The presentation was sponsored in part by the Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum, which is currently hosting the The Army Corp of Engineers then began to determine sites for these camps, according to Corbett. A branch of the Alva PW Camp, ithosed about 100 PWs. It hada capacity of about 6,000, but never held more than 4,850. Members of chambers of commerce and local politicians lobbied representatives and senators to obtain appropriations for federal projects. It reverted back into a hospital for American servicemen on July 15, 1945. 1, Spring 1986]. other camps, was located one mile south of Alva on the west side of highway 281 on land that is now used for the 90-91). Except at Pryor, German noncommissioned officers directed the internal activities of each compound. they took notice of how Americans were living normal lives - driving their cars, working the fields, etc. 1. guilty and sentenced to death. After the war was over, the POWs were sent back to Germany, in accordance with the Geneva Convention. The first PWs arrived on October The camp leader and the guards are the superiors of all the . Built with haste beginning in late 1942, the 160-acre camp officially opened Jan. 18, 1943 - exactly 80 years ago. training. The magazine continues: "Held from Jan. 17 to 18, 1944, the trial leaned over backward to be fair to the five by Woodward News, February The camps were located all over the US but were mostly in the South because of the expense of heating the barracks. Except at Pryor, German noncommissioned officers directed the internal activities of each compound. It is possiblethat it was used to house trouble-makers from the camp at Ft. Sill. It first appeared in the PMG reports on August 30, 1943, and last appeared on September 1, 1945.It started as a base camp, but ended as a branch of the Alva PW Camp. We are supposed to keep POWs separated from the battlefield if at all possible. Sheriffs, state troopers, and FBI agents were all across the Upper Peninsula looking for the three escaped prisoners (POW camps in the U.P., p.6). There were army hospitals located in both Chickasha (Borden General Hospital) The Geneva Convention of 1929, the international agreement prescribing treatment The majority of the camps were located in the Midwest, South, and Southwest, and the biggest contingency of POWs 372,000 were German. Most enemy prisoners were housed in base camps consisting of one or more compounds. About 100 PWswere confined there. camp was located west of South Mingo Road at 136th Street and north of the Arkansas River from Bixby. Between twenty and forty PWs were confined there, workingas ranch hands. It opened on October 30, 1943, and closed in the fall of 1945. "The Nazis appeared entirely satisfied." In addition, a temporary camp was set up at Fort Sill. Division was reactivated at Gruber. The men were foundguilty and sentenced to death. This base Outside the compoundfences, a hospital, fire station, quarters for enlisted men and officers, administration buildings, warehouses,and sometimes an officers' club as well as a theater completed the camp. were not to be treated as criminals, but as POWs - and these requirements distinguished the differences between there, and two PWs escaped before being recaptured in Sallisaw. VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) invited the men to a pot-luck dinner, where the retired soldiers all visited with war -- that they killed Cpl. There were six major base camps in Oklahoma and an additional two dozen branch camps. It last appeared in the PMG reports on august 1, 1944. a "court-martial" that night and after finding Kunze guilty of treason, the court had him beaten to death. , What was life like for the POWs in the camps? at an explosives plant, there was a fear that escaping PWs might commit sabotage. In all, from 1943 to 1946, some 5,000 German soldiers were imprisoned at Camp Edwards. Records indicate eightyescapes took place, but authorities recaptured all fugitives. a hospital for the treatment of PWs and a branch of the camp Gruber PW camp. camp was located five miles south of Pryor on the east side of highway 69 in what is now the Mid American Industrial Will Rogers PW CampThis They wanted to catch the German Army in the middle, said Corbett. Camp. During a war, a belligerent state may capture or imprison someone as a prisoner of war (POW). In December 1941, the United States entered World War II and President Franklin Roosevelt, along with British Prime Recently, the construction of multiple 200-man barracks have replaced most of the huts. The 45th Infantry Division thunderbirds and the 90th Infantry Division Tough Ombres. He said that President Roosevelt believed that if we treated the German soldiers good, our prisoners would also It's a Small size geocache, with difficulty of 1.5, terrain of 2. The three alien internment camps have left littleevidence of their existence, but three of the four aliens who died while imprisoned in Oklahoma still lie in cemeteriesin this state. A base camp for a number of branch camps, it had a capacity of 5,750, but the greatest number of PWsconfined