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The American Internee Experience in Nazi Germany by Lynn Grove
In An American Island
in Hitler’s Reich: The Bad Nauheim Internment, Charles Burdick
has taken the history of the times as described by George Kennan and Louis
P. Lochner in the American Experience and elaborated on the details
of events in December 1941, when Adolf Hitler declared war on the United
States. Berlin contained the American Embassy—under the direction
of George Kennan and Leland Morris—, American citizens still in
the city, and American correspondents waiting to see what Hitler would
do next. The embassy staff was busy destroying records and all vital information,
pending the decision of their future. After the decision by American authorities
to arrest the German correspondents in the United States, American correspondents
were placed under “house arrest” in Berlin by Gestapo guards.
On
December 14 approximately 115 Americans gathered at the American embassy.
George Kennan took charge amid total chaos and confusion, and organized
their departure. Train accommodations were not what the Americans had expected.
It was only when Kennan saw the luncheon menu, headed Berlin –
Bad Nauheim, that their final destination became obvious. The largest
portion of this historical account describes the accommodations in Bad Nauheim,
as well as the life of the party of Americans. The hotel, Jeschke’s
Grand Hotel, became their residence while the group was to remain in Bad
Nauheim for some five months. The hotel had been closed with the outbreak
of war in Europe in September 1939 and its staff had dispersed. The hotel
director, Gustav Zorn, had remained in residence since its closing, but
without staff, this summer hotel had burst water pipes, no heat or electricity.
Furniture, linens, silver and curtains, as well as other accoutrements,
were placed in storage. The hotel was not prepared for sudden wartime occupancy.
The hotel was surrounded by Gestapo guards, therefore limiting the Americans’
access to necessary exercise. Kennan worked with the Captain Valentin Patzak,
the German authority for operations at Bad Nauheim. Being an agreeable officer,
Patzak proved cooperative with Kennan and therefore they agreed to areas
where the Americans could walk around the hotel. It was with Patzak that
Kennan was able to negotiate life around the hotel and during their internment.
Kennan had his hands full, however, dealing with the Americans, who were
full of complaints about food, general conditions, heat—in short,
everything.
At the time,
meals served to the Americans were generally the equivalent to what Germany’s
citizens were getting. The situation worsened, though, so Kennan and Morris
met with representative groups—military attaches, journalists and
diplomats, including representatives from Berlin, Paris and Copenhagen—for
consultation, the exchange of opinions and recommendations. Kennan and Morris
drafted a strong protest, then submitted it for confirmation by members
of this council. They directed these notes to the State Department, through
the Swiss representatives. Before they could get a response, the Germans
doubled the Americans’ rations to 200 percent of the normal civilian
allotment. Food preparation improved to the point that it at least was edible,
and Patzak made greater efforts to find eggs, fruit, fish and fresh vegetables.
Another primary, upsetting issue was heat. The hotel lacked the plant and
the coal for proper heating. The temperatures in January 1942 dropped to
below zero. Again a protest was lodged through the Swiss that the heating
be improved. Patzak again used his position to commandeer supplies supposedly
meant for a neighboring town. He and his Gestapo techniques were praised
for the resulting heat. As April arrived with warmer weather, calisthenics
began to be an eager activity, and baseball and other outdoors activities
followed. A newspaper was mimeographed and gave the journalists an opportunity
to use their skills; it also served as a source for all kinds of humor and
sarcasm.
The most successful
collective endeavor was education. Through the efforts of Perry Laukhuf
and Phillip Whitcomb, Bad Nauheim University was formed. There were 14 instructors
and the most popular course was George Kennan’s Russian history course.
Many other courses were offered with enthusiastic enrollment.
On
the 25th of January 1942, an eight-person American group from Copenhagen
arrived at Bad Nauheim with news that a Portuguese ship had sailed for New
York to bring back the first German internees from the United States. The
news was full of conflicting rumors. On March 29th Morris and Kennan received
confirmation that the Swedish ship Drottningholm would transfer them. Then
on April 23rd a notice appeared on the bulletin board that the Drottningholm
had sailed to New York and would return to Lisbon with German internees
on May 5th and arrive in Lisbon on May 14th, then leave for New York with
the Americans in Bad Nauheim ten days later.
The group left Bad Nauheim on the 12th of May 1942
after much celebration and arrived in Lisbon on May 14th. They boarded
the Drottningholm on May 22nd with numerous other Americans and
arrived in New York City on May 30th. There was a feeling that they were
returning to a country at war, but freedom felt much different.
The freed internees (left) depart Lisbon, Portugal aboard the Drottningholm, May 1942. The below map shows the route they took from Berlin to Bad Nauheim and, later, to Lisbon between 14 December 1941 and 14 May 1942. 
The
rich detail and many photographs make the book seem complete. The notes
and other sources provide helpful information. I finished reading the book
and was concerned about what had happened to Werner John, the son of an
American mother and a German father, who was detained by the Germans in
order to fight in the German army. Reading the notes helped find the answer:
after the war, he was able to immigrate to the United States, where he became
an American citizen and later joined the American army.
There
were plenty of interpersonal conflicts and relationships described in the
text that provided the background of these American internees and added
much color to an already dramatic story. Burdick, Charles B. An American Island in Hitler’s Reich: The Bad Nauheim Internment. Menlo Park, California, Markgraf Publications Group, 1987
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