5/29 - Chicago
At 4:15 p.m. on May 29, 2002, our family began a trip back in time to retrace Dad's steps from his crash landing in western Holland on February 24, 1944, to his arrival at Stalag Luft I in northern Germany where he was held as a POW for 15 months. It's impossible for us to put into words how Dad must have felt as he revisited the crash site in a polder Haarlemmermeer near the town of Hoofddorp, the Gestapo jail in Amsterdam, the railroad station in Frankfurt, the main interrogation camp at Dulag Luft in Oberursel, and the site of Stalag Luft I in Barth; but for us, the trip brought to reality this chapter of Dad's life that we kids knew only as stories that we shared as a family for many, many years.
Before we share some highlights of this memorable trip with you, we would like to express our sincere thanks to the folks at Travel Design Tours and to the people of Germany for making our tour and our return to Stalag Luft I so very rich and rewarding.
5/31 - Amsterdam
We started our trip with a visit to the War Archives where we had an appointment with Joseph Dane, who provided us with maps and pictures of the jail (interior and exterior) that Dad had been taken to initially after his B-17 crash landed. From there we visited the site of the jail, which is now just an open archway or passageway of Corinthian columns for the surrounding buildings behind it. We walked around back and found the canal that Dad remembered seeing on his way into the building in 1944. On one of the few interior walls that still remain from the original building was a plaque commemorating the Jews and POWs who went through this transit point on their way to concentration camps and POW camps within Germany. A translation follows:"This building was a prison that was used by the German Gestapo for political prisoners. This was the first stop for those who would be sent on to concentration camps or to prison camps. In 1944 there were two attempts by the Dutch to liberate the prisoners. The first attempt was lead by Gerrit Jan van der Veen, and the second attempt was lead by Johannes Post."
AMSTERDAM WAR ARCHIVES
THEN
NOW
THE JAIL IN AMSTERDAM
INSIDE THE JAIL DURING THE OCCUPATION
6/2 - Frankfurt
We took the train from Amsterdam to Frankfurt as Dad had done in 1944 . . . only this time, instead of a boxcar, Dad rode on the ICE line in First class. In Frankfurt we joined our tour group of eleven, which included four other former POWs from Stalag Luft I and their family members who were able to join them for our two-week tour of WWII Germany.
ICE TRAIN - 1ST CLASS
GERMAN POW CAMPS (ALLIED AIRMEN)
6/4 - Oberursel
Our next stop was Dulag Luft in Oberursel, which became the main Nazi interrogation camp for Allied airmen. There we met Gerhart Reiss, the town historian, who showed us the SS Officer's Club, which is the only building still standing today of the original camp. The building, which had recently been put under State protection as a historical site, was boarded up for future restoration. For this reason, we were not able to access the front of the building, where a swastika (a variation of the Greek cross, which is supposed to be a sign of good luck and success) is said to still be visible on the left-hand column in the foyer.
DULAG LUFT - OBERURSEL
The POW camp itself had been completely destroyed years ago and the site now contains apartment buildings. The only indication that the POW camp existed at all was a small street sign with the words, "Camp King Allee." When the Allies took over the camp after the war, it was renamed Camp King.
THEN
NOW
All Stalag Luft I POWs
John Sant, B17 Co-Pilot - 15th AF; Don Dorman, P-47 Fighter Pilot - 9th AF; Art Starratt, B-17 Bombardier - 8th AF; Dave Helsabeck, B-17 Bombardier - 15th AF; Collin Fritz, B-17 Navigator - 8th AF
THEN
NOW
Picture of Camp Kings Main Gate in the Early 1950's
We visited a nearby hospital, where the seriously injured POWs were treated. There Mr. Reiss gave us a slide show that included aerial photographs and documents of Dulag Luft and of the officers stationed there. We also met the administrator of the hospital and one of the Sisters of the Catholic Order who provided us with refreshments. The hospital is now a psychiatric institute (Klinik Hohe Mark).
THEN
NOW
Kurklinik Hohemark, the hospital which lay a mile west of the camp, was used to treat wounded prisoners.
Then we went to the railroad station in Oberursel where the original tracks and depot still exist today. POWs were transferred to and from Frankfurt at this station.
THEN
NOW
Oberursel railway station has changed little since the Second World War. From here, POWs were taken to Dulag Luft.
Kupferhammer - all change for Dulag Luft. From here prisoners would cross the road (Hohemarkstrasse) to walk to the camp. Note that these POWs are in fact leaving Dulag Luft and about to board the tram for Frankfurt.
6/8 - Barth
We left our hotel in Berlin for Barth in the rain. The sky cleared as we entered Rostock along Germany's northeastern shoreline, where Dad vividly remembered pumping his bicycle from Barth to Rostock and on to Wismar and the safety of the English lines at the end of the war. The bus left us in Rostock, where we picked up our rental car.
We took a nearby ferry over the Breitling Channel and followed the road along the coast into Barth. We ate our "homemade" sandwiches as we drove into the early afternoon.
As we approached Barth, we saw a sign that read "STALAG LUFT I" with an arrow pointing to the left. We stopped here and took several pictures.
Following the main road into Barth, Dad saw for the first time since 1945 the arched gate that he and the other three officers from his crew had walked through on their way to the prison camp from the railroad station. Again, we stopped to take several pictures.
We drove into the heart of the town and found our tour group eating ice cream as they sat outside of a little cafe. We all went to a historical building in the town where we met Helga Radau, our German guide and local historian. Dad gave her a pin (German and American flags overlapping), and I gave her some flowers that I had bought for her along the way.
