Post by connie on Sept 16, 2021 1:25:55 GMT -5
OVERVIEW of CAMPS that Held Members of the 106th 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/752/thread
MAP of GERMAN POW CAMPS: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4961/thread
FINDING a POW's WORK CAMP: jrwentz attached two helpful posts near the bottom of the following thread: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4942/thread
Stalag IX A- Ziegenhain
click to view larger photo
Wikipedia lists this among the German POW camps but does not yet have a write-up on this one.
Some History of the Camp on Indiana Military Site includes many photos. www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Stalag%20IX-A%20Ziegenhain/Photos/Stalag%20IX-A.htm
According to that site this was a camp for Non-commissioned Officers who were moved here after being at IX B first. (It had also held FrenchPOW's for some time)
Initially most of the captured soldiers of the 106th, “Privates and Non-Coms” were taken to Stalag IX-B, Bad Orb. On January 23, 1945 most all the non-commissioned officers from the 106th Infantry Division were taken out of Stalag IX-B, Bad Orb and transferred to Stalag IX-A, Ziegenhain on January 23, 1945. Stalag IX-A had been a camp populated with French POWs for at least five years. They were well settled in and had an excellent prison system going for themselves.
Separating POWs by certain “rank” was according to the Geneva Convention which allowed Privates and Corporals to be used on work details and they were placed in “B” Camps. Soldiers over Corporal through Master Sergeant rank were put in separate camps designated “A” Camps, in this case Stalag IX-A, in the territory of Ziegenhain.
The camp was identified as the Ziegenhain Stalag, because it was in the territory of Ziegenhain. You might identify it here as being in a “county.” The camp, after the war was occupied by German civilians, because of the severe housing shortage in Germany. Over the years it turned into a small city. The name of the former Ziegenhain facility, now a small city, is Trutzhain in the territory of Ziegenhain.
2016 Army Press Story NCO Story Tells of heroism at Stalag IX-A www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/NCO-Journal/Archives/2016/February/POW-Master-Sergeant-Told-Nazis-We-Are-All-Jews/
"Sometime in January 1945, German forces instructed all Jewish POWs to report the next morning. Edmonds was in charge of the prisoners, which included Jews and non-Jews. He ordered all of his Soldiers to stand together when the Jewish prisoners were to report."
Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was with the 422nd Infantry Regiment. Paul Stern, who was also taken prisoner during that battle, was Jewish and stood near Edmonds during the exchange. “Although seventy years have passed,” Stern told Yad Vashem, “I can still hear the words he said to the German camp commander." Lester Tanner, who had also been captured in the Battle of the Bulge, witnessed the exchange, as well.Tanner had been inducted into military service in March 1943 and had trained at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, before being assigned to Edmonds’ 422nd Infantry Regiment. Edmonds was the highest-ranking NCO in the 422nd, and Tanner remembered him well from his training.
106th Connections
List of 423 Infantry Regiment POW's: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Rosters/REFERENCES/64%20-%20423rd%20roster/64.htm
Sidebar List of POW Camps & some names of POW's there www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/SoThinkMenu/GermanPW-START.htm
Sidebar List of Diaries, Obits, & Articles, etc. alphabetically on the Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/SoThinkMenu/106thSTART.htm
Burmeister, Roy Cpl. 589 B POW IX B, IX Awww.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Stalag%20IX-A%20Ziegenhain/Roy%20Burmeister/Roy%20Burmeister.htm
"On reaching Bad Orb, Stalag 9B, Christmas Eve, we were interrogated. Name, rank and serial number did not suffice. We were held out in the snow and freezing cold to loosen tongues for information they already knew. After a short stay the officers and non-coms were separated from the privates and sent on to other camps. I was a corporal, and with other non-coms, again in boxcars and then on foot marched to Ziegenhein, Stalag 9A."
Edmonds Roddie, M. Sgt, 422, HQ Co, POW IX-B, IX-A 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5007/thread
A brief note of Edmonds heroism at this camp appears in the Army Press story above. More links can be found in the thread listed here beside his name. Included in the thread are links to a book by his son and a 15 minute video that tells of this event and includes statements by many who credit him with saving their lives.
Frampton, Duward Belmont Jr. "Pete", Cpl 422 CN. POW IX-B, IX-A WIA 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4774/thread
Sulser, Jack 423 F POW Stalags IX-B, IX-A www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Stalag%20IX-A%20Ziegenhain/Jack%20Sulser/Jack%20Sulser.htm
We arrived at Bad Orb, 'Stalag IXB,' on Christmas Day and had the first food we'd eaten since Dec. 16." Ten days later, Sulser was herded aboard another boxcar for a POW camp at Ziegenhain. Until March 30, when U.S. troops liberated the camp, Sulser lived on what a U.S. Army doctor estimated was a 900-calorie diet: herbal tea for breakfast, soup for lunch and a slice of bread for supper. By January, the men began dying of malnutrition. We slept in triple-decker bunks, without heat, and had only cold water for washing and the use of one outside latrine," Sulser said. On Easter Sunday, as the ex-POWs began conducting their own sunrise worship service, a U.S. Army chaplain arrived and passed out communion wafers and hymnals. It's then that we felt truly liberated, Sulser reflected.