there was 4,702 on October 3, 1945. John Witherspoon ErvinJulia Ervin Woods ErvinSubmitted to Genealogy Trails by Linda Craig, The above pictures are of the Fort Reno Cemetery and headstone of Johannes Kunze (German) and Giulio Zamboni (Italian). Not all the seventy men buried at Ft. Reno were PWs who died in Oklahoma. The Geneva Convention of 1929, the international agreement prescribing treatment of prisoners of war, permitted use of POWs as laborers. The prisoners then became outraged with him and started throwing Prisoners who worked were paid 10-cents an hour. This camp was located adjacent to the town of Gene Autry, thirteen miles northeast of Ardmore.It first appeared in the PMG reports on June 1, 1945, and last appeared on November 1, 1945. Three separate internment camps were built at Ft. Sill. Camp Huntsville was the first to be set up in Texas. Between September 1942 and October 1943 contractors built base camps at Alva, Camp Gruber, Fort Reno, Fort Sill, McAlester, and Tonkawa. About fifty PWs were confined there. BIOG: NAME: 2023 www.oklahoman.com. The POW camps at Fort Sill, McAlester and Stringtown had been set up a year earlier as internment camps for Japanese-Americans, who were shipped elsewhere when the need to house POWs arose. During the 1950s and 1960s most of CampGruber's original buildings and facilities were removed or destroyed. Yet the Germans, and a few Italians, who lived in camps around the state between 1943 . sites of the camps in which they stayed. This The Geneva Convention of 1929, the international agreement prescribing treatmentof prisoners of war, permitted use of POWs as laborers. And, am I ever glad I did! POW camps eventually were set up in at least 26 counties and at times an estimated 22,000 POWs were held in Oklahoma. Pauls Valley (a mobile work camp from Camp Chaffee, Ark.) An estimated 20,000 German POWs worked at Oklahoma POW camps. It first appeared in the PMG reports on July16, 1944, and last appeared on October 16, 1944. barracks. camp was located on old highway 99 north of the Washita River and south of Tishomingo where the airport now stands. Branch camps and internments in Oklahoma included Waynoka, Tonkawa, Chickasha, Hobart, Tipton, Pauls Valley, Hickory,Stringtown, Tishomingo, Ardmore, Powell, Caddo, Konawa, Wewoka, Seminole, Wetumka, Okemah, Morris, Bixby, Porter,Haskell, Stilwell, Sallisaw, and Eufaula. and in July 1944 a guard fatally shot a prisoner during an escape attempt. in the camps they were imprisoned in. Captive or POW Pay and Allowance Entitlements: Soldiers are entitled to all pay and allowances that were authorized prior to the POW period. Korps in Tunisia, North Africa. The other died from natural causes. for the treatment of Only PWs, it specialized in amputations, neurosurgery, chest surgery, plastic surgery, and America needed to accommodate about 275,000 POWs, with camps stationed mainly across the south because of the temperate climate. Armories, school gymnasiums, tent encampments, and newly Caddo to Tonkawa, and each would have its own unique history. military police patrolled perimeters, manned guard towers, escorted work detachments, and periodically searched Thiscamp was located north of the railroad tracks between 2nd and 3rd streets on the southeast side of Tipton on afour acre tract that had been a Gulf Oil Company camp. The staff consisted of PWs with medicaltraining. state had been one of the hardest hit states during the depression. Some of the structuresof the camp still stand, although not very many. The story of prisoner of war camps in Oklahoma actually predates the war, for as American Here are the 10 states with the most WWII casualties: New Jersey (31,215) Oklahoma (26,554). Tinker Air Force Base was one of the bases that benefited from funding. One PW escaped. Clothed in surplus military fatigues conspicuously Kunze, a German PW suspected of giving information to the Americans about secret installations in German, was tried in a kangaroo court held by his fellow prisoners in the mess hall. The only PWs who It first appeared in the PMG reports on November 1,1944, and last appeared on November 16, 1945. In autumn 1945 repatriation of prisoners of war began as federal officials transferred captives to East Coast ports. Of these, about 7,000 Italians and 8,000 Germans were sent to Utah (POW population lists (NARA RG389 Entry (A1) 458, Boxes 1444-1446). By mid-May 1946 the last prisoners left Oklahoma. Thirteen PWs were confined there, and one man escaped. Tonkawa PW CampThis Kunze's note ended up with camp senior leader, Senior Sergeant Walter Beyer, a hardened Nazi. Reports of three escapes andone death have been located. By 1950 almost all surviving POWs had been released, with the last prisoner returning from the USSR in 1956. Thesecamps were at Ft. Sill, McAlester, and Stringtown, but they were not used for that purpose for long and with theirclosings, no further enemy aliens were interned in this state. After the war was over, the POWs were sent back to Germany, in accordance with the Geneva Convention. Between September 1942 and October 1943 South Carolina maintained twenty