Barth is Helga's hometown. Born in 1941, she was a small child during the war but she well remembers the atrocities she witnessed at the hands of the Nazis and the Russians. She showed us a model of the town as it existed during the war and pointed out the house where she was born, the railroad station, the arched gate, and the POW and concentration camps northwest of the town. Originally, the town had four arched gates, but only the one remained at the time of the war. Helga spoke excellent English and was well informed about many details regarding the POW camp. You could say it had been her life's work. She was extremely friendly and had an admiration for the POWs that went back to the time as a child when the British had protected her and her mother from the Russians at the end of the war. Lots of pictures were taken and lots of years of questions were answered. There was nothing Helga didn't know. And for us, there was no measure of gratitude that could be expressed for the satisfaction we derived from listening to this remarkable lady.
HELGA AT TOWN MODEL
HELGA AT CAMP MODEL
The POWs were taken from the railroad station north through the arched gate (left of the church) where they turned left (west) and headed out of town and on to Stalag Luft I (northwest of town) near the lake.
POW's marched down Barth St. to Stalag Luft I
Helga introduced us to a British man, Roy Kilminster, a very proper gentleman, who had been a radio officer on a Halifax during the war and had spent three years in Stalag Luft I, where he was the forger for the camp. Accompanying Mr. Kilminster was a BBC film crew that was filming a documentary on the war, lest we forget. They joined us on our trip out to the site where Stalag Luft I had been.
The film crew documented our visit to the marker dedicated to the POWs and to the remains of the flak school north of the camp, where the German soldiers learned how to operate the 88mm guns used on the allied planes. From there we took a path through the woods to the river where Dad had gone swimming a few times while at the camp. Helga also showed us an excavation site deep in the woods where the Germans had two barracks. We found pieces of two plates in the rubble (one with a Bavarian seal and the other with a Prussian seal).
FLAK SCHOOL FROM GUARD TOWER
THEN
NOW
We followed the tour bus in our rent car to our hotel in Zingst. Our rooms, which overlooked the Baltic Sea, were like small houses with their kitchenettes. After dinner, we walked out to the pier and took a few pictures at sunset.
6/9 - Stalag Luft I
We followed the bus back to Barth where we met Helga at the town church, which was built in the early 17th century, originally as the Catholic church, but later it became the Protestant church of the town. There were grave markers on the floor of the church (that were impossible to avoid walking on) dating as early as 1607. From there, we went to City Hall where we met the mayor of Barth, Bergermeister Mathias Lottge, who gave us a history of the town and answered our questions.
OUR TOUR GROUP
THE MAYOR OF BARTH
Mayor Lottge and Helga joined us for a wonderful lunch and a tour of the town memorial commemorating the victims of the concentration camp that was located just west of Stalag Luft I during the war. Dad stood at this wall while the BBC film crew interviewed him regarding his experiences as a POW. He did a good job, as always.
It was here that we said our last goodbyes to Helga with an exchange of hugs. Helga, you "will not be forgotten."
Since our lunch took so long, we decided to skip our original plan to drive through Rostock and on to Wismar in order to retrace Dad's bicycle route out of the camp on his way to the British lines. Instead, we drove back to Stalag Luft I and back in time to 1944.
German Guards Entering North Compound I
THEN - Panorama of North Compound I Looking North
Our visit to the camp the previous day as a group had been impersonal and rushed. But our re-visit on this day was all that we had hoped it would be. On this visit, we (being alone) had an opportunity to take our time and to reflect, individually and collectively, what this spot had meant to Dad (and to the nine thousand like him) during and since the war. Although the camp was destroyed at the end of 1945 after being used for a short time as a "re-indoctrination camp" by the Russians, echoes of the former camp still remained. The sound of the wind in the trees, the nearby lake with its passing sailboats, the single lane camp road that divided the compounds, and the steeple of the church in the town of Barth looming high against the flat horizon still exist as they did 58 years ago. As we stood as a family in this field of tall grass that had been North Compound I, it was definitely a time for reflection. We couldn't help but wish that Mom could be here with us on this spot where Dad had spent much of his time writing her countless letters confirming the love they shared and the future they would have together (and perhaps she was). We each gave thanks to the Lord for bringing Dad back home safe and sound and for the many wonderful years we had had together as a family.
BARTH IN DISTANCE
AT CAMP MEMORIAL
We drove north on the camp road to where the flak school used to be and where the concrete foundation for the 88mm guns is still visible, and then turned around to leave. As we slowly passed North Compound I again, we noticed what looked like a pillar in the tall grass about half way into the field. Upon closer inspection, we found, to our delight, that there were actually three pillars made of yellow brick, we think to be all that remains today of the North Compound I kitchen and mess hall that the Kriggies had burned down, an event that Dad witnessed but did not partake in. We drove the car into the field so Dad could have a closer look before we drove out of the camp for the last time.
REMAINS OF THE NORTH COMPOUND I MESS HALL
This is all that remained after the mess hall had burned. As you can see only the potato bin was left; everything else was gone.
6/13 - Zurich
Having toured through much of historical Germany, we departed for the United States from Switzerland, which was home base for our tour bus. At the airport, most of our group scattered to the four winds as they went their separate ways to connect with their Swissair flights to their various destinations in the States. In a way, this was good because the goodbyes had to take a back seat to the pandemonium of the morning. Sitting together as a family for the last leg of our trip home, we spent much of our flight reminiscing events of the past two weeks that have been etched in our memories forever.
It was a good trip, our trip to Stalag Luft I and back.
In loving memory of Dad's son and our brother, Arthur Peter "Pete" Starratt, author of the previous pages of this web site, who died unexpectedly on August 22, 2002, two months after our return from Germany.
