Major Liebegott--German POW in America

I know this is a long shot but can only try! Hope to fully identify the man referenced below.

I recently acquired a book that belonged to what appears to have been a German officer held as a POW in the camp at Clinton, Mississippi. It is marked accordingly inside the cover and shows that it passed the camp censor. Written in pencil is "Maj. Liebegott, POWC, Clinton, Miss."

Through my many years of research on the camp, I have collected several inspection reports listing the officer prisoners. However, Liebegott does not appear on any of them. He could be one of a number of men who came in and out of the camp between inspections, although officers were moved less frequently than enlisted men. Could "Maj." be a shortened first name and Liebegott an enlisted prisoner?

Any help is appreciated.

 

I would think it would not be short for "Major" since it is written in English instead of German. I think you're right in that he was an enlisted prisoner.

All POW records were returned to Germany. You may have some luck by submitting a request here: https://www.dd-wast.de/en/history.html

 

"Major" is the same in English and German. As for POW records, they were not "returned" to Germany. The prisoners, upon repatriation, were given their individual files. This is because they contained medical, work, and educational history. Records from the administration of the camps, including rosters, were essentially destroyed when the camps were closed. What records survive are in the holdings of the OPMG.

 

Whoops on the Major part - I blame not being at work for the past 10 days for that oversight. Sorry.

Yes, I know that the records are part of the OPMG files at the National Archives and that many records are missing. I'm not a complete imbecile.

I'm curious as to where you learned that the POWs were given their individual files upon repatriation. Arnold Krammer, author of Nazis Prisoners of War in America, does not mention this. He states that personnel records were eventually returned to Germany. Another source I found said that these records were returned probably around 1955.

 

I have both copies and originals of the files presented to me by several former POWs who came to Clinton in 1996 for a reunion. All those I questioned/interviewed told the same story.

You must be careful with what you read in Krammer's book. I only relied on it for the bibliography. Found from the original sources he embellished or simply got the facts wrong in a number of instances. This problem is not limited to this book.

 

Were they given the files once they reached Germany? Or when they left the States?

 

Well Kramer might have considered giving them to POWs who were being repatriated as returning them to Germany. Not exactly a model of clarity if that's the case though.

 

Yes, very true. I need to do some digging in my source material when I get home. I'm at work so can't access it (and it's driving me crazy).

 

The men were given the files when they left. Among one of the more complete files are records showing the prisoner's movement from US custody through British camps. He spent almost a year employed in the rebuilding of bomb-damages cities. He did not return to a Germany until 1947. A number of the men were also turned over to the French for similar work.

If the records were "returned" or turned over to Germany in the 1950s, they would not document the above referenced events. Another point to consider is that not all POWs were German. There were many Austrians who served. I know at Camp Clinton, there were another six or so nationalities found in the ranks. What about their records if Kramer is accurate?

Also provided to the men upon repatriation were individual letters stating specifically what duties they had in the camp and how they performed. The letters were intended to help the men find similar employment when they returned home.

 

Yes, there were not just Germans serving in the German military. I also know this. (I wrote a book on the Nebraska POW camps). Antonio Thompson goes into more detail on this in his book, Men in German Uniform, a more recent contribution to the scholarship on the camps than Krammer. In the Nebraska camps, there were Czechs, Poles, Slavs, Austrian, French, etc.

I looked at Krammer's book and didn't see anything particular to the return of their records, just a passing reference in a footnote; the other source I mentioned earlier is from this site: http://www.gentracer.org/pow.html

While I am certainly not discounting the stories of the POWs you interviewed and I believe they were, indeed, given their files, I am wondering if this was standard practice and/or if we are talking about two different types of files.

 

If you do manage to identify the POW, the International Committee of the Red Cross are taking research requests again. Still no word when the WW2 project will be on line like their free searchable WW1 archive.

Request forms can be found via their recent statement 3 Jan 17 below

https://www.icrc.org/en/document/request-information-about-individuals-detained-during-second-world-war-or-spanish-civil-war

 

New info from Dr. Krammer himself which should clear up the confusion:

"The original German military Personnel File (what our army calls a "201 File") came in the form of Soldbuchs -- mult-page I.D. booklets with their training, medical, awards, and transfer history -- carried by every member of the German military. Most were pocketed by front-line Allied troops and during my youth after the war, those Soldbuchs were bought and sold by curious teenagers. Some were collected by the American camp guards and commandants. I've never found one in the 3000 boxes of POW archives in Record Group 389 in the National Archives.

The U.S. Personnel Files maintained on each POW are sometimes found in RG 389 in the Camp Name folders, but most went back with the repatriated POWs after the war. I have been led to believe that copies were also sent to the German military archives in Freiburg."

 

I still do not believe there was a second set of records for each POW later sent to the German archives. The files I posses contain everything from the fingerprint/photo form with personal identification to an uncashed check from the Treasury Department, the balance the man had in his POW fund. One even has a receipt for the money taken from him when captured in North Africa. The medical cards cover every visit to the infirmary or hospital. The work record shows type of work, hours worked, and compensation. Educational courses are recorded as well. What classes, how many hours, and grade. If a man was sent to another camp, his file followed him. When repatriated, it was given to him.

It would be impossible to duplicate some 440,000 files for all the POWs in the US. How could these files be updated as men were given medical treatment, status in employment changed, or additional educational courses were taken on a daily or weekly basis? It was enough for each camp to keep up with these changes. I cannot imagine regular updates being forwarded on to the OPMG.

I can see that the US government might turn over any captured personal records like Soldbuchs. However, those "liberated" by soldiers in the field or given/traded to guards in the camps could never be accounted for.

 

I don't think there was a second set of records for each POW, but files of another kind. The below excerpt was taken from the November 1945 camp newsletter of Camp Atlanta, Nebraska:

[SIZE=10pt]Since January 1944 in mud and rain, over fifty groups of PWs have marched up “Nebraska Avenue” into three 1000-man compounds. Nearly 100 other groups of prisoners in bunch of [sic] from one to over 500 each – have shipped out by truck or train. This meant about 100,000 records sorted, typed and filed – a dozen times. This meant fingerprints, interviews, classification cards for assignment of labor. This meant counting heads in and out the gate, checking thousands of work detail passes, emptying duffel bags, searching suitcases and frisking pockets for unauthorized articles that might facilitate escape. It meant handling of incoming and outgoing mail, censoring letters and forwarding personal property of PWs. It meant decisions, discipline, and a sense of direction. It was early and late. It was work![/SIZE]

I don't know what else to say on the topic. The best thing would be to go to the National Archives and look through the administrative records of the OPMG.

 

Just a thought, but could Maj. Liebegott be the camp censor and not a POW? Had a quick look at the name at Findmypast http://search.findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records-in-military-armed-forces-and-conflict/and_second-world-war?lastname=liebegott

 

For expedience, here is a link to the auction with photos. The Public Information Officer (PIO), the censor, initialed where stamped. I incorrectly stated the book as purchased from Germany. I was thinking of another one recently purchased. I know a number of books in the POW library were either taken home by the men, given away, or discarded.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WW2-German-Book-Russisches-Ubungsbuch-Stamped-Prisoner-of-War-Camp-Clinton-Miss-/162310151265?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=hk2rN6KFTIGlKOpER%252BZC4XtHl14%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc