against St. Louis transgender center. POWs who were a part of the ISU received better housing, uniforms and pay. [1] Approximately 90% of Italian POWs pledged to help the United States, by volunteering in Italian Service Units (ISU). 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. Camp Crowder was a military installation named in honor of Major General Enoch H. Crowder, provost marshal of the United States during World War I and author of the 1917 Selective Service Act. The level of instruction was so high that some German universities offered full credit to returning POWs. 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.. According to American Reeducation of German POWs, 1943-1946, as the war dragged on and U.S. casualties mounted, stories about cushy POW camp life and vicious crimes committed by Nazis prisoners enraged many Americans. To ensure its success in the camps, the project was kept top secret. 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. Army Col. H.H. The far-reaching 1929 Convention covered such things as camp location, punishments for escapes, and restrictions regarding POW labor. Germany's "Great Escape" was from a 200 feet (61m) tunnel by 25 prisoners on 24 December 1944. No Japanese prisoners were interned in Missouri. The POW camps adhered to the Geneva Conventions Missouri Digital Heritage May 7, 2018 at 12:00 a.m. They slipped past the guards at night and fled through the vegetable fields they tended. The U.S. government learned quickly to separate those elements, Fiedler said, and relationships improved. About 15,000 German and Italian prisoners of war were confined in Missouri, and a few tried to escape. Fort Leonard Wood, in central Missouri Camp Weingarten, near Ste. 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. Camp Ritchie also served as a U.S. Army Training Camp from WWII until it was closed under BRAC during the 1990s to the early 2000s. The front gate of the POW camp at Hellwig Brothers Farm on Gumbo Flats, part of the Missouri River bottomland in St. Louis County. Some even "started to enjoy the novelty.". Interestingly enough, no marriages were a direct result of the prisoners time in Missouri. Also the site of training for "The Ritchie Boys", European refugees trained there to go back into Germany and sabotage the war effort. St. Louis on the Airbrings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. 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 Officers Club. Only one escaped entirely. 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. 1"\B^*:lr])BuHmdk[52`l5rJiBv* y'q$ag`CFrZs@[e|jB From San Pedro, Gaertner, who spoke fluent English, traveled north undetected, taking a series of odd jobs on the West Coast, including fruit picker, logger, and ski instructor. "My mother's brother, Dwight Hafford Taylor, was raised in the community of Alton in southern Missouri," McDowell said. This document is not available online. 5 0 obj
Most of these POWs were transferred from Camp Roswell, which was a base or main POW camp for New Mexico. From this branch camp, the POWs did mostly farm labor, from 1943 to 1946. "My uncle then gave the cigarette case as a gift to my father, who was living in Jefferson City at the time and working as superintendent of the tobacco factory inside the Missouri State Penitentiary," McDowell stated. 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. According toHumanities Texas, many in America, especially farmers, were loathed to see them go. As noted by Humanities Texas,methods of escape were as varied as reasons for trying and were occasionally quite inventive. Although the total number of escape attempts from U.S. camps was proportionately low, according to Humanities Texas, some POWs did try. Capacity for 4800 at main camp. endobj
Straussberg added an apology to his keepers for causing the trouble of looking for us.. Thousands of Axis POWs worked in the fields, replacing American farm boys gone to war. The post also served as an infantry replacement center and had a German prisoner of war camp. In New England, they harvested peas, cabbage, and apples. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of News Tribune Publishing. For those that did return to Europe, the United States government hoped they would bring the memory of their equitable experience in the camps here back with them. Established at Weingarten, a sleepy little town on State Highway 32 between Ste. 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. A few Italian prisoners even worked in the St. Louis Ordnance Depot on North Broadway, handling nonexplosive freight after their country switched sides in the war. 2011 - Dave Fiedler. Subscribe with this special offer to keep reading, (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). Camp Weingarten quickly grew into a sprawling facility to house Italian POWs brought to the United States and, Jefferson City resident Carolyn McDowell explained, was the site where one of her uncles spent his entire period of service with the U.S. Army in World War II. Leisure activities included Ping-Pong, chess, and card games. Post-Dispatch file photo, The chow line on a boat camp at St. Louis in 1945. The 1929 Geneva Convention, recognizing that it is the duty of prisoners to attempt escape, contains numerous regulations limiting the severity of punishments for escapees. more than 400,000 Axis prisoners were shipped to the United States and detained in camps across the nation, The Enemy Among Us: POWs in Missouri During World War II, The Life And Mirror Of A St. Louis Veteran. Now called Dennis Whiles, Gaertner told Jean he had been raised in an orphanage, thus eliminating any questions about his family. Genevieve County in June 1943. jmNR0|mD4wB6.B5 _7w!! 