camps in seventeen counties, housing between 8-11,000 German (and to a lesser extent, Italian) prisoners of war. By May 1943 prisoners of war began arriving. They were forced into harsh labor camps. "their doom in a federal penitentiary." Opening on June 3, 1943, it closed in October or November, 1945.A base camp, it had a capacity of 4,920, but never held more than 3,000 PWs. On June 3, 1947, Camp Gruber was deactivated and soon became surplus property, with 63,920 acres placed Eight base camps emerged at various locations and were used for the duration of the war. It wasa branch of the Camp Howze PW Camp. the surrender of the Africa Korps. Copyright to all articles and other content in the online and print versions of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History is held by the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS). He said that the guards heard the commotion, but thought the Germans were just drunk. The non-commissioned Germans did not have to work if they chose not to - which most of them didnt because theythought working for the Americans was somehow aiding the war effort. Hobart (a branch of the Fort Sill camp) _October 1944 to the fall of 1945; 286. Eventually . Outside the compound fences, a hospital, fire station, quarters for enlisted men and officers, administration buildings, warehouses, and sometimes an officers' club as well as a theater completed the camp. These incidents, combined with war wounds, injuries, suicide, or disease, took the lives of forty-six captives. This (Bioby Kit and Morgan Benson). Each compound was surrounded by one or more fences and overlooked by guards in towers. There were both branch and base POW camps in Oklahoma. They determined that the state met the basic requirements established by the Office of the Provost Marshal General, the U.S. Army agency responsible for the POW program. Thiscamp was located five miles south of Pryor on the east side of highway 69 in what is now the Mid American IndustrialDistrict. Approximately 1,000 POWs were held in the Upper Peninsula, while 5,000 were housed in the Lower Peninsula. Seminole PW CampThiscamp, a work camp from the McAlester PW Camp, was located in the Municipal Building at the northeast corner ofMain and Evans streets in Seminole. Located there pending deactivation at the end of the war. Some PWs from the ChickashaPW Camp may have worked at the hospital before this camp was established, working in maintenance. For a while, American authorities attempted to exchange the condemned men with Germanyfor Allied soldiers, but ultimately all negotiations failed. They picked such things as cotton and spinach and cleared trees and brush from the bed of what was to become Lake Texhoma. the United States after that. 1, Spring 1986], Five Nazis Sentenced to Death For Killing Companion in State, Source: Daily Oklahoman Feb. 1, 1945 Page 1. About forty PWs were confined at the work camp from the McAlester PW In autumn 1944 They were Walter Beyer, Berthold Seidel, Hans Demme, Hans Schomer, and Willi Scholz. Initially most of the captives came from North Africa followingthe surrender of the Africa Korps. There were no PWs confined there. During the course of World War II Camp Gruber provided training to infantry, field artillery, and tank destroyer units that went on to fight in Europe. During the 1950s and 1960s most of Camp A machinist from the city of Hamburg, Germany, Kunze was drafted into the German Army in 1940 and sent to the AfrikaKorps in Tunisia, North Africa. but on May 1, 1944, there were only 301 PWs confined there. It first appeared Introduction: My name is Corie Satterfield, I am a fancy, perfect, spotless, quaint, fantastic, funny, lucky person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you. It first appeared in the PMG reports on July16, 1944, and last appeared on October 16, 1944. In spring 1942 federal authorities leased the state prison at Stringtown. It first appeared in the PMG reports on June 16, 1944, and last appeared on July 8, 1944. eighty-seven square miles. The dates of its existence arenot known, but it was probably a work camp similar to the one at Caddo. Johannes The Greenleaf Lodge area is under National Guard authority and is not part of Greenleaf Lake State Park. Hickory PW Camp Thiscamp was located four miles east of Hickory at the Horseshoe Ranch. Morris PW Camp Thiscamp, located at the Watson Ranch, five miles north of Morris on the east side of highway 52, opened on July 5,1943. houses. It wasa base camp that housed only officer PWs with a few enlisted men and non-commissioned officers who served as theiraides and maintained the camp. given American army officers information they believed had been of great value to the Allies in bombing Hamburg." Desiring to stay in the US after the war, he began passing notes of information on German activitiesto the American doctor when he attended sick call. . The house was demolished in the 1960s. Read in June 1964 Horst Cunther. The POWs were sent first to New York City, where they were processed and given full medical exams. of three escapes have been located. specific guidelines were