Archive for the ‘Aliceville Museum’ Category
Saturday, December 17th, 2011
When George W. Barnett attended an auction and entered the winning bid for an old trunk back in 2002, he also acquired a piece of Camp Aliceville history. The trunk is believed to have been given by German POWS as a wedding present to Captain Dodge Old and his wife Margaret while Captain Old was stationed at Camp Aliceville. 
Barnett, who is retired from the US government, grew up in Mississippi and, as a young boy, lived close to Camp McCain during World War II. Camp McCain became the POW camp for German captives who were anti-Nazi, so Barnett already had some knowledge of German POWs in the United States. As an adult, he worked on the Apollo program with NASA and on the Star Wars program with the Army. He and his wife Janet now live just north of Huntsville, Alabama, in a small community called Hazel Green.
The trunk, which is made of walnut and lined with cedar, is entirely handmade. It has a hidden drawer behind the trim at the bottom front that can only be opened when the lid is open. The top of the trunk features a diamond-shaped emblem (seen here in photo), and if this emblem is slid to one side, it raises up to reveal another secret compartment. "A very good craftsman had to have built this trunk," says Barnett. 
The handles at each end of the trunk are heavy brass in the shape of a German eagle. One handle is engraved with the initials DHO (Dodge H. Old) and the other the initials MLO (Margaret L. Old).
After Barnett acquired the trunk, he made minor repairs to the lid, which had been forced open because someone did not realize that there were hidden latches under each front corner. Barnett contacted an Old family member and offered to return the trunk, but they were not interested in it, and he has kept it in his home. He did learn from the family that Captain Old had died in a car accident about a year before the auction.
Barnett visited the Aliceville Museum in 2004 and obtained a copy of special military orders that list Captain Old in three places. Those military orders, dated 18 January 1945, refer to the transfer of German POWs from Camp Aliceville to Camp Forrest in Tennessee and to Camp Sibert (sic), which was also in Alabama. Captain Dodge H. Old was a member of the U. S. Army Infantry and is listed in connection with the Prisoner of War Fund, the Camp Working Committee, and the Camp Safety Council.
If any of my readers have additional knowledge of Captain Old and his experiences at Camp Aliceville or knowledge of the German POW who crafted this fine trunk, please let me know, and I will pass the information along to Mr. Barnett. My sincere thanks to him for sharing this information and these photos.
Posted in Aliceville Museum, German POWs, Uncategorized, World War II | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
 After Eugen Zimmermann arrived at Camp Aliceville as a German POW, he sent this telegram to his family back in Germany on November 14, 1943. It was customary to allow the POWs to send telegrams like these through the International Red Cross, but this is the first one I have been able to post on the blog, thanks to Eugen's granddaughter who sent a copy, along with information about her grandfather's World War II experiences.
Eugen Zimmermann was a carpenter by trade, and a very good one according to family accounts. His daughter has said that, while a POW, he was allowed to go into the town of Aliceville with work crews because of his skills. 
 Later, when he was released from Camp Aliceville, Eugen was sent to France. (The photo at left shows him during his time as a POW.) Like many Aliceville POWs (including Wilhelm Schlegel, who is also mentioned on this blog site), Eugen was kept in France for another year after the war. During this extra time as a prisoner,he did backbreaking work in a French coal mine. After the war, he told his family that he was treated well while in the U. S. but that his treatment was more difficult in France. "I guess it's understandable," said his granddaughter, "after what the Nazis did." She added that, although her grandfather served in the German army, he was not a Nazi. While he was away fighting, his wife took in war refugees and cared for them in her home, in spite of her meager circumstances. 
Eugen's granddaughter lives in Oklahoma where her father retired from the U.S. Army at Fort Sill. He met his wife, Eugen's daughter, in Ulm, Germany, and they have been married for 50 years. The family has just begun to research the World War II history, which they consider fascinating and important.
PLEASE NOTE: A journalist in South Carolina is seeking information about German POWs who were interned at Camp Aliceville in Alabama and then sent to an air force base camp at Florence, South Carolina. If any of my readers have information about these men, please leave a comment and I will put you in touch with this journalist.
Tags: Camp Aliceville, German POWs, WWII
Posted in Aliceville Museum, German POWs, World War II | No Comments »
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
May 5, 2011: I had an email yesterday from Mary Lu Turner Keef. This was in response to my inquiry about whether or not she remembered Mr. James Cicero Fancher. (See May 3 post.)
