and Tonkawa. officials obtained use of vacant dormitories built for employees of the Oklahoma Ordnance Works at Pryor. noun. Arnold Krammer, Nazi Prisoners of War in America (Chelsea, Md. With . History Alive! Reports seemto indicate that it opened in early July 1943, existing only for about one month. It first appearedin the PMG reports on July 19, 1943, and last appeared on April 15, 1946. It was originally a branch of the Madill Provisional Because many PWs with serious injuries or sicknesses were assigned there, twenty-eightdeaths were reported - twenty-two PWs died from natural cause and six died as the result of battle wounds. , What was life like for the POWs in the camps? The first PWs arrived on October11, 1943, but the closing date is unknown. It first appeared in the PMG reports on November 8, 1944, and last appeared on March 8, 1945. Seminole PW CampThis After World War II, German prisoners were taken back to Europe as part of a reparations agreement. : Scarborough House, 1996). These incidents, combined with war wounds, Borden General Hospital PW CampThis camp, a branch of the Ft. Reno PW Camp, was located at the Borden General Hospital on the west side of Chickasha.It first appeared in the PMG reports on April 16, 1945, and last appeared on May 1, 1945. It first appeared in the PMG reports on June 16, 1944, and last appeared on July 8, 1944. It was a hospital for American servicemen until August 1, 1944, when it becamea hospital for the treatment of PWs and a branch of the camp Gruber PW camp. Captive or POW Pay and Allowance Entitlements: Soldiers are entitled to all pay and allowances that were authorized prior to the POW period. However, POW Camp Road is not about the road itself. camp was located north of highway 60 and west of Public Street in the southeast quarter of Section 26 on the north In November 1943, a disturbance among the prisoners resulted in the death of a German soldier. Around midnight, someone It reverted back into a hospital for American servicemen on July 15, 1945. leaders anticipated World War II, they developed plans for control of more than 100,000 enemy aliens living in In addition, a temporary camp was set up at Fort Sill. enemy aliens, however, were the ones at McAlester and Stringtown. It last appeared in the PMG reports on May 1, 1946, the last PW campin Oklahoma. Oklahoma Army National Guard (OKARNG), acquired 23,515 acres to establish Camp Gruber as a state-operated training confined there was 4,702 on October 3, 1945. Placed A machinist from the city of Hamburg, Germany, Kunze was drafted into the German Army in 1940 and sent to the Afrika The United States then were left with 275,000 German POW's from this victory. There were six major base camps in Oklahoma and an additional two dozen branch camps. Terry Paul Wilson, "The Afrika Korps in Oklahoma: Fort Reno's Prisoner of War Compound," The Chronicles of Oklahoma 52 (Fall 1974). 11, No. Approximately 1,000 POWs were held in the Upper Peninsula, while 5,000 were housed in the Lower Peninsula. A branch of the Ft. SillPW Camp, it held as many as 286 PWs. camp was located five miles south of Pryor on the east side of highway 69 in what is now the Mid American Industrial A base camp, its official capacity was Windsor,Sonoma County, 333 prisoners, agricultural. It had a assigned soldiers to specific tasks, etc. The five men were hung at Fort Leavenworth Military Thiscamp was located on the far west side of the Ft. Sill Military Reservation and south of Randolph Road. stenciled with "PW," German soldiers picked row crops and cotton, harvested wheat and broom corn, manned Porter PW Camp Locatedin the Community Building in the center of Porter, this camp first appeared in the PMG reports on September 16,1944, and last appeared on November 16, 1945. of commerce began writing their legislative officials, lobbying for the camps to be built in Oklahoma, for our Stilwell PW CampThis It was a branch of the Ft. Reno PW Camp and about 225 PWs in the camps they were imprisoned in. sites of the camps in which they stayed. Unique Tulsa History - Bixby WW2 POW Camp (GC84KVY) was created by Scott&Brandi on 3/12/2019. From 1942-1945, more than 400,000 POWs, mostly German, were housed in some 500 POW camps located in this country. It was established about March of 1942 and closed in the late spring of 1943. This camp was located adjacent to the town of Gene Autry, thirteen miles northeast of Ardmore.It first appeared in the PMG reports on June 1, 1945, and last appeared on November 1, 1945. Service History Note: The veteran is a Bataan Death March survivor and was a prisoner of war (POW) at Camp O'Donnell and camps in Cabanatuan, Philippines. Corbett said that the base camp in Alva was specifically unique because it was used as the maximum security camp It opened on October 30, 1943, and closed in the fall of 1945. The other died from natural causes. The Alva camp was a special camp for holding Nazis andNazi sympathizers, and there are accounts of twenty-one escapes. There were both branch and base POW camps in Oklahoma. A base camp for a number of branch camps, it had a capacity of 5,750, but the greatest number of PWsconfined there was 4,702 on October 3, 1945. carried the first of thousands of prisoners of war who would spend all or part of the remainder of World War II Each was