-
Re: Seeking records of German POWs held at Aliceville, Alabama
Rachael Salyer
Dec 9, 2020 6:07 AM
Dear Ms. Gust,
Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!
We searched the National Archives Catalog and located the series Unclassified Decimal Files, 1941-1954 in the Records of the Office of the Provost Marshal General (Record Group 389) that includes records related to Aliceville in box 404. We also located several other records pertaining to Aliceville in Record Group 389, including 2 file units related to Aliceville in the series Subject Correspondence Files Relating to the Construction of and Conditions in Prisoner of War Camps, 1942-1947; 1 file unit related to Aliceville in the series Decimal Files, 1943-1946; and 3 file units related to Aliceville in the series Subject Files, 1942-1946. In addition, we located the series Records Relating to German Prisoners of War During World War II, 1943-1952 in Record Group 389. These records have not been digitized. For information about them, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) at archives2reference@nara.gov.
Next, we located the series Project Decimal Files, 1941-1945 from the Records of the Army Staff (Record Group 319) that contains records related to the Aliceville Internment Camp in box 1211. These records have not been digitized. Please contact RDT2 with any questions you might have about them.
Please note that if you are searching for information about individual prisoners, the personnel records of World War II German prisoners of war were returned to Germany. For access to these records, please write to the Deutsche Dienstelle (WASt), Postfach 51 06 57, D-13400 Berlin, Germany. The website is https://www.dd-wast.de/.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.
Finally, the Aliceville Museum has German POW information on their website that may be of interest to you, and a search of WorldCat shows multiple books and articles related to Camp Aliceville that might be useful as well.
We hope this information is helpful. Best of luck with your research!
-
Re: Seeking records of German POWs held at Aliceville, Alabama
Deborah,
You may want to take a look at the Aliceville museum that they have. I have attached a link for you. They may have some information pertaining to what your looking for.
Hope this helps,
Elliot Schneider
-
Re: Seeking records of German POWs held at Aliceville, Alabama
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your informative reply. Both links provided interesting looks at Aliceville and helped expand my knowledge of where my Grandfather spent time before returning to his family in Germany. He was a school teacher who spoke 5 languages, was drafted and served as an interpreter in the North Africa Campaign.
He never spoke much of those years but it is of great interest to me. I did obtain the book ‘Guests behind the Barbwire’, which was written about Aliceville. It’s an interesting look at life during that time.Thank you ever so much,
Deborah