set concerning the humane conditions that were to be required for prisoners of war - they camp that was closed after the aliens were transferred to a camp in another state; another was the one already Most lived in small camps of about 300 men and cut pulpwood or worked on farms. It last appeared in the PMG reports on august 1, 1944. This camp was located on what is now the grounds of Okmulgee Tech, south of Industrial Drive and east of MissionRoad on the east side of Okmulgee. About 270 PWs were confined there. It first , What were Oklahoma's two famous fighting divisions What were their nicknames? Thiscamp was located west of South Mingo Road at 136th Street and north of the Arkansas River from Bixby. After the Allies invaded France in 1944, the camps received an influx of soldiers captured in Europe. The only camps that were actually used to holdenemy aliens, however, were the ones at McAlester and Stringtown. Most enemy prisoners were housed in base camps consisting of one or more compounds. It first appeared in the PMG reports on June 1, 1945, and last appeared on November 1, 1945. Itdid not appear in the PMG reports, but the fact of its use comes from interviews. It first appeared in the PMG reports on August 30, 1943, and last appeared on September 1, 1945. At each camp, companies of U.S. Army In autumn 1945 repatriation of prisoners of war began as federal officials transferredcaptives to East Coast ports. American camp authorities sought to achieve these goals by enlarging POW camp libraries, showing films, providing prominent lecturers for the prisoners and subscribing to American newspapers and magazines, all with an emphasis on detailing American values.1 This program lasted until the spring of 1946, almost a year after the war in Europe had . Oklahoma Historical Society800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, Oklahoma City, OK 73105 | 405-521-2491Site Index | Contact Us | Privacy | Press Room | Website Inquiries, Get Updates in Your Inbox Keep up to date with our weekly newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Stringtown Alien Internment CampThis camp was located at the Stringtown Correctional Facility, four miles north of Stringtown on the west sideof highway 69. Data needed. Located Some of the structures 1,020, but on May 16, 1945, there were 1,523 PWs confined there. A base camp, its official capacity was1,020, but on May 16, 1945, there were 1,523 PWs confined there. of 2,965, but the greatest number of PWs confined there was 1,834 on July 16, 1945. Opened August 1945, transferred to Lamont Prisoner of War Base Camp October 1945 The German officers still commanded their soldiers and ran the camps internally - they cooked their own meals, It This camp was located at the old fairgrounds east of Okmulgee Avenue and north of Belmont Street on the north sideof Okmulgee. , How were the Japanese treated in the internment camps? At the peak of operation as many as twenty thousand German POWs occupied camps in Oklahoma. In November 1943, a disturbance among the prisoners resulted in the death of a German soldier. Thiscamp, a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp, was located in the National Guard Armory on the northwest corner of6th and West Columbia streets on the north side of Okemah. Newsweeksaid other prisoners at the camp regardedKunze "a traitor to the Reich and to the fuehrer: because "some of them had seen a statement Kunze hadgiven American army officers information they believed had been of great value to the Allies in bombing Hamburg. were the greatest risk out of all the prisoners. work parties from base camps, opened. to August 30, 1944, and last appeared in the PMG reports on September 1, 1945. In It was established about March of 1942 and closed in the late spring of 1943. Originally a branch of the AlvaPW camp, it later became a branch of the Ft. Reno PW camp. Units of the Eighty-eighth Infantry "Blue Devil" Division trained at Camp Gruber. BIOG: During the train rides, Submitted to Genealogy Trails by Linda Craig, The above pictures are of the Fort Reno Cemetery Beyer convened In Augustof that year a unique facility opened at Okmulgee when army officials designated Glennan General Hospital to treatprisoners of war and partially staffed it with captured enemy medical personnel. There were three internment camps in Oklahoma a temporary camp at Fort Sill and permanent camps at McAlester and Stringtown. Kunze (German) and Giulio Zamboni The PWs cleared trees and brush from the acres. Few landmarks remain. bed of Lake Texoma which was just being completed. The most important thing about the post-war period was that many of the POWs went back to Germany and became The Geneva convention entitled them only to court appointed counsel, but in addition they were permitted a German OKH.5.9 Summarize and analyze the impact of mobilization for World War II including the establishment of military bases, prisoner of war installations, and the contributions of Oklahomans to the war effort including the American Indian code talkers and the 45th Infantry Division.
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