The KLB Club (initials for Konzentrationslager Buchenwald) was formed on 12 October 1944, and included the 168 allied airmen who were held prisoner at Buchenwald concentration camp between 20 August and 19 October 1944. [1] [ page needed ] [2] 166 airmen survived Buchenwald, while two died of sickness at the camp. [3] [4]
The Allies of World War II, called the United Nations from the 1 January 1942 declaration, were the countries that together opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War (1939–1945). The Allies promoted the alliance as a means to control German, Japanese and Italian aggression.
Buchenwald was a Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or suspected communists were among the first internees.
As allied air forces took control of the skies over Europe in the summer of 1944, Adolf Hitler ordered the immediate execution of allied flyers accused of committing certain acts. [4] The most common act was to be captured in civilian clothing and/or without their dog tags by the Gestapo or Secret Police. [5] [ page needed ] These airmen had been shot down mainly over France, but also over Belgium and the Netherlands and were turned over to the Gestapo and Secret Police – by traitors within the French Resistance – while attempting to reach England along escape routes such as the Comet and Pat Line. [6] A notable traitor within the French Resistance was Jacques Desoubrie, who was responsible for betraying a significant number of allied airmen to the German authorities. [3] [ page needed ] [5] [ page needed ] [7]
Adolf Hitler was a German politician and leader of the Nazi Party. He rose to power as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and later Führer in 1934. During his dictatorship from 1933 to 1945, he initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland in September 1939. He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust.
The Geheime Staatspolizei, abbreviated Gestapo, was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe.
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of 30,688 square kilometres (11,849 sq mi) and has a population of more than 11.4 million. The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi and Liège.
These captured airmen were given the name "Terrorflieger" (terror flyers), and were not given a trial. [4] [8] The German Foreign Office however, expressed concern about shooting prisoners of war (POWs) and suggested that enemy airmen suspected of such offenses not be given the legal status of POWs. Following this advice, the Gestapo and Security Police informed these captured allied airmen that they were criminals and spies. [2] [4] Using this justification, 168 allied airmen from Great Britain, United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Jamaica were taken by train – in overcrowded cattle boxcars – from Fresnes Prison outside Paris, to Buchenwald concentration camp. [9] [ page needed ] After five days in the boxcars, they arrived at Buchenwald on 20 August 1944. [1] [3] [ page needed ] [8] [ page needed ]
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person, whether a combatant or a non-combatant, who is held in custody by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1660.
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island, and the ninth-largest island in the world. In 2011, Great Britain had a population of about 61 million people, making it the world's third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of Great Britain, and together these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands, form the British Isles archipelago.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Nationalities of the 168 airmen [1] [10] [11] |
Buchenwald was a forced labour camp of about 60,000 inmates of mainly Russian POWs, but also common criminals, religious prisoners (including Jews), and various political prisoners from Germany, France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. [12] For the first three weeks at Buchenwald, the prisoners were totally shaven, denied shoes and forced to sleep outside without shelter in one of Buchenwald's sub-camps, known as 'Little Camp'. [12] Most airmen doubted they would ever get out of Buchenwald because their documents were stamped with the acronym "DIKAL" (Darf in kein anderes Lager), or "not to be transferred to another camp". [13] [ page needed ] After the war some of the airmen recounted that officers of the German Air Force had visited Buchenwald a few days after an Allied air raid on Weimar in late August 1944 to assess the damage inflicted upon the armament factory adjacent to the camp. According to these recollections the German officers talked to the airmen and saw after it that they were transferred to the POW camp. [14] Years later veterans identified Johannes Trautloft from photos as one of the officers and credited him with saving their lives. [15] Until now it was not possible to verify this story with archival records. In his war diary Trautloft does not mention the events. [15] The Gedenkstätte Buchenwald stated that a visit by Trautloft or other officers might have happened and that this might have influenced the decision making process what to do with the airmen. On the other hand, there might have been no connection whatsoever, because the decisions were not made by a single officer like Trautloft. [15]
Weimar is a city in the federal state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately 80 kilometres southwest of Leipzig, 170 kilometres north of Nuremberg and 170 kilometres west of Dresden. Together with the neighbour-cities Erfurt and Jena it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, whereas the city itself counts a population of 65,000. Weimar is well known because of its large cultural heritage and its importance in German history.
