German POW Made Friends in Wisconsin

[Bill Mattocks]

Just thought it was kind of a cool story...

http://www.military.com/news/article/pow-in-wisc-became-family-friend.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS

Hans Gronauer told wonderful stories about Wisconsin -- despite being in the state as a German prisoner of war during World War II, said his daughter, Heidi.
"My daddy always said he was lucky to be taken prisoner of war by the Americans," she said. Her father often reflected on one particular day in the four years he was a German POW, she said, when he met the Kammels, a farm family south of St. Joseph's Ridge. It led to a lifelong friendship.

And the funny thing - the long-repeated story about Americans being essentially good and decent people - it was based in reality.

 

[Ken Morgan]

My Mom always told me she remembered German prisoner working the fields in Scotland unescorted or almost so. They got along very well with the locals, some even came back to live after the war.

The had an article up here on German prisoners in Ontario during the war, they were basically feed better and lived better then many of the locals. Same thing minimal guards. After all where are they going to go?

Its always nice to here stories like that, thanks.

 

[CoryKS]

It's not just the right thing to do, it's an effective strategy. If your enemies know that if they surrender to you they'll be given three hots and a cot, they're more likely to put down their arms than they would for the ear-collectors. Less fighting to the bitter end that way.

 

[celtic_crippler]

Just shows that people are people, regardless of nationality. It's the governments and the elite that start the wars for us to fight.

...now excuse me, I have the sudden urge to go listen to "War Pigs."

 

[shihansmurf]

Just shows that people are people, regardless of nationality. It's the governments and the elite that start the wars for us to fight.

...now excuse me, I have the sudden urge to go listen to "War Pigs."

A lot of truth in that.

I've often thought about how fewer wars we would have if our elected officials and the arms dealers had to pick up a rifle and fight along side us grunts. I love my profession and consider each day in my uniform an honor, but I'd be hard pressed to think that I and my brothers would be sent into harms way with as much ease if we had to be accompanied by our higher ups.

In any event, its very easy to dehumanize an enemy. I like stories like this. They are a vivid reminder that wars are, for now at least, fought by men and not automatons. If more of us could remember that, I like to think that we would have to fight less often.I could be wrong, and this could be some of my latent idealism showing from under a few layers of accumulated cynisism but I remain hopeful of our better nature and stories like this are a nice bit of evidence if it.

Mark

 

[Carol]

Not quite as dramatic, but when my bf and I were still together, he and I went to a grocery store on our way home from the city. The sign said advertised Pakistani and Indian groceries.

This was early on in the relationship and I was still learning the nuances of the culture and language. Such stores here are often family businesses and sure enough Mom, Dad, and Son were all behind the counter taking a moment to laugh at what I think was a Pakistani movie.

I got my groceries, and brought them to the cash register. Dad did not seem to have much command of English, so Son took over and greeted me warmly as he my food together, even asking me if I wanted to try one of his fresh samosas, and did I want vegetarian or non-veg? . Dad steps behind the counter and says something in to my BF. I didn't recognize what it was, but the two were quickly clasping arms and speaking in rapid-fire Panjabi.

My bf and I left, and looked at each other and smiled. I commented on how nice the family was, he concurred and said we should stop to see them again when we are out this way.

I asked if they were Pakistani, my bf nodded. "So [next time we see them I should greet with Aasalaam Alaikaam because they are Panjabi] Muslims." Another nod, along with a reminder to remember that [greeting them with just] Hello is fine [because I'm Western]. I nod.

We get to the car and I pause for a moment. "So they were a Pakistani family, and India and Pakistan are not friends. Does that matter in some way?"

My bf looked at me and shook his head. "No. We have fought three wars. Each side has lost so much blood. But even after all that, the average Indian loves the average Pakistani. The average Pakistani loves the average Indian. It is only our governments that are causing problems."

That gave me a lot to think about.

 

[crushing]

We had a few German POW camps here in West Michigan too. The old timers at the VFW sometimes talk about it. It's amazing. The prisoners would be allowed to go into town to get what they needed and return to their camp. When the war ended, many stuck around and made new lives for themselves in the area.

 

[David43515]

My dad faught in the First Infantry Division in WWII, fighting Germans and Italians the whole time. When he was discharged after the war he returned to Ohio and drove a milk truck. He said that many of they men working at the Pet Milk warehouse were German POWs who hadn`t been repatriated yet. He had a chance to talk with them and found that most were part of Rommel`s Afrika Corps who dad had fought early on.

There was still a considersable language barrier, but he said that most of them seemed like pretty decent guys. When they spoke though, they never talked about which battles they`d been in. Dad said he didn`t want to find out whether or not they`d actually spent any time shooting at each other.