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. For 16 years, starting in 1957, rocket engines for missiles such as the Atlas, Thor and Saturn were assembled and tested at Air Force Plant 65. The Missouri National Guard retained 4,358 acres of Camp Crowder for use as a training site. Over time, the POWs not only proved themselves capable workers troublemaking Nazis aside they also earned the trust and admiration of many of their private employers. This was a local story. Kansas City-Area Camps. Eventually, every state (with the exceptions of Nevada, North Dakota, and Vermont) had at least one POW camp. My uncle then gave the cigarette case as a gift to my father, who was living in Jefferson City at the time and working as superintendent of the tobacco factory inside the Missouri State Penitentiary, stated McDowell. Missouri figured into this equation, housing some 15,000 prisoners of war from Germany and Italy inside state lines. Photo by Buel White of the Post-Dispatch. Kelly Moffitt joined St. Louis Public Radio in 2015 as an online producer for St. Louis Public Radio's talk shows St. Louis on the Air. That was four days afterthe surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which killed 2,403 Americans, and three days after the U.S. declared war on the Empire of Japan in retaliation. 8 0 obj
Photo by Buel White of the Post-Dispatch, One of two boats, known as "boat camps," moored in the St. Louis area to house prisoners of war who worked on levees and other river projects. The majority of the camps were located in the Midwest, South, and Southwest, and the biggest contingency of POWs 372,000 were German. The POWs were required to watch the film during an assembly in June 1945, one month after Germany surrendered. New Hampshire's only POW camp. Sited on the abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps camp about 1.6 miles east of the Stark Covered Bridge in Stark, Coos County. You have permission to edit this article. In 1893, inventor Nikola Tesla first publicly demonstrated radio during a meeting of the National Electric Light Association in St. Louis by t. 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. <>/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>>
Copyright 2017 Vernon County Historical Society - All Rights Reserved. In the early 1950s, local congressman Dewey Jackson Short, (R-7th District of Missouri) senior member of the House Armed Services Committee secured authorization and initial funding to build two permanent barracks and a disciplinary barracks and reactivate the post as a permanent installation, Fort Crowder. Post-Dispatch file photo. Housed diverse groups of POWs ranging from Afrika Corp troops, Italian, Yugoslavian, Chechen, Russian conscripts and others. Complementing that were screenings of carefully selected movies, including horrifying footage showing the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. Camp Weingarten quickly grew into a sprawling facility to house Italian POWs brought to the United States and, explained Jefferson City resident Carolyn McDowell, was the site where one of her uncles spent his entire period of service with the U.S. Army in World War II. Later known as an anti-Nazi camp where many intellectuals, artist, writers were among the POWs. Some were transferred to a special camp for Nazi incorrigibles in Oklahoma. In Missouri alone there were 4 main base camps. <>
Earlier that evening, a English-speaking fellow prisoner heard an American radio broadcast suggesting that German POWs be dispatched to the uncertain care of the Soviet army. From the start of the Civil War through to 1863 a parole exchange system saw most prisoners of war swapped relatively quickly. Back at camp, fellow POWs hailed them as heroes. J^q+q5(aP96\A8k=r2e+WokGrS7[FlDabO*P7K_3zpzvr~Q 0BjSvkVI-|u"FhBd/jaer+]Az5uj#rM9@m_G\wVifS9RFYX]mZaPxJi!8/qUFIfT? WMi{C/&pQToGp0|xT{;tXUWyaU=:7ju'r9!3? <>
Sub camps:Camp Pine, Camp Thornton and Camp Skokie Valley, each with 200 POWs. 2,000 German POWs were houses at seven locations on the. xwcy[9R^Z
hF/!\Zf7!%% Kurt Rossmeisl escaped on 4 August 1945 and surrendered in 1959. ", As noted in Returning to America: German Prisoners of War and American Experience, of the more than half million Germans who immigrated to America between 1947 and 1960, several thousand were former POWs. Genevieve Camp Crowder near Neosha Camp Clark near Nevada Attached to these main camps were branch camps to which they sent prisoners. <>
endobj
Her family eventually found a prisoner of war using it in the middle of the night to go meet a beau in the moonlight. In Kansas, for example, some farmers invited their POW workers for meals and allowed them to go hunting or pony riding unattended. After completing his initial training, he was designated as infantry and became a clerk with the 201st Infantry Regiment. endobj
It was noted many of the Italians were "semi-emaciated" when arriving in the United States because of a poor diet. Now a fraction of its WWII size, the camp currently has a full-time staff of 11 employees a sharp . Arcadia Publishing.
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