Dad's POW Camp

Hi,

A traveling educational exhibit about Mid-Western men who were Nazi POW's was in town today and I attended the presentation.

I purchased the attached map and circled the location of Dad's (Bud's) POW camp.

Jerry visited it when he was in Germany in the 1950's and took the photos that are at the end of the diary.

When I was in Germany (1970-1971), the very first train trip I took was to Limburg to visit the POW camp; only to discover that it had been cleared away two years before and a modern Bundeswehr (German Army) barrack had been built on the spot. So I never saw the camp.

My friend, Michael (J.D.) Pedigo, and I went to the German Army post and were invited by some Old Timers, who had been in the Army during WWII, to join them at their club. They told us a great deal about the German Army and the Hitler Youth during WWII. It was a very enjoyable and informative afternoon. They said the old POW camp had been totally neglected since the close of the war and that it was an eye-sore and an embarrassment to locals and so the land had been put to better use. It was, they said, time to forget the past and move on.

The map is a photo of the one I bought at the traveling display which shows the location of all the POW camps. The original is merely a not-too-high-quality photocopy. I computer enhanced the photo as best I could and so was able to lend some clarity & sharpness to it. If you zoom in a bit on your computer you should be able to read the legend in the bottom right corner and the info-blurb in the bottom left corner.

I am including a magnified enhancement of a portion of the map (you can also zoom in further on this). If you follow the Rhine river south of Limburg (circled in green) to the S.E., below Mainz, you will come upon Mannheim (highlighted in yellow). I was stationed for most of my time in Germany near Mannheim. So it was not too long a train trip to Limburg. Kay and I spent three days in the area this past summer but we did not go to Limburg. Instead we went to Dachau, outside Munich on the German-Austrian border.

I hope you are well.

Love,

John