Nazi POWs in America
11 JULY 1944
NAZI POWs IN AMERICA
On this day, German POWs Wolfgang Kurzer and Karl Tomola quietly slipped away from the camp at Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, and headed north. They crossed the Canadian border where they found employment washing dishes or working on farms. Within several months they were ready to try for Germany and in November re-crossed the border at Rouses Point, New York. They wended their way to New York City, either by luck or design having chosen one of only two US ports open to neutral shipping (New York and Philadelphia). Here they attempted to ship aboard a neutral freighter as deck seamen, but their accents and their lack of proper credentials not only waylaid their plans but probably tipped the local authorities. They were found a short time later stowed away in 55-gallon drums aboard the Spanish freighter Castilla Ampudia with a two-week supply of food and ten pounds of chocolate.
Throughout the course of WWII, Axis prisoners of war were confined in 686 POW area camps and branches across the United States. Upwards of 420,000 POWs were being held on American soil by 1945. Good treatment and ample recreational pursuits reduced the desire to escape. Indeed, the massive size of our country and the oceans to the east and west gave little hope of reaching Germany. Yet all POWs are bound by a code of conduct obligating them to attempt escape. Many tried, though news of such was usually suppressed for fear of public panic. Most found themselves unprepared for the language and culture they encountered, and most were caught within a day or two. POWs on the lam often sought the perceived safety of Mexico or Canada, traveling at night or in rail cars and avoiding the local populace. A few occasionally managed to remain at large for some time in this manner.
As an example of how escaped Germans often suffered from unfamiliarity with American ways, witness the case of a trio of Germans, one of whom had been a submariner aboard U-162. They walked away from a work detail at Camp Crossville in eastern Tennessee. After several days of hiding in the backwoods, the trio stopped beside a mountain cabin for a drink from the pump. Their libations were interrupted by a cantankerous old crone who told them in no uncertain terms to “git!” Unfamiliar with mountain ways, the three were unmoved–at which the old granny drew a bead and shot one of them dead. The deputy sheriff soon arrived and informed the old lady to her horror that she had shot an escaped German prisoner. The penitent granny confessed she never would have pulled the trigger had she known they were Germans. “What in thunder did you think you were aiming at?” the sheriff asked.
“Why, I reckon’d they wuz Yankees!”
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 16 JUL 24
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Krammer, Arnold. Nazi Prisoners of War in America. Chelsea, MI: Scarborough House, 1991, pp. 114-46.
Moore, John Hammond. The Faustball Tunnel: German POWs in America and Their Great Escape. New York, NY: Random House, 1978, p. 64-65.
