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| Kenneth Rector Speas |
Today my
eyes were opened about life in the German prison camp which Uncle Kenneth
Rector Speas called home during a portion of World War II.
Kenneth was captured
February 4, 1944, and taken to OFLAG 64, a relatively small prison camp located
in a remote area of occupied Poland.
First, a few boring details, but then some fun and surprising things I learned, so keep reading.
The camp, a prior boys’ school, occupied
about 20-25 acres, and was composed of a main stone building and six
barracks, each 120 feet long and 40 feet wide. They were subdivided into
cubicles 7 feet by 10 feet, which each quartered an average of 8 officers, a pretty small space for eight men. The
POW’s slept in double-tiered wooden bunks, equipped with straw mattresses, a
pillow, one sheet, and one pillow case of very rough material. The Germans
supplied two thin blankets which were totally inadequate for the cold climate.
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| OFLAG 64 |
OFLAG 64 opened June 6, 1943. In October of that year, the Red Cross reported
224 American officers and 21 enlisted personnel in the camp. By July 1944, the
population had increased to 620 officers and 57 enlisted personnel. At the time
of the evacuation from Poland on January 21, 1945, the camp exceeded 2000.
The prisoners were an interesting group; the majority of them were
young lieutenants or captains. The average age was 17. Many were college
educated and many held advanced degrees. They included men who in civilian life
had been doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors, journalists, artists,
ranchers, and musicians. I remember Uncle Kenneth as a very intellectual man, so he must have felt right at home in this group.
There was much talent everywhere, and camp activities were organized and designed to
keep the restless young officers occupied. Would you believe that a remarkably
professional theater group was formed which performed Broadway-type plays,
complete with sets, costumes, and makeup in a makeshift "Small Theatre"? A schedule of concerts by prisoners
included an orchestra, big band, and a jazz ensemble.
The POW’s even produced their
own monthly newspaper called “The Post OFLAG 64 Item”, with the subscript, "An Item is worth a Thousand Pictures". This was probably the only prison
camp in the history of the world to have its own printed publication. It was
actually printed by one of the German prison guards and his surly wife who had
taken over a Polish print shop. Many issues are available online to read at http://www.oflag64.us/Oflag64/ITEM.html. You can also access the Red Cross Prisoner of
War Bulletins from this website with drawings and descriptions of the camps
such as this:
Lest it sound like too much of a holiday, I must mention that
the inadequate shelter, cold and rationed food inspired many to attempt to
escape. An "Escape Committee" was formed to whom the POW's presented all kinds of
clever, unique, and sometimes desperate plans for approval. Only schemes that
showed promise without endangering the general population were permitted. Many,
of course, involved tunnels and when such a plan was under way, all prisoners
participated to a degree, even if only to save and provide their juice cans for
air in the tunnels.
I really
enjoyed reading the history of one of Kenneth’s fellow prisoners, Lumund Wilcox.
Here is a humorous excerpt:
“The prisoner has nothing but time on his hands. He
can sit and worry about himself or he can engage in worthwhile endeavors for
his own betterment, or if he has lots of ingenuity, he can think of a thousand
ways to bedevil his captors to a point of frustration, but never to go beyond.
For example, any military equipment was confiscated, especially anything that
might be useful for an escape. Among these items were field glasses. A way to
invoke a search of a room was to take two beer bottles and hold them up as if
you were peering out of the room with field glasses.
"Goons”, our
names for Germans, would see the glint of the end of the beer bottles in the
position of our hands, and would think they were field glasses, and would
report immediately to headquarters, and they would immediately come to your
room and search. All we ever did was set the beer bottles down; they would make
a search, find nothing and leave. A certain amount of this type of amusement
was necessary for P.O.W.’s to maintain their sanity and to have a little humor.”
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| Beer Bottle Field Glasses |
He summarized his experience in this way:
"In retrospect, the experiences that
I had were indelibly printed on my mind. After a few years I forgot all of the
disagreeable parts of prison life. I remembered the comradeship, the many
kindnesses of fellow prisoners, German officers and other German civilians, and
all of the funny things that happened. I learned how people react to certain
situations. I learned that education and background is not necessarily a
qualification for honesty and bravery. It was an experience that I would not
want to forget but one which I would not recommend.”
I hope that Kenneth's experience in this camp, though I am sure it was in many ways disagreeable, was full of comradeship and kindness as well.