To address the constant stress, long appells (roll calls), boredom, insecurity and apprehension, it was decided amongst the 168 airmen to hold formal meetings to give them a sense of purpose and order. [3] Thus, the exclusive KLB Club came into existence with several chapters; Canada, United States, Great Britain, and Australia/New Zealand. [2] Elected representatives of each nationality held separate meetings to collate the previously scattered efforts of those who had proposed address lists, meetings after the war and other pursuits. The meetings at Buchenwald displayed the 168 airmen's militariness and solidarity, forming a bond that brings them together more than 60 years after the liberation of Buchenwald. [2] [3]
Appellplatz is a compound German word meaning "roll call" (Appell) and "area" or "place" (Platz). In English, the word is generally used to describe the location for the daily roll calls in Nazi concentration camps.
At one meeting, it was agreed to design a club pin. The winning design, put forward by Bob Taylor from Great Britain, showed a naked, winged foot, symbolising the airmen's barefoot condition while in the concentration camp. The foot is chained to a ball bearing the letters KLB, with the whole mounted on a white star, which was the crest of the Allied invasion forces. [3] Canadian airman, Willie Walderam, also wrote the poem titled, A Reflection, about Buchenwald [1] (see below). On the night of 19 October, 156 of the 168 airmen were transferred from Buchenwald to Stalag Luft III by the Luftwaffe. Two airmen died from sickness at Buchenwald, while the remaining 10 were transported in small groups, over a period of several weeks. [1]
Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner of war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel.
The Luftwaffe was the aerial warfare branch of the combined German Wehrmacht military forces during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the Luftstreitkräfte of the Army and the Marine-Fliegerabteilung of the Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 as a result of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles which stated that Germany was forbidden to have any air force.
In the book 168 Jump Into Hell, the purpose of the KLB Club was described as being to perpetuate the comradeship already shown by the flying personnel of Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada, by the interchanging of pamphlets, ideas and visits. [1] More than 30 years later, in 1979, 4 Canadian KLB members made the first serious attempt to trace all club members. [7] Of the original 168 members, only 28 have not been located or accounted for. [1]
Nationality | Name | Buchenwald number | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
New Zealander | Cullen, Malcolm Ford | 78388 | Died 5 September 2002. [16] |
Lamason, Phillip (Phil) John [17] | 78407 | Senior Officer (Squadron Leader) at Buchenwald concentration camp. Interviewed in the 1994 NFBC documentary, Buchenwald: The Lucky Ones. Portrayed in the History Channel’s 2004 documentary Shot from the Sky. Died 19 May 2012. | |
Australian | Fairclough, Mervyn James [18] | 78427 | Died July 1964, Katanning Western Australia. [19] |
Gwilliam, James (Jim) Percival | 78423 | Died 11 August 2002. [19] | |
Johnston, Eric Lyle | 78421 | Interviewed in the 1994 NFBC documentary, Buchenwald: The Lucky Ones. Died 25 August 2003. [19] | |
Light, Kevin William | 78381 | Died 19 July 2008. [19] | |
Malcolm, Thomas (Tom) Alexander | 78379 | Died 15 February 2002. [19] | |
Mills, Keith Cyril. | 78405 | Died February 2012, Mackay, Queensland. [20] | |
Mills, Robert (Bob) Neil | 78426 | Died 8 August 1990. [19] | |
Perry, Raymond (Ray) Walter | 78356 | Died 26 November 1997. [19] | |
Whellum, Lesley (Les) Keith | 78442 | Died 23 May 2003. [19] | |
