German Prisoners of War at Lake Wabaunsee Part 4
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Non-Agricultural Work
POWs demonstrated remarkable skills outside of agriculture. No matter what task needed to be done, people in the community assumed that a POW could be found at the camp who was trained in that field. George Edgerton said that the POWs were skilled perfectionists. Ralph Stratton credited the Germans’ skills to their training. Few Germans attended college, and the majority learned a trade as an apprentice under a master.
An apprenticeship lasted at least four years, but the novice was not released from service until he knew his craft, which meant an apprenticeship could last longer than four years. One POW worked with LeRoy Noller repairing the county trucks that hauled the POWs. Joey Diehl recalled the POW as a "Nazi who had no use for Americans", but who proved so useful as a mechanic that nobody cared.
Much of the work of POWs lasted a long time. A POW installed wiring in a barn for the Stratton family of Eskridge that was being used 40 years later. POWs proficient at masonry also built the local light plant in Eskridge that was being used in 1984. A POW constructed a shed at the Imthurn home that was a different style than those in America, but it proved durable. POWs helped remodel the J.O. Warren home. POWs put in a cement floor and steps underneath the house and ran a drain. American guards supervised their work and ordered the POWs around. American plans failed because the drain was off a foot or two. The POWs took over, made measurements, and got it right.
Artistic POWs used their talents on behalf of Americans. A POW named Ernie painted murals on the farmhouse walls of Howard Lietz’s partents’ home. The murals covered two or three walls in the living room. Ernie used the palms of his hands to make designs at the bottom of the wall that looked like wallpaper. Then he put a border above that, and finally added the mountain scenes to the work of art. Another POW who worked near Paxico sold some of his paintings to Americans. Steve Hund recalled that at least some of the paintings had religious themes and were sold to churches.
POWs may have been less thrilled to do some of the manual labor jobs they were called upon to do. Eight to ten POWs worked at a rock quarry south of Eskridge. Work a rock quarries was used as a punishment at some POW camps and it may have been so at Lake Wabaunsee. POWs also repaired Wabaunsee County roads and bridges.
The military used POWs in mechanical work at the Army Ordnance Shops in Topeka. Nyle Miller remembered that POWs worked one block south of the Kansas State Historical Society. Two bus loads of POWs went into Topeka every day.
Some citizens of Eskridge were angered that Shawnee County Commissioners refused to house them in Shawnee County. But were quite willing to have them brought to Topeka to work. According to George Edgerton, Shawnee County Commissioners felt that Topeka, because it was the state capital, was a sensitive area, and that housing POWs in Shawnee County was a potentially dangerous act.
After the War
The end of World War II signaled the end for the camp at Lake Wabaunsee, but the beginning of a new life for the POWs. On May 8, 1945, VE Day (Victory in Europe) was announced and all prisoners and guards were kept in camp. When VJ Day (Victory in Japan) was announced on August 14, 1945, the prisoners were once again kept at the camp. The POWs felt they were treated worse after Germany lost the war. During the war POWs found the food to be delicious and plentiful, but after Germany lost the war, the meals were poorer in quality and quantity. However, Gustav Kolmel recalled that, after the first horrible week, the food gradually improved week by week until the POWs departed for Europe in December 1945. Heinrich Wolgast remembered that the POWs were put on a 1000-calories-a-day diet after the war in Europe. Hermann Dorn complained that the food after the war consisted of "dry vegetables and dog food." Ersnt Kunzel recalled that the POWs were fed salt herring every morning for breakfast.
The camp was officially closed on December 1, 1945. The POWs were disappointed that they could not take their woodworking projects home with them. POWs also had to leave behind cameras, field glasses, binoculars, and suitcases. Prisoners were restricted from taking any American currency with them. Canteen coupons were redeemed, canteen profits were distributed, and prisoner trust accounts were liquidated. Prisoners were issued government checks. The men were usually left with about $50.
POWs from Lake Wabaunsee were shipped back to Fort Riley before their departure to Europe. Luggage was limited to 30 pounds for enlisted men and 175 pounds for officers. POWs were issued a barracks bag, several woolen blankets, a first aid kit, and eating utensils. The POWs wished to express their appreciation for their good treatment in America and especially at Lake Wabaunsee, so they volunteered to paint the barracks at the lake for the City of Eskridge in appreciation for their treatment.
Most POWs had mixed feelings about returning to Europe. Although they wanted to see their families in Germany, they regretted leaving the friends they had made in America. Many POWs would also have liked to have stayed because of the economic opportunities on the United States. Helmut Grahl dreaded to return to his home in Dresden because he feared that all of his family had been killed by allied bombing raids.