Mary Lu (Photo below when she was an elementary school student in Aliceville) wrote that she did not remember him–only the civilian housing residents who lived near her family and those who were friends of her parents. She did add some additional memories of living near Camp Aliceville as a child:
 Mary Lu commented that the photograph of Camille looked as if it had been taken in front of the grandparents' home. "I don't think we ever used our front door," wrote Mary Lu, "although my mother planted a small bed of cosmos in front of our unit. The back of the unit had a walk (either cement blocks or narrow pavement….) from the back door to a wider walk that ran the length of the building." She wrote that each unit had its own clothesline, which was quite visible. The backs of the units faced each other so residents could share the walkway that led to a parking lot at one end. At the other end, a road led to the community center.
 At some point in the future, Mary Lu plans to donate her Camp Aliceville mementos to the Aliceville Museum. Among those would be the ceramic mug (left) that was created from Alabama clay and fired in the Camp Aliceville kiln. It is painted on three sides. This one shows Tunis, the city in North Africa where the German POW who created it was captured. Another side shows Berlin, the home of that POW. The third side shows New York City where the POW first arrived in the United States.
All of us are grateful to Mary Lu for the many memories of World War II she has shared with the Museum and with the readers of my book.
Posted in Aliceville Museum, Camp Aliceville civilian employees, World War II | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
May 3, 2011
When I gave a talk about Guests Behind the Barbed Wire recently at a meeting of Beta Sigma Phi sorority, I was pleased to meet the granddaughter of a man who worked with the German prisoners of war at Camp Aliceville. As a civilian employee, James Cicero Fancher (See photo below.) made repairs around the camp and also taught carpentry skills to the POWs. 
Mr. Fancher's granddaughter was a small child when her grandparents lived in what she remembers as "a row of concrete block houses not far from the camp." This would have been the housing built for civilian employees, and the same area where Mary Lu Turner, who is featured in my book, lived with her parents for three years during the war. (NOTE: See the post for May 5, 2011 for more of Mary Lu's memories in connection with this.)
This photo (at left) shows Mr. Fancher's granddaughter Camille, who was 4 1/2 years old at the time, standing outside her grandparents' Aliceville home in the summer or fall of 1944. Camille is interested in learning more about her grandfather's experiences in Aliceville during WWII.
If any of my readers remember Mr. Fancher, who passed away in 1959, and his work with the camp, please let me know, and I will forward your information to Camille.
May 4, 2011 Update: Aliceville Museum Director Mary Bess Paluzzi confirmed today that Mr. James Cicero Fancher is listed as an employee of the Army Corps of Engineers at Camp Aliceville during World War II. She suggested that he probably worked for Mr. Ward Turner during that time. (NOTE: See Mary Lu Turner Keef's response in the post dated May 5, 2011 that follows this one.)
Posted in Aliceville Museum, Camp Aliceville civilian employees, World War II | 4 Comments »
Monday, April 25th, 2011
On Monday, April 11, 2011, the City of Aliceville sat in the pathway of a powerful storm. High winds blew down Broad Street, ripping the roofing off of a building across the street, smashing windows and damaging the bright green awning on the front of one of the Aliceville Museum buildings.
 Museum Director Mary Bess Paluzzi reports that "By late Thursday, we were boarded up and covered in plastic in anticipation of the storm predicted for Friday, April 15. One of the two tour groups scheduled for Friday canceled. The other completed their visit just as the rain began. I left shortly after the tour bus pulled away as I was afraid the remainder of the mayor's roof would land on our building."
Fortunately (at least for Aliceville), the second storm hit Geiger, 19 miles south of Aliceville.
 Now comes the waiting to find out how much repair and cleanup will cost. "We are holding our breath until we receive the bids to replace the windows and awning, the bill from Servpro, and the insurance payout."
I'd like to take a moment to salute Mr. Bernard Goldstein, a resident of Galleria Woods in Hoover, Alabama, and a proud veteran of WWII, who stood up at my talk about Guests Behind the Barbed Wire on Monday, April 18, and urged his fellow residents to write checks to help pay for the Aliceville Museum damage. Mr. Goldstein is an enthusiastic supporter of the museum and has donated some of his wartime memorabilia to the displays there.
If any of my readers would like to contribute to the cleanup and repair of the Aliceville Museum, you are welcome to send a check to the Aliceville Museum, 104 Broad Street, Aliceville, AL 35442. You can contact the Museum by email at museum@nctv.com or visit the website at www.cityofAliceville.com/MuseumMain.htm.
Tags: Aliceville
Posted in Aliceville Museum | 2 Comments »
Friday, February 11th, 2011
 I first wrote a post about Camp Aliceville puppeteer Walter Buettner (1907 to 1990) on January 22, 2010. You can go to that post and see the basic information about him (seen here in 1945 with one of his puppets). I am adding additional information based on an article in the Museum News for July 2010.
When Buettner arrived at Camp Aliceville, he volunteered as a fireman in his POW compound kitchen. While working in the kitchen, he met Sergeant Ernst Hummel. Hummel was an artist and created the oil portrait of B. J. Johnston and the pencil sketches of Pep and Karen Johnston that hang in the Aliceville Museum.
 Buettner and Hummel, who had once cared for the props and costumes of a marionette theater in Frankfurt, gathered together twelve to fifteen other creative POWs and founded a puppet theater for the camp. Among their group were a wood carver, a tailor, a musician, a teacher, a music professor, and an "all-rounder." (Buettner is third from right, seated, in this photo.)
 The Camp Aliceville Puppeteers stayed in contact and got together for several reunions after their return to Germany. Seen here is the program for the fifth of those reunions, held in Maschen in August 1960.
The Aliceville Museum task of identifying, locating, and telling the stories of former POWs is both fascinating and daunting. The identification of Walter Buettner as the leader of the Camp Aliceville Puppeteers came about in two parts:
1) Holger Viereck, formerly of the German Supplementary School at the University of Alabama, first identified Buettner by name. Viereck is now an instructor at a university in Stuttgart.
2) Later, a Museum visitor from Bad Wimpfen named Dennis Bernhard, returned to Germany and was able to identify and then communicate with Walter Buettner's daughter Meike. After their visit, Bernhard forwarded several items of interest to the Museum as a presentation from the Buettner family. One of the most significant of these was a copy of the script for the puppet production Indienfahrt (Indian Journey), which was performed at Christmas in 1944 at Camp Aliceville. The family also sent a sketch of Buettner done at the camp by his friend Ernst Hummer, photographs of puppets created at Camp Aliceville, and illustrations from each of three reunions held by the Camp Aliceville Puppeteers.
Also of interest is the fact that, after Dennis Bernhard saw the painting of Bad Wimpfen that hangs in the Aliceville Museum, he returned home to Offenau and sent a comtemporary photograph that shows Bad Wimpfen from almost the exact same perspective as POW Emil Osterbrug's painting. Osterbrug presented the painting to Harvey Spiller on April 1, 1944, and it is now on loan to the Museum from Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Spiller. Bad Wimpfen is situated on the Neckar River about 40 miles southeast of Heidelberg and approximately one mile from Dennis Bernhard's hometown of Offenau.
Posted in Aliceville Museum, German POWs, World War II | No Comments »
Saturday, December 25th, 2010
People who know me well have probably heard me say that I think war is a stupid way to solve international disagreements. Of course, that's an oversimplified attitude, but really, after all these centuries, why haven't we worked out a better way?
The more history I read, the more conscious I am of the fact that individual soldiers often hold no grudge against individual soldiers on the other side. If it weren't for duty to country and to others in their unit, many battles might not occur, and individuals might work things out. I know, it's a simplistic attitude, but the more complicated ones don't seem to be working.
 At this Christmas season, I'd like to remind my readers of two instances that illustrate what I mean:
The first is the Christmas Truce of World War I, which occurred when British and German soldiers faced each other across a no man's land on Christmas Eve in 1914. In some places, the front-line troops of the two sides were dug in only 60 yards from each other. A Christmas cease-fire had been proposed by Pope Benedict XV but rejected by the LEADERS of both sides as absolutely impossible.
That evening, the German soldiers set small trees on the parapets of their trenches and lit candles on them. They began singing carols. The British shot at a few of the trees, crawled forward in curiosity, then suddenly joined in the singing–in their own language.
Over the next few days, the soldiers shared rations and gifts, sang together and buried their dead between the lines. They even played soccer with improvised balls.
By New Year's Day, however, the LEADERS on both sides ordered their troops to go back to hostilities or be court martialed. The soldiers parted reluctantly after handshakes and good will wishes. Sadly, this "war to end all wars" dragged on through three more Christmas seasons, and all later attempts at Christmas truces failed. In addition, it did not "end all wars." (NOTE: This description is based on Stanley Weintraub's book, Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce as reported on www.snopes.com under "Christmas Truce."
The second instance comes from Wendell Parrish's story in my book, Guests Behind the Barbed Wire. On page 439, I described Wendell's Christmas Day 1944 experience while he was an American prisoner of war in Stalag Luft IV. The German commander decided to let the American prisoners approach the barbed wire inner fences of their compounds that day so they could share Christmas wishes with POWs held in the other compounds:
"This as no small thing to the prisoners of Stalag Luft IV. The men greeted each other eagerly, each group having known about the others but having had no contact. From time to time, "Ohio" would ring out across the wire or "Kansas" as each POW searched for some small touch from home.
When Wendell stepped up and hollered out "Alabama," he heard a voice in another compound shout back, "What city?" When he hollered back "Selma," he was dumbfounded to see Charlie Cosby, a boy he'd grown up with, emerge from the ragtag crowd pressing near the other side of the barbed wire. Charlie had been shot down in October.
The coincidence was almost too much, but there was more. "Wendell, you have a son!" his classmate shouted back. "I saw your wife and the boy just before I came over here, and they're doing fine." That news was the finest Christmas present Wendell ever received. Relief and hope filled his heart. Later in the day came another present–the first set of Red Cross packages he and the others in his compound had received since October.
I wish to all my friends and readers, wherever they are, the joy of Christmas peace and good will. Please, this year, let's pay it forward all the way to next December!
Tags: Aliceville, Christmas, Stalag Luft
Posted in Aliceville Museum, World War II | No Comments »
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
The current issue of Museum News (October 2010) (www.cityofaliceville.com) includes a quote from Stephen Ambrose in his book Citizen Soldiers. This quote, in my opinion, puts into perspective important stipulations of the Geneva Convention as they were applied during World War II. American prisoner of war camps like Camp Aliceville adhered to the directive that they provide the same quality of housing, nutrition, recreation, and religious opportunities that they provided for their own soldiers.
Ambrose stated the following on page 361 of Citizen Soldiers, which is available at www.amazon.com:
 In most cases, being a POW in World War II was about as bad a human experience as one could have. For certain, there was nothing good to be said about being a POW. Which was worse, being a German in Russian hands or a Russian in German hands? No one can say, but on a scale of horror they also rank ahead of being an American in German hands.
For comparison sake, between 34 and 38 percent of Americans held by Japanese as prisoners died; about two-third of Russian prisoners held in Germany appear to have died; and the proportion of Germans captured on the Eastern Front who died has been estimated as high as 80 percent. In the West, .7 percent of Americans held as POWs by the Germans died; 1 percent of the Germans held by the Americans died.
Stephen E. Ambrose was a leading World War II historian who wrote many books about World War II, including Band of Brothers, which was the basis for the movie, Saving Private Ryan. He died in 2002.
My thanks to Mary Bess Paluzzi at the Aliceville Museum for including this quote in the recent newsletter.MyMy
Tags: Camp Aliceville, German POWs, POW, WWII
Posted in Aliceville Museum, German POWs, World War II | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
On page 311 of Guests Behind the Barbed Wire, I wrote about a New Year's sketch created by Hans Kopera while he was at Camp Aliceville. At the time, I did not know the thinking behind the creation of this sketch, which is described in detail on page 311. Below you will find a copy of the sketch and a better explanation of its meaning, which Dr. Kopera provided this week:
In Germany, people consider it good luck to meet and even touch a chimney sweep (Rauchfangkehrer) on New Year's Day. Chimney sweeps, who do not work on the holiday, often run about with their cleaning brushes so people can meet them and get their good luck for the coming year.
It is also traditional in Germany for people to eat–as their very first food on a New Year's morning–a piece of cooked, warm "pig head," (a piece of the snout or cheek), which is considered a symbol for a Happy New Year. They eat this with a delicious dip (Apfelkren) made of grated apple, horseradish, oil and vinegar.
When Hans Kopera created the sketch you see below in December 1944, he created it as a symbol for a happy new year by combining both of these good luck signs in one figure–the chimney sweep in his pants and jacket and top hat holding high the pig's head. My thanks to Dr. Kopera for this additional explanation.
Tags: Aliceville, Camp Aliceville, German POWs, WWII
Posted in Aliceville Museum, German POWs, World War II | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010
Here is the rest of the story about Dr. Hans Kopera's return to Camp Aliceville. He believes it is important to recognize and remember the important work of "the Birmingham doctor" who took the time to drive him back to Aliceville: (PLEASE NOTE: THE NEXT POST, ON NOVEMBER 3, 2010, CONTAINS MORE INFORMATION ABOUT "THE BIRMINGHAM DOCTOR" AND HIS WORK.
