Annotated Bibliography of POW Memoirs, WWII, Europe and North Africa

Those interested in books on the POW experience from WWII should check out Tamara Haygood's annotated bibliography at http://wlajournal.com/moab



Tamara, Lindsay Liles, and William Newmiller have compiled a searchable database that provides author, bibliographic information, nationality of the memoir writer, language, affilitation, date captured, camps, the percent of the memoirs that deal with the POW experience, and a rating. Read more!

Honor Roll of SLIII POWs

Take a moment to click on the link and view the Stalag Luft III former POWs that we are honoring on this site.

If you personally know an SLIII former-POW that you would like to have honored on the site, send their name, rank, the compound and (if known) the barracks they were in to: larsonsintn@comcast.net In addition, if you have a picture that you can scan and send, we will post it as well.

Link to the names and pictures of former SLIII POWs


If the former SLIII POW you are honoring is still living and he would like to contact other living SLIII POWs or would like to attend the next SLIII Reunion, please post a comment on this post. Read more!

Pieces of History

As noted in a previous post below, we were blessed to meet Hans Burkhardt at the Spremberg Hotel, and he showed us the train station where our fathers were loaded onto boxcars for the trip to camps at Nuremberg and Moosburg. Hans had an older friend who fought in the war and was captured by the Allies. That friend, Ervin Vorssatz, was shipped to America and spent time in a POW camp in Arkansas. There he worked and made handcrafted items while in the prison camp, bringing home a pocketwatch purchased with his POW wages, and a wooden plaque that he carved of an eagle's head (there were eagles that nested by the river near the camp where he was held). This month, I will take my father, Edward Bender, to the POW museum at Aliceville, Alabama to donate these items.

To see information on the POW museum in Aliceville, Alabama, click the "Read More" link.
Here is the contact information for the museum at Aliceville, AL:
Aliceville POW Museum & Cultural Center

Ann Kirksey, Director
Aliceville POW Museum & Cultural Center
104 Broad Street
Aliceville, AL 35442
205-373-2365
museum@nctv.com


Read more!

Road from Sagan - the revised interactive map.

Click here to follow the route 12,000 Allied POWs took when they were forced to evacuate the German prisoner of war camp, Stalag Luft III, on the night of January 27, 1945, into the teeth of a raging blizzard. In a line stretching nearly 20 miles long, they were marched west 52 miles to Spremberg, Germany, where they were then crammed on box cars and transported to Stalag VII in Bavaria.

Click here to go to an interactive map where you can follow along the route we Kriegie Kids took as we retraced the steps of our fathers. When the map fully loads, you may use the zoom in/out tool, and you can left click and drag the map underneath you - but first click on the double [<<] at the top center of the map to clear the symbols on the left which will widen the map view. The journey begins in Poland at the eastern end of the map, at the site of Stalag Luft III, and ends in the German city of Spremberg at the train yards. Along the route are various pins that you can click on which will reveal interesting information and pictures. When you encounter a place on the map that has a lot of pins, zoom in further and further to spread the pins out and to get a better view of the land underneath. If you zoom in too far the resolution will fail. Have fun!! For a list of some of the Polish towns and their German names that were used during the war, use the "Read More" link below:


Here is the list of some of the Polish towns and their German names used during the war:

Zagan - Sagan
Czerna - Hammerfeld
Ilowa - Halbau
Borowe - Charlottenhof
Godznica - Freiwaldau
Lipna - Selingersruh
Przewoz - Priebus
Potok - Pattag
Read more!