I respectively disagree with the opinion that "they were ungrateful as our prisoner's are today. expecting the 'best' and forgetting 'they are prisoners'. While living on a farm southeast of Fort Collins, Colorado we had many German POW's work on our farm and all but one prisoner were grateful for the opportunity to work on local farms, and more so, were extremely grateful for the food we gave to them. We spoke German so we communicated with them every day while they were on the farm premises. Most of the POW's were good solid persons who had no interest in being in a war and were here only because they were forced into serving their country due to a radical leader - Hitler. After they went back home to Germany we heard by letter from many of these POW's and again they expressed their gratitude for working for us and what we did for them. In fact a couple of these POW's came back to Colorado after the war and eventually purchased farms in the local area. We had one German POW who was probably in his early 20's who completely disregarded my father's instructions on how to hoe the sugar beets. The guard shackled this young POW and sat him on the end of the field during the day and when he went back to the POW camp the other prisoners told us that he was put in solitary confinement and given only bread and water. He was typical of a true Nazi youth trained by Hitler's group. Myron G. Fritzler As interesting as all of these German prisoner stories are, personally, it sounds like they were as ungrateful as our prisoner's of today, expecting the 'best' and forgetting 'they are prisoners'. Ann Weber ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ward R Richter" <druquest@earthlink.net> To: "'RON GREENWALD'" <RonFarmcr3@msn.com>; <ger-volga@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 1:16 PM Subject: Re: [GV] INFO. TO ALL >I have an interesting addition to these notes about German prisoners. I >grew > up on a farm in southern Wisconsin and we raised potatoes among other > crops. > German prisoners were housed nearby and we regularly picked up crews to > weed > potatoes and later to pick up potatoes, manually in those days. My father > spoke excellent German to them and they enjoyed visiting with him. My > mother also made extra food for them at noon because their meals were > rather > meager. When sweet corn was ripe she cooked up a large batch for them and > got an unexpected reaction. They angrily announced to my father that they > had been insulted by my mother since she was feeding them "pig food" and > would refuse to do any more work. It took every bit of my father's skill > with German and his caring attitude to convince them that the sweet corn > was > human food in the U.S. and was considered to be a delicacy by my mother. > Just to emphasize the point, I had to sit outside with the prisoners and > eat > my lunch, including corn with them. I was about 12 or 13 at the time. > > Just as with several of the other correspondents, my father kept in touch > with some of them and sent CARE packages to them after the war and several > visited us in the U.S. in later years. > > Ward Richter > > -----Original Message----- > From: ger-volga-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:ger-volga-bounces@rootsweb.com] > On Behalf Of RON GREENWALD > Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 8:18 AM > To: ger-volga@rootsweb.com; Charles Parcels > Subject: Re: [GV] INFO. TO ALL > > I grew up on a farm in Windsor Colorado, which we still have. There was a > large German POW camp near Greeley about 7 miles away. Every morning Mom > and I would take our beet truck and drive over to the camp to get a group > of > prisoners and a guard. They would work beets all day. They were good > workers. Dad spoke Fluent German and talked to them all the time. They > told Dad they were happy to be here and no longer in the war. > The food they brought for lunch was not too good so many times Mom made > then > a large pot of soup and fresh bread which they enjoyed tremendously. > After the war some came back to the States and several came out to the > farm > to tell us they remembered Dad talking to them and Mom making them soup > and > bread. > Ron > Ron & Lynn Greenwald > 5882 Seldovia Road > Fort Collins CO. 80524 > (970) 484-9771 or Cell (970) 217-6091 > E-mail RonFarmcr3@msn.com<mailto:RonFarmcr3@msn.com> > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Charles Parcels<mailto:volgager4440@yahoo.com> > To: ger-volga@rootsweb.com<mailto:ger-volga@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 12:34 PM > Subject: [GV] INFO. TO ALL > > > I remember my mother stating to me that when she > visited her Volga German relatives in Colorado during the 2nd world war, > <she, visiting from n.y. > she observed German prisoners working on the > sugar beet farms. The Volga Germans would always try to talk to them on > the > other side of the fence, but the Guards would chase them away. I believe > it > was somewhere near Wiggins, Colorado. > Thought I might share this with all of you > "Landsmann" out there. > > Charles Parcels < Weibert > aus Messer > > > > --------------------------------- > Ready for the edge of your seat? Check out tonight's top picks on Yahoo! > TV. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GER-VOLGA-request@rootsweb.com<mailto:GER-VOLGA-request@rootsweb.com> with > the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of > the > message > ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.