open about a year. captives to East Coast ports. The only camps that were actually used to hold , How many acres is Camp Gruber Oklahoma? there; it did not hold any of the Japanese-Americans who were relocated from the West Coast under Executive Order it held as many as 401 PWs at one time. Several of them picked cotton, plowed fields, farmed, worked in ice plantsor at alfalfa dryers. It last appeared in the PMG reports on May 1, 1946, the last PW campin Oklahoma. When the war ended in 1945, the US began transporting the prisoners back to their home countries and by 1946 they had all been repatriated. wanting to take control of the Suez Canal the British Army in Egypt repulsed the Italian attack and soon after, By May 1943 prisoners of war began arriving. There were both branch and base POW camps in Oklahoma. During World War II federal officials located enemy prisoner of war (POW) camps in Oklahoma. The base camps were locatedin Alva, Fort Reno, Fort Sill, the Madill Provisional Internment Camp headquarters, McAlester and Camp Gruber. This camp, a mobile work camp from the Camp Chaffee (Arkansas) PW Camp, was located at North Chickasha Street northof the Community building in what is now Wacker Park in Pauls Valley. Captured May 13, 1943 at Bone, Tunisia, he was shipped to the Tonkawa POW Camp,Oklahoma. It opened on October 20, 1944, and last appeared in the One PW escaped. given their files to carry with them wherever they went. On November 4, 1943, Kunze gave a note to a new American doctor,who did not understand the German writing or its purpose and returned the note to another German POW to give backto Kunze. The only word of its existence comes from one interview. Originally All three were converted later to POW camps. It's a Small size geocache, with difficulty of 1.5, terrain of 2. . None of the communities specifically sought a prisoner of war camp, but several received them. It first appeared in the PMG reports on June1, 1944, and last appeared on June 16, 1944, although it may have actually opened as early as May 1, 1944. Newsweeksaid other prisoners at the camp regardedKunze "a traitor to the Reich and to the fuehrer: because "some of them had seen a statement Kunze hadgiven American army officers information they believed had been of great value to the Allies in bombing Hamburg. On November 4, 1943, Kunze gave a note to a new American doctor,who did not understand the German writing or its purpose and returned the note to another German POW to give backto Kunze. Guidelines mandated placing the compounds away from urban, industrial areas for security purposes, in regions with mild climate to minimize construction costs, and at sites where POWs could alleviate an anticipated farm labor shortage. did not appear in the PMG reports, but the fact of its use comes from interviews. It was by Kit and Morgan Benson). More than eighty military facilities were built or approved for Oklahoma during World War II. It first appeared inthe PMG reports on August 16, 1944, and last appeared on November 16, 1945. Powell PW Camp Locateda short distance south of Powell, a small community about three miles east of Lebanon and about eight miles southwestof Madill, this camp was originally a branch of the Madill Provisional Internment Camp Headquarters, and laterbecame a branch of the Camp Howze PW camp. It first appeared in the PMG reports on November 1,1944, and last appeared on November 16, 1945. It had Plaque Text: POW marker committee Evelyn Scoles Coyle Rex D. Ackerson Helen Furber Cathey Roy C. Fath In the United States, at the end of World War II there were 175 Branch Camps serving 511 Area Camps containing over 425,000 prisoners of war. A newspaper account indicatesthat sixty German PWs were confined there. camp was located north of the swimming pool that is east of Jefferson Street and north of Iris Street in Northeast Until late 1946, the United States retained almost 70,000 POWs to dismantle military facilities in the Philippines, Okinawa, central Pacific, and Hawaii. , How were the Japanese treated in the internment camps? At first most of the captives came from North Africa following the surrender of the Afrika Korps. It opened in October 1944, and last appeared in the PMG reports on May 16, 1945. Copyright to all articles and other content in the online and print versions of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History is held by the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS). Most lived in small camps of about 300 men and cut pulpwood or worked on farms. Wetumka PW CampThis 1944 of the slaying near Camp Gordon, Ga., of Cpl. Boswell Ranch, Corcoran, Kings County, 499 prisoners, agricultural. Seminole PW CampThiscamp, a work camp from the McAlester PW Camp, was located in the Municipal Building at the northeast corner ofMain and Evans streets in Seminole. of Madill, this camp was originally a branch of the Madill Provisional Internment Camp Headquarters, and later The IJA also relied on physical punishment to discipline its own troops. A book, "The Killing of Corporal Kunze," by Wilma Trummel Parnell was published in 1981. Beyer conveneda "court-martial" that night and after finding Kunze guilty of treason, the court had him beaten to death.MPs questioned the 200 German POWs, and five who had blood on their uniforms were arrested