In 1975, Dr. Charles Kochakian was Director and Professor of Experimental Endocrinology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, Medical Center (now known as the University of Alabama at Birmingham). Dr. Kochakian was the first scientist to demonstrate, through animal experiments and human investigations, that androgenic Steroids have an additional effect. He called this effect "anabolic," and thus coined the word ANABOLIC, which is a term now recognized throughout the world. Since that time, numerous investigations have confirmed Dr. Kochakian's original observations.
Dr. Kochakian then published an extensive summary of these findings, Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology (Springer Verlag). For the publication, he invited 18 authors (15 from the USA and 1 each from South America, Japan, and Europe) to contribute. The invited European author was Dr. Hans Kopera.
Before the manuscript was completed in 1976, Dr. Kochakian invited all of the authors to a meeting in Birmingham to discuss the work, and Dr. Kopera was a guest of the Kochakians in their home for several days during the meeting. One evening he mentioned that he had spent two years in a POW camp called Aliceville "somewhere near Birmingham." Neither doctor knew where Aliceville was, but they looked it up on a map, and Dr. Kochakian offered to drive Dr. Kopera there (about two hours away in Pickens county) to see what remained of the camp.
I wrote about this visit in Guests Behind the Barbed Wire, describing how the two men inquired at the Aliceville post office where they met a local resident named David Stringfellow who showed them around. Most of the camp had been dismantled and sold for scrap after the war, but they did locate one of the old buildings, and Dr. Kopera took a photograph of it. When I wrote about this incident, I did not know who the Birmingham doctor was.
A few weeks after that visit, a letter arrived at the City Council chambers in Aliceville. In it, Dr. Kopera expressed his heartfelt thanks to those who had made him feel welcome when he came to renew old memories. These words from his letter, written 30 years after his POW experience, are important words of perspective with a message for all of us:
…what I did not expect and actually found was the extremely kind reception by people with whom I talked in Aliceville. In particular, one of your town councilmen was so kind to even give us a sort of 'sightseeing tour. I believe this attitude towards a former prisoner of war excellently demonstrates how much the thinking of people has changed to the better. The ready acceptance which I have found in your town by members of the younger and older generation convinced me once more that the desire to promote understanding between nations has become strong enough to suppress or perhaps even forget bad experiences of periods full of insanity and lack of humanity. I can assure you I was happy to be back in this part of America and to meet so many friendly people.
Dr. Kochakian passed away in February 1999 at the age of 91. Dr. Kopera retired in 1986 at the age of 62. He has been a widower since 1964. Dr. Kopera has three children. One son is a dental doctor in Graz, Austria. The other is F&B Vice President of Rosewood Hotels and Resorts in Dallas, Texas. His daughter is a singer and actress in Vienna.  [Dr. Kopera with his daughter Sabine]
This past year, Dr. Kopera visited Aliceville again, this time with his son Gert who lives in Dallas. (See photo below.) Father and son toured the site of the hospital where Dr. Kopera had worked and studied during the war, and they talked with employees of Alabama Casting LLC, which is now located on that site. The employees recently discovered a broken piece of dinnerware from the camp hospital with the medical caduceus emblem still visible. They presented the pottery piece to Dr. Kopera. 
Also during that three-day visit, Dr. Kopera met with graduate students who are participating in a German Studies seminar conducted by Dr. Thomas C. Fox at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The students are translating issues of Der Zaungast, a newspaper that was published by Camp Aliceville POWs during WWII. Following this visit, Dr. Kopera again wrote to express his appreciation:
…Gert and I think of the extremely kind hospitality we were privileged to receive from you. The visit to Aliceville remains unforgettable to us. It was an exceptional experience….I hope your quite unique museum will keep the attention it deserves and remain of interest for many people.
If you are interested in visiting this "quite unique museum," please contact the director, Mary Bess Paluzzi, through the museum website at www.cityofaliceville.com/MuseumMain.htm. If you visit the museum website listed here and click on "Museum News," you can view the October newsletter and see photographs of the camp dinnerware piece and of Dr. Tom Fox's German studies seminar class members on their visit to Aliceville.
Tags: Aliceville, Camp Aliceville, German POWs, Graz, WWII
Posted in Aliceville Museum, German POWs | No Comments »
|