The Allies wanted to delay the return of committed Nazi POWs to Germany. Heinrich Wolgast remembered that POWs were shipped in 1946 from Fort Riley to Fort Eustis, Virginia. Americans spent six weeks at Fort Eustis indoctrinating the POWs in democracy. Hermann Dorn recalled Fort Eustis as the place where POWs were classified as either "Nazis" or "Democrats". "Democrats" were sent home immediately, but "Nazis" had to work in Great Britain or France before returning home.
Wolgast was evidently considered a "Democrat". In March, 1946, he was sent to a release camp in New York for 14 days. There he was put on a troop transport ship for LeHavre, France, that took 11 days to cross the Atlantic. When the POWs arrived in Europe, they were put in the notorious Bolbec camp under French guards. Wolgast said that he received the worst treatment of his captivity there. GI’s moved prisoners to Bad Aibling, Bavaria, in April and May. When they reached Munich, Wolgast was put into an American release camp for approximately six weeks. Then the Americans put him on a train for Munster in northern Germany. There Wolgast and other POWs were turned over to the British. After six weeks in the British camp, Wolgast was released as a free man in September, 1946.
Interestingly enough, many of the POWs who had been trusted farmhands in Kansas were classified as "Nazis" and had to spend time in England or France before their return to Germany. Lothar Gilg recalled that the Commander Shafer at Fort Riley promised that they would be sent directly home to Germany, and they were emotionally crushed when they were not.
Many POWs had bad experiences at French hands. Hans Greiner claimed that when the ship he was on reached LeHarve, France, the Americans sold the German POWs to the French for a few dollars. Greiner spent two years in a French prison camp before he was released in 1948. Greiner believed that he got a "dirty deal", and he still has "absolutely no sympathy toward the American government". However, Greiner said that his bad feeling toward the American government did not change his good opinion of the American people.
Gustav Kolmel remembered that the French took away all the nice things that the Americans had given to the POWs, including new clothes, which the French replaced with old, worn-out clothes. Lothar Gilg recalled that they reached Europe at Rotterdam and were put in a camp at Waterloo. Treatment was so bad at the camp that Gilg asked to be spared "the pain of telling you how we fared there".
Several POWs were interned in Great Britain before they were returned to Germany. Hermann Dorn recalled that he spent a year in Helensburg, Scotland. Werner Burow labored for farmers in England as he had in the United States. However, he reported that he was not treated as well in Britain as he had been in America. One main difference that he noted was that in England POWs ate sack lunches instead of eating dinner at the home of a family.
POWs faced a wide range of experiences on their eventual return to Germany. Some found it quite easy to return to their way of life before the war. Kolmel was able to get his pre-war job back at an automobile manufacturing plant, even though the factory had been destroyed during the war. Dorn returned to his job as a salesman for a blanket factory.
Other POWs found that their professional prospects were greater after the war than before as the consequence of skills they had acquired. Ernst Kunzel worked as a chauffeur to the American Army because of the English he had learned as a POW. Later he opened an air conditioning and refrigeration shop. Although he had some knowledge in the field because of his prewar work in a butcher shop, Kunzel gained a great deal of practical knowledge about refrigeration during his internment in the United States. He recalled that the American refrigeration technology was ten years ahead of the German. Georg Stanglmaier’s knowledge of English and his ambition were helpful to him in becoming a beer truck driver after the war and eventually a wholesale liquor distributor and retailer specializing in German wines.
However, not all POWs returned to such happy circumstances. For example, when Lothar Gilg returned to Germany, he found that he could not return to his prewar home in the Sudetenland. Werner Burow returned to a part of Germany controlled by the Russians. His family had been well-to-do, with a prosperous farm, before the war. However, after the war everything had changed. Burow’s father had disappeared during the war, and the family believed that the Nazis were responsible. The Communists forced the Burows to take many strangers into their farm home. They experienced great shortages of food and clothing.
Werner Burow turned to the families he had worked for in the United States for help. The Arnold Ringel family of Alma sent a package to Burow immediately after the war that contained razor blades, tobacco, and cigarette papers. Burow’s letter to the Ringels expressed his and his mother’s appreciation for the package, but indicated a particular need for food, especially difficult-to-obtain spices, and toiletries such as soap and toothpaste. Responsive to Burow’s plea, the Ringels sent him many packages with needed items. Whenever he got a package, Burow sent a letter to the Ringels that listed every item received, to ascertain whether the package had been tampered with enroute. One of the packages contained the following items: three packages of tobacco, one pocket knife, one razor three packages of shaving blades, two tubes of shaving cream, two tubes of dental cream, five bars of wash and five bars of toilet soap, one and one-half pounds of cocoa, and some cigarette papers.