and charged with themurder. Most of the pre-existing buildings that were used training. a "court-martial" that night and after finding Kunze guilty of treason, the court had him beaten to death. It was established about March of 1942 and closed in the late spring of 1943. They selected Oklahoma because the state met the basic requirements established by the Office of the Provost Marshal General, the U.S. Army agency responsible for the POW program. There were two escapes, probably the reason for the closing of the camp. The non-commissioned Germans did not have to work if they chose not to - which most of them didnt because theythought working for the Americans was somehow aiding the war effort. Reports seem Guidelines mandated placing the Jan 31-(AP)-Newsweek magazine says in its Feb. 5 issue that five German prisoners of war have been sentenced World War, 1939-1945. a capacity of about 6,000, but never held more than 4,850. Reports of two escapes and one PW death have beenfound. Thiscamp, located at the Watson Ranch, five miles north of Morris on the east side of highway 52, opened on July 5,1943. It wasa branch of the Camp Howze PW Camp. Bob Blackburn, director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, which produces "The Chronicles," said the term was used to define an architectural style rather than the nationality of the prisoners housed there. It first appeared in the PMG reports on August 1, 1944, and last appeared on January 15, 1946. Originallya branch of the Alva PW Camp, it later became a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp. The POWs that came to Oklahoma couldnt believe that they could ride a train for over four days and still be Opening on June 3, 1943, it closed in October or November, 1945.A base camp, it had a capacity of 4,920, but never held more than 3,000 PWs. Originallya branch of the Alva PW Camp, it later became a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp. Few landmarks remain. Thiscamp was located at the Stringtown Correctional Facility, the same location of the Stringtown Alien InternmentCamp. It was closed because of its proximity to an explosives plant. On June 3, 1947, Camp Gruber was deactivated and soon became surplus property, with 63,920 acres placedunder the authority of the War Assets Administration (WAA). POWs are entitled to special protections. They established one branch camp south of Powell and the other one off of SH 99 between Madill and Tishomingo, both in Marshall County. None of the communities specifically sought a prisoner of war camp, but several received them. After the captives arrived, at least twenty-four branch camps, outposts to house temporarywork parties from base camps, opened. are still standing at the sites of those camps. start. Opening on June 3, 1943, it closed in October or November, 1945.A base camp, it had a capacity of 4,920, but never held more than 3,000 PWs. Caddo PW Camp Thiscamp, located in the school gymnasium at Caddo, was a work camp sent out from the Stringtown PW Camp. to hold American soldiers. 16, 1944, and last appeared on October 16, 1944. Eventually . Prisoner of War camp: a place where soldiers who have been captured by their enemy during a war are kept as prisoners until the end of the war. , How did Camp Gruber in Oklahoma support the war effort? a capacity of 500 and was generally kept full. Camp Gruber PW CampThis camp was located one mile north of Braggs on the west side of highway 10 and across the road from Camp Gruber.The first PWs were reported on May 29, 1943. The program, of course, did not function without hitches, said Corbett. The five executed for killing Kunze were all older sergeants in the elete Afrika Korps, Krammer said. The road is in an area called the POW Camp Recreation Area in the De Soto National Forest. At Tonkawa the sixty-foot-high concrete supports for the camp's water tank still stand, Corbett explained that around 1937, before the United States even entered the war, the government began to plan All POW records were returned when the Germans were repatriated after the war. Hobart. During World War II federal officials located enemy prisoner of war (POW) camps inOklahoma. Okemah PW Camp Thiscamp, a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp, was located in the National Guard Armory on the northwest corner of6th and West Columbia streets on the north side of Okemah. It first appeared in the PMG reports on June located, but two German aliens died at the camp and are buried at Ft. Reno. This Camp Lyndhurst was now a POW camp, and enemy soldiers were in our land, The Shenandoah Valley. During the 1929 Geneva Convention,specific guidelines were set concerning the humane conditions that were to be required for prisoners of war - theywere not to be treated as criminals, but as POWs - and these requirements distinguished the differences betweenthe two. They helda kangaroo court one night and found him guilty. The basic criteriaincluded that they wanted the camps to be in the south and away from any ports. Borden General Hospital, Chickasha, (a branch of the Fort Reno camp) April 1945 to May 1945; 100. still in use around the state. The Brits pushed the German troops out of Thiscamp, a work camp from the McAlester PW Camp, was located in the National Guard Armory, three blocks north of MainStreet on North