Jamaican | Guilfoyle, Michael (Mike) A. [21] [22] | 78393 | Not located after World War II, but a Captain Michael Guilfoyle flew for Air Jamaica in 1966. [23] |
Canadian | Atkins, Harold | 78440 | Only Canadian KLB member not located after World War II |
Bastable, Harry [24] [25] | 78378 | Deceased September 23, 2007 | |
Clark, Don | 78364 | Deceased April 30, 1988 | |
Crawford, John | 78406 | Deceased. [26] | |
Comptom, G.A. Edward | 78434 | Deceased | |
Carter-Edwards, Ed [2] | 78361 | Interviewed in the 1994 NFBC documentary, Buchenwald: The Lucky Ones. Died February 22, 2017 in Ontario Canada. [27] | |
Fulsher, Frederick W. [28] | 78418 | Deceased | |
Gibson, William (Bill) R. [29] | 78394 | Addressed the Canadian Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs about Buchenwald, in February 2000. Deceased | |
Grenon, Leon (Leo) T. [30] | 78438 | Died September 1994 | |
Harvie, John D. [31] | 78412 | Co-wrote the book "Missing in Action" about Buchenwald. Died January 5, 2011. | |
Head, Les [29] | 78430 | ||
Hetherington, Stanley (Stan) [30] | 78436 | ||
High, Dave | 78422 | Interviewed in the 1994 NFBC documentary, Buchenwald: The Lucky Ones. | |
Hodgson, Thomas (Tommy) R. | 78424 | Deceased | |
Hoffman, Charles Richard (Dick) [32] | 78429 | Deceased | |
Kinnis, Arthur (Art) G. [33] | 78391 | Co-wrote the book "168 Jump into Hell" about Buchenwald. Died January 20, 2011 in Victoria, British Columbia. [34] | |
Leslie, Donald (Don) E. [35] | 78404 | Interviewed in the History Channel’s 2004 documentary Shot from the Sky about Buchenwald | |
McLenaghhan, J. Ralph | 78373 | Deceased | |
Prudham, James E. (Pep) [29] | 78374 | Died 2000 in Scarbrough Ontario. [36] | |
Scullion, Patrick [30] | 78395 | Deceased | |
Shepherd, Ernest G. | 78372 | Deceased | |
Smith, James A. [29] | 78428 | Died July 29, 2013 | |
Sonshine, E.R. (Joseph) [21] | 78343 | Died March 13, 2005 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. | |
Walderam, Willie A. | 78402 | Wrote the poem, "A Reflection", about KLB and Buchenwald. Deceased | |
Watson, Earl Carruthers [32] | 78431 | Deceased | |
Willis, Calvin E. | 78342 | ||
British | Angus, Jack W. | 78390 | Not located after World War II |
Barham, Leonard P. [37] | 78432 | Not located after World War II | |
Baxter, Stuart | 78384 | Not located after World War II | |
Bennett, Geoffery | 78344 | Teacher at Caludon Castle School Coventry | |
Blackham, Thomas Henry (Tom) [38] | 78380 | Senior British officer (Flight Lieutenant) at Buchenwald. President of the KLB Club Great Britain chapter. Interviewed in the 1994 NFBC documentary, Buchenwald: The Lucky Ones. Died 6 April 2003. [39] | |
Booker, Stanley Albert [40] | 78370 | Co-wrote the book "168 Jump into Hell" about Buchenwald | |
Bryden, Robert (Bob) | 78365 | ||
Chapman, E.W. (Ken) [17] | 78409 | Died 29 June 2008 in Sussex. | |
Chinn, Albert J. [37] | 78433 | Not located after World War II | |
Clark, John | 78385 | Not located after World War II | |
Davis, Eric | 78346 | Deceased | |
Dowdeswell, Philip | 78410 | Not located after World War II | |
Eagle, Douglas [35] | 78403 | Deceased | |
Fernandez, John Joseph [41] | 78352 | Died December 1992 | |
Gould, Terrance [40] | 78386 | Not located after World War II | |
Harper, Robert | 78414 | Not located after World War II | |
Heggarty, Patrick W. [18] | 78420 | ||
Hemmens, Philip D. [42] | 78383 | Died in Buchenwald from septic aenemia, rheumatic fever and pneumonia on 18 October 1944. | |
Hughes, Ronald R. | 78347 | ||
Jackson, Edgar | 78392 | Deceased | |
Jordin, Douglas F. [21] | 78341 | Not located after World War II | |
Joyce, Reg W. [35] | 78401 | ||
Kay, William [28] | 78400 | ||
Leverington Ronald (Ron) L. [35] [43] | 78382 | Still alive in November 2011. [44] | |
Lucas, Lewis J. | 78389 | ||
MacPherson, Alexander J. | 78435 | Not located after World War II | |
Marshall, Wilfred | 78417 | Not located after World War II | |