When Werner Burrow married, the requests to the Ringels increased. He asked for proper clothes in which to be married, and the Ringels sent him a complete set of clothes, including shoes and underwear. The Burow’s bride wrote the Ringels that she had no appropriate clothes in which to be wed. The Ringels came to the rescue with an outfit of clothes. Soon after the marriage, Mrs. Burow became pregnant and the Burows called upon the Ringels for help. They had no clothes or utensils for the baby, and once again the Ringels came to their aid. The Ringels’ only child, Clark, was grown and they had no need for the left-over baby things, so they boxed up everything they had used in the nursery, such as a rubber sheet, baby clothes, diapers, and bottles, and sent them.
The Ringels helped not only Werner Burow, his wife and children, and his mother but also another woman in Burow’s village. The Burows used the baby items for their own children, then gave some of the things to a widow woman, Amanda Neumann, in the local village. This woman wrote to the Ringels and said that she had five small children and her husband had disappeared at the Russian Front. She asked the Ringels to send her anything they had left over. She said that normally she would have been assisted by her family, but that times were so tough that they needed everything they had for themselves. Burow’s mother also wrote letters requesting items.
The Ringels made the Burow’s 1947 Christmas happier by sending them several packages. Among the contents of the packages were: two overcoats, five pounds sugar, five bounds flour, one can baking powder, one can pepper, one box nutmeg, one box cinnamon, one box cloves, three pairs of children’s shoes, one pair adult’s brown shoes, one suit with trousers, vest and jacket, one pair of work trousers, one pair stockings, one pair socks, two pairs gloves, one hat, two dresses, buttons, snaps, and needles.
Eventually the packages received by the Burow family were so numerous and heavy that it was a great inconvenience for Burow to transport them from the post office 20 miles to his home. He still had his bicycle from before the war, but the tires were worn out, and he wrote to the Ringels for new ones. The Ringels wanted to help but didn’t know the size tires he would need, so they sent him a page from the Montgomery Ward catalogue and asked him to circle the ones he wanted. Burow circled those that would work best and the Ringels saw that he got them. They didn’t fit exactly, but Burow hammered them on and away he went.
Werner Burow was not the only POW to receive aid from Americans after the war. Gustav Kolmel and Hermann Dorn received packages from former employers after the war. Mr. And Mrs. Lawrence Mertz offered Lothar Gilg a job on their farm and even offered to pay his way back. Gilg declined their offer because, after a long search, he finally had located his parents and he had to help support them. Viola Gideon said they helped one POW, perhaps Werner Burow, by sending him packages of food and clothing, but that he became a "beggar" constantly demanding packages, and they discontinued contact with him.
Many POWs have corresponded with American farm families for many years. Fritz Ott and Josef Veser are just two of the POWs who have kept in contact with Americans for 40 years.
The John Schwalm family and Ernst Kunzel have also corresponded for years. Kunzel always wanted the Schwalm family to come to his home in Germany so that he could show them the kind of hospitality they had shown him as a POW. He finally got his wish when Roger Schwalm visited Europe in the early 1980’s and stayed at the Kinzel home. Schwalm reported the Kunzels treated him royally and tempted him with fine foods and liquors.
The Vincent Glotzbach family maintained contact with Josef Veser for over 40 years. The Glotzbach’s daughter, a Roman Catholic nun, visited with Veser in Augsburg, Germany. Mr. And Mrs. Glotzbach saw Veser on their golden wedding anniversary trip to Europe in 1973. They were on a group tour and did not feel that they could leave it to visit his home. In fact, Veser had to drive three hours to see them, and he brought his daughter and grandfather along. He was disappointed that the Glotzbachs could not enjoy the hospitality of his home.
Unusual circumstances sometimes brought POWs or their family members into contact with Americans they had met as POWs. One brother of a POW was in the American Army and stationed at Fort Riley during the 1950s. He visited the camp at which his brother had been interned and some of the families he had worked for. The brother had worked for the Figge family of Eskridge.
An American Army officer was on Reforger in Goppingen, West Germany, with the 1st Brigade when he met two former POWs who had been interned at Lake Wabaunsee. The officer, Colonel Ed Hood, was in a wine shop in Germany when he made the initial contact. Hood and the German employees at the store had difficulty communicating. The employees decided to bring the owner, Georg Stanglmaier, from the back of the shop to help them. The owner spoke such fluent English that Hood asked Stanglmaier how he had learned to speak English so well. Stanglmaier replied that he had been a prisoner of war in America during World War II. When Hood inquired into Stanglmaier’s statement, he was amazed to discover that Stanglmaier had been a POW at Fort Riley. Hood was stationed at Fort Riley, and consequently his chat with Stanglmaier soon blossomed into friendship. Stanglmaier introduced Hood to one of his friends, Klaus Majer. As Stanglmaier was well-to-do, Hood suggested that he return to America to tour the country and visit his old camp. Stanglmaier took him up on the offer and along with Majer, sales manager for a souvenir selling firm, came to the United States in May of 1980.