State Street in Konawa. Workers erected base camps using standard plans prepared by the U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers. Colorado had four principal POW camps Trinidad, Greeley, one at Camp Carson in Colorado Springs and, later, one at Camp Hale, where the 10th Mountain Division trained for ski warfare. Camp Tonkawa closed in September 1945 and the P.O.W.'s were returned to Europe. It first appeared in the PMG reports on November 1,1944, and last appeared on November 16, 1945. McAlester Alien Internment CampThis camp was located north of Electric Street and west of 15th Street on the north side of McAlester in what wouldlater become the McAlester PW Camp. After the Allies invaded France in 1944, the camps received an influx of soldiers captured in Europe. A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. . It is possiblethat it was used to house trouble-makers from the camp at Ft. Sill. This In 1973 and of three escapes have been located. District. burials are enemy aliens who died in Oklahoma and 29 are PWs, both German and Italian, who died in PW camps in The U.S. Army built six major base camps and two dozen branch camps in Oklahoma. A few buildings at Okmulgee Tech were part of the Glennan General Penitentiary in July 1945, where they had been kept after conviction, and are buried in the Fort Leavenworth Military We are supposed to keep POWs separated from the battlefield if at all possible. in the National Cemetery at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. Tipton (a branch camp of Fort Sill for die-hard Nazis) October 1944 to November 1945; 276. closings, no further enemy aliens were interned in this state. and headstone of This of Oklahoma WW II Prison Camps", By Patti K Locklear Johannes During World War II federal officials located enemy prisoner of war (POW) camps in Oklahoma. The prisoner of war program did not proceed without problems. In the later months of its operation, This document shows a list of 'General Camp Orders for all Prisoners of War'. Corps of Engineers. On the Northeast Corner of Gardner and in the heart of downtown Sparta, the encampment was erected. Kunze's note ended up with camp senior leader, Senior Sergeant Walter Beyer, a hardened Nazi. Oklahoma Genealogy Trails A Proud Member of the GenealogyTrails History Group, Prisioner of War Camps in OklahomaArticle from the "Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture". "Tonkawa POW Camp," Vertical File, Northern Oklahoma College Library, Northern Oklahoma College, Tonkawa. the area prior to then, but they would have been trucked in daily from another camp in the area. killed one of their own. After the war, the personnel files of all POWs were returned to the country for which they fought. Outside the compoundfences, a hospital, fire station, quarters for enlisted men and officers, administration buildings, warehouses,and sometimes an officers' club as well as a theater completed the camp. BIOG: NAME: 2023 www.oklahoman.com. It opened on October 30, 1943, and closed in the fall of 1945. Data from the "Oklahoma Genealogical Society Quarterly", Vol. The only PWs whodied in Oklahoma and who are not buried in this state are the four men who died at the camp Gruber PW Camp andare buried in the National Cemetery at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. Thiscamp was located in the NYA building at the fairgrounds on the east side of Wewoka. The camps were essentially a little the Santa Fe Railroad's ice plant at Waynoka, cut underbrush and timber in the basin of Lake Texoma, served as Opened August 1945, transferred to Lamont Prisoner of War Base Camp October 1945 Thiscamp was located one-half mile north of Waynoka in the Santa Fe Railroad yards at the ice plant. Outside the compound fences, a hospital, fire station, quarters for enlisted men and officers, administration buildings, warehouses, and sometimes an officers' club as well as a theater completed the camp. who did not understand the German writing or its purpose and returned the note to another German POW to give back not known, but it was probably a work camp similar to the one at Caddo. They were then sent from New York on trains to various Borden General Hospital, Chickasha, (a branch of the Fort Reno camp) April 1945 to May 1945; 100. Originally a branch of the Alva Will Rogers PW CampThiscamp was located at what is now Will Rogers World Airport at Oklahoma City. It first appeared in the PMG reports on July 19, 1943, and last appeared on January 1, 1944. to August 30, 1944, and last appeared in the PMG reports on September 1, 1945. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant Program. Few landmarks remain. Eventually, there were 1,204 camps and hospitals for wounded enemy combatants on U.S. soil. VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) invited the men to a pot-luck dinner, where the retired soldiers all visited with At the end of thetwentieth century Camp Gruber still served OKARNG as a training base for summer field exercises and for weekendtraining. had been picked up in midwestern and north central states, as well as in South and Central American, were confined Tishomingo PW CampThis , What types of locations were chosen for internment camps? 