Measures, Dorak K. | 78413 | Deceased | |
Mutter, Neville E.S. | 78375 | Died March 2001 | |
Nuttall, Cyril Worsley [41] | 78366 | Died November 1990 | |
Osselton, John N. [40] | 78371 | Not located after World War II | |
Peirson, Frank | 78362 | ||
Percy, Douglas C. | 78411 | Deceased | |
Phelps, Edward K. | 78419 | ||
Reid, John D. | 78387 | Not located after World War II | |
Robb, Ian A. [45] | 78415 | ||
Rowe, Andrew [24] | 78408 | Not located after World War II | |
Salt, Frank | 78345 | Not located after World War II | |
Sharrate, William D. | 78397 | Not located after World War II | |
Spierenburg, Splinter Adolph (Dutch) | 78443 | Dutchman flying for the RAF. [46] Spoke fluent German and regularly acted as an interpreter for Lamason. Not located after World War II, but a P/O Splinter Adolphe Spierenburg (born 17 May 1920 in the Hague) who joined the RAF in 1942, shot down over France in May 1944, and was subsequently sent to a concentration camp, died April 1997, in England. [47] | |
Stewart, James (Jim) A. | 78416 | Interviewed in the 1994 NFBC documentary, Buchenwald: The Lucky Ones. | |
Taylor, Peter D. | 78425 | ||
Taylor, Ralph John (Bob) | 78376 | Designed the KLB Club pin. Interviewed in the 1994 NFBC documentary, Buchenwald: The Lucky Ones. | |
Vinecombe, Frederick S. [29] | 78377 | Celebrated his 103rd birthday in 2017, alive and well in 2018 | |
Ward, John D. | 78396 | Not located after World War II | |
Watmough, George F. [30] | 78439 | Not located after World War II | |
Wesley, Laurice | 78399 | Not located after World War II | |
Williams, Llewelyn | 78437 | Not located after World War II | |
American | Alexander, William | 78287 | Deceased |
Allen, Roy | 78357 | Co-wrote the book, "In the Shadows of War" about Buchenwald. Main character in the History Channel’s 2004 documentary Shot from the Sky. Died 1991 | |
Appleman, Stratton M. | 78314 | Deceased | |
Bauder, Warren F. | 78196 | Interviewed in the History Channel’s 2004 documentary Shot from the Sky about Buchenwald | |
Beck, Levitt C. | 78286 | Died in Buchenwald from purulent pleurisy on the evening of 29 November 1944. | |
Bedford, Richard L. | 78283 | ||
Bowan, Chasten (Chas) E. [48] | 78336 | Interviewed in the History Channel’s 2004 documentary Shot from the Sky about Buchenwald. Died December 30, 2016. | |
Brown, Robert W. | 78295 | ||
Bozarth, James Walter | 78340 | Deceased | |
Carr, Frederick W. | 78318 | Deceased | |
Chalot, John A. | 78278 | ||
Chapman, Park | 78284 | Deceased | |
Chessir, Douglas | 78285 | ||
Coats, Basil A. | 78308 | Deceased | |
Coffman, J.D. | 78319 | ||
Cowan, Frank Kirby | 78271 | Died December 23, 2009 | |
Crouch, Marshall Jr. E. | 78277 | Deceased | |
Dauteul, Donat F. | 78324 | ||
Dearey, Ralph W. | 78316 | Deceased | |
Denaro, Joe | 78269 | ||
Duncan, James H. | 78300 | Deceased | |
Edge, William L. | 78267 | Died 1996 | |
Fix, Karl Ellsworth | 78313 | Deceased | |
Fore, James W. | 78349 | ||
Freeman, Elmer (James) C. | 78359 | Died 2 August 2012, Niceville, Florida [49] | |
Friel, Edward J. | 78309 | ||
Granberry, William L. | 78312 | Deceased | |
Hanson, John T. | 78280 | Not located after World War II | |
Hastin, James (Jim) D. | 78354 | Interviewed in the 1994 NFBC documentary, Buchenwald: The Lucky Ones. Died February 2005 | |
Heimerman, Lawrence A. | 78334 | Deceased | |
Hilding, Russ D. | 78326 | ||
Hoffman, Robert B. | 78350 | Deceased | |
Horwege, Glen L. | 78281 | Deceased | |
Horrigan, Roy J. | 78321 | ||
Hunter, Harry F. | 78337 | ||
Johnson, Robert T. | 78272 | ||
King, Myles A. | 78279 | ||
Larson, Merle E. | 78363 | Senior US Officer (Captain) at Buchenwald. Died 1998. | |
Little, Bruce S. | 78301 | ||
Ludwig, Everett F. | 78339 | Deceased | |
McClanahan, John H. | 78348 | Deceased | |
Martini, Frederic C | 78299 | Active in KLB, VFW, POW groups. Deceased 1995 in Bradenton, FL. | |
