Noor Rajab
Jürgen Müller
German III
02 February 2016
The “Fritz Ritz”: Camp Hearne
Prisoner of War camps are a ghastly thing to think about. When mentioned, the horrors of Soviet and Nazi camps rush to mind, thoughtless massacres done by underlings for the “greater good”. Camp Hearne, however, is different. A Prisoner of War, or POW, camp now located in Hearne, Texas, Camp Hearne kept around 48,000 Nazi soldiers. The first shipment arrived in 1943 with prisoners from Hitler’s Afrika Korps. Camp Hearne is now a museum, and it puts on display how exceptionally gracious the captives’ conditions were. This camp, known for being good to its captives, holding almost exclusively German prisoners, and offering education opportunities to the prisoners, was nicknamed the Fritz Ritz.
The lives of Hearne …show more content…
Mistakes were made and people did die at the camp, Krauss being the most prominent example. The camp itself was surrounded by 1,800 miles of ten-foot tall barbed wire fence and was conveniently located more than 200 miles off the coast to prevent any attempt at escape. Next to stories of how great the living conditions were, stories of covert Nazis and almost successful escapes prevail. Michael Waters, a Texas A&M professor who headed the restoration of the camp, told of a few of these prisoners building a boat out of raincoats and butter tins to sail down the Brazos River. Three days after escaping, they were caught less than a dozen miles away from the campsite, lugging the raft through the shallow waters in smoldering summer heat. Camp Hearne is important because it offers us a glimpse of life in American POW camps, how inhumanely human the prisoners were, and how to avoid the subtle overtake of a group above all others. Most importantly, it aids the people of today learn about the people of yesterday. After all, those who cannot remember the past are bound to repeat
Jürgen Müller
German III
02 February 2016
The “Fritz Ritz”: Camp Hearne
Prisoner of War camps are a ghastly thing to think about. When mentioned, the horrors of Soviet and Nazi camps rush to mind, thoughtless massacres done by underlings for the “greater good”. Camp Hearne, however, is different. A Prisoner of War, or POW, camp now located in Hearne, Texas, Camp Hearne kept around 48,000 Nazi soldiers. The first shipment arrived in 1943 with prisoners from Hitler’s Afrika Korps. Camp Hearne is now a museum, and it puts on display how exceptionally gracious the captives’ conditions were. This camp, known for being good to its captives, holding almost exclusively German prisoners, and offering education opportunities to the prisoners, was nicknamed the Fritz Ritz.
The lives of Hearne …show more content…
Mistakes were made and people did die at the camp, Krauss being the most prominent example. The camp itself was surrounded by 1,800 miles of ten-foot tall barbed wire fence and was conveniently located more than 200 miles off the coast to prevent any attempt at escape. Next to stories of how great the living conditions were, stories of covert Nazis and almost successful escapes prevail. Michael Waters, a Texas A&M professor who headed the restoration of the camp, told of a few of these prisoners building a boat out of raincoats and butter tins to sail down the Brazos River. Three days after escaping, they were caught less than a dozen miles away from the campsite, lugging the raft through the shallow waters in smoldering summer heat. Camp Hearne is important because it offers us a glimpse of life in American POW camps, how inhumanely human the prisoners were, and how to avoid the subtle overtake of a group above all others. Most importantly, it aids the people of today learn about the people of yesterday. After all, those who cannot remember the past are bound to repeat