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2\osti)dl Datlp Jxecorb V ISTAS Sunday, June 3,2018tiful painted windows one of which read, I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The names of the artists were Hilker, Querhammer and Angel Tinger.The prisoners were able to take advantage of many educational activities offered them by our government. They also had time to engage in leisure time activities to include physical sports and even plastic arts. Some beautiful work was done in the craft shop, but when the men were not allowed to take it with them,they broke it up.The POWs also were able to carry on a very impressive music program. They formed an orchestra, using instruments provided, or that they had purchased for themselves. POWs, camp personnel and sometimes visitors from Roswell enjoyed these outstanding performances. Their favorite song, learned from the radio, appeared to be The Yellow Rose of Texas.”They were provided an opportunity to attend church services with Protestant and Catholic services provided for themMagazines and newspapers were freely available and many POWs held subscriptions to local papers, Christian Science Monitor,” Life, “Time and “New York Times.” The prisoners also published their own paper, “Free Word.” on mimeograph machines.When the war was over and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt initiated her revengeprogram, the POWs were rationed to 800 calories per day. Many farmers in the area, realizing that a man cannot work on such short rations, supplemented their lunches as they also felt that cutting down on food was unnecessary.One prisoner. Hans Rudolph Poethig, made friends with the farmers. Forty years after the war was over, Poethig commented, the people have been very warm-hearted here. I’d like to say this lias changed the attitude of many Germans toward the American people. The people over here have shown compassion, understanding and that they cared and showed a certain amount of patience. It was the attitude of the American people — men and women — that showed interest in the human being that impressed us tremendous-]y.At Christmas 1948-49, the American forces sponsored the orphanages for Christmas and the Germans in return, invited American soldiers into their homes. ‘The war was over!”Credits to Elvis Fleming’s Treasures of History IV” and the Star Tribune of Hag-erman article by Ernestine Chester Williams.Janice Dunnahoo is an archive volunteer at the Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico Archives. She can be reached at575-622-1176 or by email at jdhist4@outlook.com.Courtesy of the Historical Society for Southeastern New MexicoAbove: The mess hall at the Roswell POW Internment Camp. Below: The war is over. German POWs detained in Roswell line up for their return to Germany.POWsContinued from Page C1bread they could chew a little longer.”Security at the camp was of utmost importance. It was surrounded by two high fences topped with barbed wire. The 15-foot space between the fences was sometimes referred to as dead man’s strip.”The perimeters were dotted with towers that were continuously manned by guards armed with machine guns. Search lights covered the fences, and there were mounted guards, as well as sentinels on foot, who were constantly patrolling the area.There were relatively few attempts to escape, as the men were treated so well. The unfriendly terrain and miles and miles of wide open spaces did not give a prisoner much hope of escaping or of being able to return to his homeland.Those who did escape were always caught, with very few of the cases ending in tragedy. Mounted guards and tracking dogs were used in running down the escapees. One of the POWs said, I never didsee a dog. but I knew they were being used, as I was an interpreter for escapees when the}' returned to camp.”POWs working in the cotton fieldsNew Mexico farmers needed field hands desperately during those four years. Several side camps were set up in a few isolated places, usually in old abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps camps. A few of these were located in Artesia. Dexter and May-hill. as well as other places in the region.Most of the prisoners were hired out to the farmers. The majority of their man hours in the crop season of 1943-44 was in the New Mexico’s cotton fields. Most of the prisoners disliked the bending and the stooping, and did not become good cotton pickers. Farmers complained that the POWs didn’t make an attempt to meet their quotas. Women and children would often get considerably more pounds of cotton per day than the POWs. A diary entry of one prisoner stated that he wished all the cotton fields in the area to the devil.”and wind, eroded the concrete away, and that old iron cross is still clearly visible.Art, music and newspapersThe prisoners also left artistic impressions in the windows of the old First Presbyterian Church of Dexter. These men were members of Rommel’s Afri-ka Korps. but left lasting impressions with their beauSeveral hundred prisoners would arrive at the gate every morning and would be taken by trucks to farms or to various work projects. One farmer stated they represented the only type of labor he could get.”Work projects for the prisonersOn one of these projects, a work contingent of some 50 of the prisoners were detailed to work on the flood-control projects by lining rocks along the slanting sides of Spring River banks. Located on the north side of the river, between Pennsylvania and Kentucky avenues. lies a symbol of those war prisoner’s work. The men chose a variety of colors and different sizes of rocks to form the Iron Cross and set it firmly in the bank. The Iron Cross was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire and Nazi GermanyWhen they discovered what had happened, some people of Roswell became so angry that they set out to do away with the grim object. In doing so. they had to pour five yards of concrete over it. However, the concrete did not stay. Floods, sun
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Roswell Daily Record
Roswell, New Mexico, US
Sun, Jun 03, 2018
Page 11
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USA 29 Jun 2019
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