Masters, Lovell O. | 78290 | Deceased | |
Mauk, William E. | 78298 | Deceased | |
McLaughlin, Daniel (Whitey) G. | 78338 | ||
Mikel, George | 78266 | Deceased | |
Mitchell, Gerald E. | 78307 | ||
Moser, Joseph (Joe) [50] | 78369 | Interviewed in the 1994 NFBC documentary, Buchenwald: The Lucky Ones. Co-wrote the book "A fighter pilot in Buchenwald" about Buchenwald. Interviewed in the History Channel’s 2004 documentary Shot from the Sky about Buchenwald. Died December 2, 2015 in Ferndale, Washington | |
Pacha, Arthur M. | 78288 | ||
Paxton, S. Keith | 78320 | ||
Pecus, Steve | 78315 | Deceased | |
Pederson, J.W. (Charles) | 78351 | Died 23 July 1986 | |
Pennel, Sam | 78289 | Deceased | |
Petrich, Michael R. | 78325 | Interviewed in the History Channel’s 2004 documentary Shot from the Sky about Buchenwald. Died April 23, 2006 (Long Beach, California). [51] | |
Phelps, Byron F. | 78331 | Deceased January 10, 2012 | |
Pelletier, Arthur J. | 78335 | ||
Powell, William (Bill) | 78296 | Original President of the US chapter. Interviewed in the 1994 NFBC documentary, Buchenwald: The Lucky Ones. Died September 10, 1997 (Bella Vista, Arizona). [52] | |
Reynolds, Leo J. | 78292 | ||
Richey, G. Thomas | 78317 | Died 2 June 2004 | |
Ritter, Edwin W. | 78311 | Spoke Polish. Deceased. | |
Robertson, Charles William | 78327 | Died 25 October 2005 | |
Rynerd, William H. | 78358 | ||
Salo, Laurie H. | 78270 | Deceased | |
Smith, James W. | 78323 | Deceased | |
Scharf, Bernard T. | 78353 | Spoke German. Not located after World War II. | |
Scott, George W. | 78330 | Not located after World War II. | |
Shearer, Donald R. | 78332 | ||
Straulka, Paul A. | 78268 | Deceased | |
Suddock, Dwight E. | 78273 | Deceased | |
Sypher, Leroy Henry | 78276 | Deceased February 4, 2006 | |
Thompson, Warren A. | 78329 | ||
Vance, Ira E. | 78360 | Deceased | |
Vallee, Edward | 78293 | Deceased | |
Vincent, Edwin H. | 78310 | Deceased | |
Vratney, Frank | 78328 | Spoke Czech or Slovak. | |
Ward, Robert | 78355 | ||
Watson, John Paul | 78333 | ||
Williams, W.J. | 78294 | ||
Wilson, Paul J. | 78297 | Deceased | |
Wojnick, Ray J. | 78367 | Deceased | |
Zander, Arthur E. | 78368 | Deceased July 15, 2009 | |
Zeiser, James | 78322 | Deceased |
Walderam, Willie, A Reflection [1] R.C.A.F. KLB 78402
I'll think of you dear KLB
Again some future day,
When the world is gay and free
And I am so far away.
Of those long appells in pouring rain
With neither boots nor shoes,
And the SS guards who counted us
Hitting whom they choose.
When I bounce my children on my knee
I'll think of the Gypsy kids,
Who, instead of wearing ball and chain,
Should have been wearing bibs.
When I Lay in my cosy bed at night
I'll think of your hard boards,
With a single blanket to cover us,
And fleas and lice in hordes.
Ironically, I'll think of how
You took our dog-tags from us,
'Nix soldat-civil' you said,
Smiling fanatically at us.
Yes, you gave us soup and enough black bread
To etch out a mere existence,
Enough to keep us wanting more
And weaken our resistance
How two of our number lost their lives
For lack of medical aid;
You wouldn't even give them food
To help save them from the grave
And then: after eight weeks spent in your filthy soul,
Which seemed to me like years,
The Luftwaffe came, took us away,
I felt like shedding tears
And so to all you Konzentrators,
A toast I offer thee;
Here's wishing you a happy life,
And to Hell with KLB
Karl-Otto Koch was a mid-ranking commander in the SS of Nazi Germany who was the first commandant of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen. From September 1941 until August 1942, he served as the first commandant of the Majdanek concentration camp in occupied Poland, stealing vast amounts of valuables and money from murdered Jews. His wife, Ilse Koch, also took part in the notorious crimes at Buchenwald and Majdanek.