11, No.2, June 1966.Read in June 1964 by Mrs. John A, Ashworth, Jr.Mrs. A base camp, it had a capacityof 2,965, but the greatest number of PWs confined there was 1,834 on July 16, 1945. Mobile camps of POW operated at various sites around the state, following the harvest. Except at Pryor, German noncommissioned officers directed the internal activities of each compound. In the later months of its operation,it held convalescing patients from the Glennan General Hospital PW Camp. Corbett explained that around 1937, before the United States even entered the war, the government began to planfor these camps, therefore when the war broke out, these plans were already in place. It wasa base camp that housed only officer PWs with a few enlisted men and non-commissioned officers who served as theiraides and maintained the camp. Local residents, as well as visitors from both Kansas and Texas, took a step backin time Saturday afternoon while hearing a presentation by Dr. Bill Corbett, professor of history at NortheasternState University in Tahlequah, about the Oklahoma prisoner of war (POW) camps that hosted thousands of German prisonersduring World War II. Many were given work assignments and were directly supervised by their local farmer and agricultural employers. the government chose less populated areas to put internment camps because this would help with the initial problem. They included both guard and prisoner barracks,a canteen, recreation area, a fire department and other necessary buildings. area under a twenty-five year federal license from the Tulsa District of the U.S. (Bioby Kit and Morgan Benson). For a while, American authorities attempted to exchange the condemned men with Germanyfor Allied soldiers, but ultimately all negotiations failed. The dates of its existence are Ft Reno PW Camp Thiscamp was located one mile north of the El Reno Federal Reformatory and one mile east of Ft. Reno. that the Germans took as prisoners. The first PWs arrived on July 31, 1943, and it was closed on November 15, 1945. Some died of war wounds. The Greenleaf Lodge area is under National Guard authority and is not part of Greenleaf Lake State Park. for Allied soldiers, but ultimately all negotiations failed. At each camp, companies of U.S. Army military police patrolled perimeters, manned guard towers, escorted work detachments, and periodically searched barracks. The Ft. Sill Cemetery holds one enemy alien and one German PW who died there. September 1, 1944. camps to be in rural areas where the prisoners could provide agricultural labor. A newspaper account indicates The first PWs arrivedon August 17, 1944, and it last appeared in the PMG reports on November 16, 1945. After the captives arrived, at least twenty-four branch camps, outposts to house temporary work parties from base camps, opened. They determined that the state met the basic requirements established by the Office of the Provost Marshal General, the U.S. Army agency responsible for the POW program. They included both guard and prisoner barracks, Seven posts housed enlisted men, and officers lived in quarters at Pryor. The present camp covers The camps were ringed with barbed-wire fences and patrolled by armed guards, and there were isolated cases of internees being killed. It first appeared in the PMG reports on November 1, Seventy-fiveto eighty PWs were confined there. At Camp Alva a maximum-security camp for Nazis and Nazi sympathizers, disturbances occurred,and in July 1944 a guard fatally shot a prisoner during an escape attempt. The number of PWs confined A newspaper account indicatesthat sixty German PWs were confined there. It wasa base camp that housed only officer PWs with a few enlisted men and non-commissioned officers who served as theiraides and maintained the camp. Gefreiter (Lance Corporal), German Army. The base camps were located Located in the Old First National Bank Building in Madill, this camp opened on April 29, 1943, during World War II. Five PWs died while interned there, includingEmil Minotti who was shot to death in an escape attempt. Corbett then showed the audience several photographs that were taken at the Tonkawa camp. authority over 31,294.62 acres from the WAA, and between 1948 and 1952 the U.S. Army regained control of 32,626 Haskell PW Camp Thiscamp was locatd in the National Guard Armory on the southwest corner of Creek and Spruce streets in Haskell. There were no PWs confined there. The Ft. Sill Cemetery holds one enemy alien and one German PW who died there. It had acapacity of 300, but usually only about 275 PWs were confined there. Stringtown PW CampThiscamp was located at the Stringtown Correctional Facility, the same location of the Stringtown Alien InternmentCamp. This includes individual articles (copyright to OHS by author assignment) and corporately (as a complete body of work), including web design, graphics, searching functions, and listing/browsing methods. The camp had a capacity of 600,but on May 1, 1944, there were only 301 PWs confined there. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus - FEMA detention facilities. "He was sent to a camp for Nazi supporters in Alva, Oklahoma." Of the tens of thousands of POWs in the United States during World War II, only 2,222, less than 1 percent, tried to escape, and. There may have been PWs inthe area prior to then, but they would have been trucked in daily from another camp in the area.