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Camp Hearne, located in "One Possible Life" (sample translation)
Camp Hearne, located in Hearne, Texas
Hearne ( ) is a city in Robertson County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 4,544. The city is named for a family that settled in the area in the 19th century and promoted the construction of rail lines throu ...
was a prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...
during the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. Commissioned in 1942, Camp Hearne was one of the few camps that housed prisoners from all three Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
during the conflict. After its decommissioning and piecemeal sell-off by the United States government, the site remained abandoned for 70 years. Today there stands a single replica of a barracks on the site of the former camp, which contains a museum.
The camp also served as the central prisoner of war postal service, "responsible for the distribution of all mail to POWs in the United States." According to Krammer, in their spare time, the German POWs
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
"painstakingly constructed replicas of old German castles - waist high - down to the detailed turrets and moats, and a curious visitor to the old camp site can still examine a medieval little schloss
''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house.
Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cognate ...
rising just above the weedtops in a corner of the empty landscape where the camp used to be." Unfortunately, the period was marred by at least one escape attempt, a suicide, and a murder of a perceived American collaborator.
Some residents said that the German prisoners of war were treated too well and therefore called the camp "The Fritz
Fritz originated as a German nickname for Friedrich, or Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Frederick II of Prussia and Frederick III, German Emperor) as well as for similar names including Fridolin a ...
Ritz" in reference to the luxury hotel chain.
The German writer Hannes Köhler put Camp Hearne and the events among German prisoners of war at the centre of his 2018 novel "Ein mögliches Leben" (One possible Life). See also
*List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in the United States
In the United States at the end of World War II, there were prisoner-of-war camps, including 175 Branch Camps serving 511 Area Camps containing over 425,000 prisoners of war (mostly German). The camps were located all over the US, but were mostl ...
*German prisoners of war in the United States
Members of the German military were interned as prisoners of war in the United States during World War I and World War II. In all, 425,000 German prisoners lived in 700 camps throughout the United States during World War II.
World War I
Hostili ...
References
{{coord, 30.8863, -96.6194, type:landmark_region:US-TX, display=title Prisoner of war camps in the United States Museums in Robertson County, Texas 1942 establishments in Texas