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom set in a German prisoner of war (POW) camp during World War II. It ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network. Bob Crane starred as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, coordinating an international crew of Allied prisoners running a special operations group from the camp. Werner Klemperer played Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the incompetent commandant of the camp, and John Banner played the bungling sergeant-of-the-guard, Sergeant Hans Schultz.
Wing Commander Forest Frederick Edward "Tommy" Yeo-Thomas was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent in the Second World War. Codenamed "SEAHORSE" and "SHELLEY" in the SOE, Yeo-Thomas was known by the Gestapo as "The White Rabbit". His particular sphere of operations was Occupied and Vichy France.
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled before and during the Second World War. The first Nazi camps were erected in Germany in March 1933 immediately after Hitler became Chancellor and his Nazi Party was given control of the police by Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick and Prussian Acting Interior Minister Hermann Göring. Used to hold and torture political opponents and union organizers, the camps initially held around 45,000 prisoners. In 1933–1939, before the onset of war, most prisoners consisted of German Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, Roma, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and persons accused of 'asocial' or socially 'deviant' behavior by the Germans.
Roy Allen (1918–1991) was an American, born in the north Philadelphia neighborhood of Olney. He was a bomber pilot during World War II shot down over France and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp.
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of enemy combatants captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
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Johannes "Hannes" Trautloft was a German general and Deputy Inspector of the Air Force of West Germany. During World War II, he was a fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany.
Jacques Desoubrie was a double agent who worked for the Gestapo during the German occupation of France during World War II.
The number of deaths in the Buchenwald concentration camp is estimated to have been 56,545, a mortality rate of 24% averaged over all prisoners transferred to the camp between its founding in 1937 and its liberation in 1945. Deaths were due both to the harsh conditions of life in the camp and also to the executions carried out by camp overseers.
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Stalag Luft VI was a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II located near the town of Heydekrug, Memelland. It was the northernmost POW camp within the confines of the German Reich.
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Phillip John Lamason DFC & Bar was a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the Second World War, who rose to prominence as the senior officer in charge of 168 Allied airmen taken to Buchenwald concentration camp, Germany, in August 1944. Raised in Napier, he joined the RNZAF in September 1940, and by April 1942 was a pilot officer serving with the Royal Air Force in Europe. On 8 June 1944, Lamason was in command of a Lancaster heavy bomber that was shot down during a raid on railway marshalling yards near Paris. Bailing out, he was picked up by members of the French Resistance and hidden at various locations for seven weeks. While attempting to reach Spain along the Comet line, Lamason was double-crossed by a traitor within the Resistance and handed over to the Gestapo.
During World War II, it has been estimated that between 19,500 and 50,000 members of the Imperial Japanese military surrendered to Western Allied combatants prior to the end of the Pacific War in August 1945. Soviet troops seized and imprisoned more than half a million Japanese troops and civilians in China and other places. The number of Japanese soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen who surrendered was limited by the Japanese military indoctrinating its personnel to fight to the death, Allied combat personnel often being unwilling to take prisoners, and many Japanese soldiers believing that those who surrendered would be killed by their captors.
Death marches refers to the forcible movements of prisoners of Nazi Germany between Nazi camps during World War II. They occurred at various points during the Holocaust, including 1939 in the Lublin province of Poland, in 1942 in Reichskommissariat Ukraine and across the General Government, and between Autumn 1944 and late April 1945 near the Soviet front, from the Nazi concentration camps and prisoner of war camps situated in the new Reichsgaue, to camps inside Germany proper, away from reach of the Allied forces. The purpose was to remove evidence of crimes against humanity committed inside the camps and to prevent the liberation of German-held prisoners of war.
Berga an der Elster was a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp. Workers were supplied by Buchenwald concentration camp and from a POW camp, Stalag IX-B; the latter contravened the provisions of the Third Geneva Convention and the Hague Treaties. Many prisoners died as a result of malnutrition, sickness, and beatings, including 73 American POWs. The labor camp formed part of Germany's secret plan to transform, via hydrogenation, brown coal into usable fuel for tanks, planes, and other military machinery. However, the camp's additional purpose was Vernichtung durch Arbeit, and prisoners were intentionally worked to death under inhumane working and living conditions, and they suffered from starvation as a result. This secondary purpose of extermination was carried out until the war's end, when the prisoners were subjected to a forced death march in order to keep ahead of the advancing allied forces.