Majer and Stanglmaier, along with their wives, Margaret and Frieda, flew to Chicago, rented a car and drove to Kansas. Majer said of Kansas: "We love this state and the people. It has a wonderful landscape. Kansas is the best state we’ve seen yet." They had seen Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. The POWs had several places they wanted to visit in Kansas. First they desired to see the farms and visit the families they had worked for during the war. Majer went to visit the Lawrence Mertz family at their farm near Wamego. Majer remembered that Richard Mertz was a small child who sat on Majer’s lap when he worked at the Mertz farm during the war. Georg Stanglmaier was saddened to find that Ralph Stratton, a 67 year old bachelor, was living alone on the farm. Stanglmaier was so upset by this revelation that he broke into tears as soon as they left the Stratton’s farm. He believed that they had brightened one day of Stratton’s life: "Yesterday he was very happy. It was like old times, family times."
Stanglmaier and Majer also visited the camps where they had been interned in Kansas. They visited the camp buildings at the entrance to Lake Wabaunsee. They also visited Fort Riley during Big Red One Week, and were able to see the annual division review. They enjoyed seeing Fort Riley again and often pointed out places they had worked. They visited the cemetery at Fort Riley to take pictures for the relatives of the deceased. A Fort Riley general insisted on meeting the former POWs, according to Hood. The POWs were reluctant to meet the general, whom they feared would make boring and banal remarks. However, Hood gave in to the general’s pressure and introduced the POWs to the general. Hood reported that the general was impressed by the ex-POWs, but they weren’t at all impressed with the general.
One former POW’s son, Uli Dorn, visited the families his father worked for. Uli was working at a German restaurant in New York City. He was interested in his father’s experience as a POW, so he hitchhiked to Alma in 1979, carrying a letter his father had written in 1947 listing people he had worked for. When he arrived at the gas station, he met a woman who was the widow of Clarence "Buffalo" Frank, who had hauled POWs from Lake Wabaunsee to surrounding communities every day. He was given a ride to Clarence Gnadt’s farm. The Gnadt’s were surprised to see Dorn, because they had not heard from his father in about 30 years, and Uli had sent no notice that he might be coming. They welcomed Dorn into their home and took him to visit the families his father had worked for many years ago.
The German Prisoner of war camp at Lake Wabaunsee was, overall, a great success. It helped farmers and the United States government and provided the POWs a safe and constructive confinement.
The Eskridge Independent discussed the success of the camp:
"The problem of using POWs to get work done had been solved far better than expected. The latitude of their use and the time they have been used has exceeded expectation. The number of farmers using them now is amazing. Very likely they will be continued in employment daily throughout the entire year.
"While no farmer really likes to use them, many are thankful for their help, and find them an interesting experience. They are treated with a degree of tolerance and since our boys have been able to capture them, the task of caring for them and providing them with a useful occupation is a task, we should not particularly shy away from or find abhorrent."
Wabaunsee County farmers had the labor they needed. An average of 60 to 75 farmers used the POWs at Lake Wabaunsee and more used them during harvest time. POWs worked 2,507 days in agriculture in November, 1944. The county agent reported that POWs worked 9,715 days in 1945. The POW camp was helpful to the war effort. The POWs at Lake Wabaunsee helped farmers sustain or increase production of vital crops, and their use freed American men for military service. The POW camp was a finical success: in return for the POWs’ labor, the government received $58,693.31 to help pay food, housing, clothing, and transportation costs.
The Lake Wabaunsee camp provided the POWs adequate food, clothing, shelter, and recreational activities. POWs were treated humanely, which influenced many of their perceptions of the United States. Gustav Kolmel said his attitudes toward Americans improved after his experiences in Kansas. Although Ernst Kunzel worked for the American Army for three years in Germany, it was the earlier "good and fair treatment" from the Schwalms that made him think well of the United States.
Unlike the Russians and French, whose cruelty to POWs engendered hatred from Germans, the Americans treated the Germans with decency and kindness. There were only a couple of recorded incidents of disciplinary action taken at the camp. Most of the POWs repaid their good treatment by model behavior and by providing hard work to local farmers. Former POWs have opened their homes and hearts to Americans they worked for. The POW camp at Lake Wabaunsee illustrated that gratitude is the usual response to decent and humane treatment.
A copy of
Farm Work and Friendship: The German Prisoner of War Camp at Lake Wabaunsee
is on file at the Pottawatomie-Wabaunsee Regional Library, Eskridge branch.