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
1 comment:
I am struck by the fact that the German POW who carved this eagle could not have imagined that decades later the daughter of an American POW and her POW father would be taking it to put on display at the museum. I find that very satisfying!
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