Tanner, Lester, S. Sgt. 422 HQ Co. POW IX -B, IX A www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/edmonds/lester-tanner-testimony.html
Tanner 's statement about Roddie Edmonds courageous actions at Stalag IX-A
Also see him in the video on Roddie Edmonds: Footsteps of My Father 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5010/thread
Peterson, Richard (Pete) 423-I weapons Platoon POW IX B & IX A 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/1611/thread
from camp history on Indiana Military Site: One of those 106th non-coms that was shipped to Stalag IX-A was Dr. Richard Peterson PHD. “I” Company, 423rd Infantry Regiment. “Dick” (deceased Oct 2003) was from “I” Company, 423rd Combat Infantry Regiment and was a very dear friend to all of us. He made many trips back to Ziegenhain, five or six over the years. In fact he made a very detailed study of the facility known as Stalag IX-A. Because of his excellent studies and his association with some of the French former inmates of Stalag IX-A, he was awarded a French medal with high honors.
MAP of GERMAN POW CAMPS: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4961/thread
FINDING a POW's WORK CAMP: jrwentz attached two helpful posts near the bottom of the following thread: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4942/thread
Stalag IX A- Ziegenhain
click to view larger photo
Wikipedia lists this among the German POW camps but does not yet have a write-up on this one.
Some History of the Camp on Indiana Military Site includes many photos. www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Stalag%20IX-A%20Ziegenhain/Photos/Stalag%20IX-A.htm
According to that site this was a camp for Non-commissioned Officers who were moved here after being at IX B first. (It had also held FrenchPOW's for some time)
Initially most of the captured soldiers of the 106th, “Privates and Non-Coms” were taken to Stalag IX-B, Bad Orb. On January 23, 1945 most all the non-commissioned officers from the 106th Infantry Division were taken out of Stalag IX-B, Bad Orb and transferred to Stalag IX-A, Ziegenhain on January 23, 1945. Stalag IX-A had been a camp populated with French POWs for at least five years. They were well settled in and had an excellent prison system going for themselves.
Separating POWs by certain “rank” was according to the Geneva Convention which allowed Privates and Corporals to be used on work details and they were placed in “B” Camps. Soldiers over Corporal through Master Sergeant rank were put in separate camps designated “A” Camps, in this case Stalag IX-A, in the territory of Ziegenhain.
The camp was identified as the Ziegenhain Stalag, because it was in the territory of Ziegenhain. You might identify it here as being in a “county.” The camp, after the war was occupied by German civilians, because of the severe housing shortage in Germany. Over the years it turned into a small city. The name of the former Ziegenhain facility, now a small city, is Trutzhain in the territory of Ziegenhain.
2016 Army Press Story NCO Story Tells of heroism at Stalag IX-A www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/NCO-Journal/Archives/2016/February/POW-Master-Sergeant-Told-Nazis-We-Are-All-Jews/
"Sometime in January 1945, German forces instructed all Jewish POWs to report the next morning. Edmonds was in charge of the prisoners, which included Jews and non-Jews. He ordered all of his Soldiers to stand together when the Jewish prisoners were to report."
Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was with the 422nd Infantry Regiment. Paul Stern, who was also taken prisoner during that battle, was Jewish and stood near Edmonds during the exchange. “Although seventy years have passed,” Stern told Yad Vashem, “I can still hear the words he said to the German camp commander." Lester Tanner, who had also been captured in the Battle of the Bulge, witnessed the exchange, as well.Tanner had been inducted into military service in March 1943 and had trained at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, before being assigned to Edmonds’ 422nd Infantry Regiment. Edmonds was the highest-ranking NCO in the 422nd, and Tanner remembered him well from his training.
106th Connections
List of 423 Infantry Regiment POW's: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Rosters/REFERENCES/64%20-%20423rd%20roster/64.htm
Sidebar List of POW Camps & some names of POW's there www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/SoThinkMenu/GermanPW-START.htm
Sidebar List of Diaries, Obits, & Articles, etc. alphabetically on the Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/SoThinkMenu/106thSTART.htm
Burmeister, Roy Cpl. 589 B POW IX B, IX Awww.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Stalag%20IX-A%20Ziegenhain/Roy%20Burmeister/Roy%20Burmeister.htm
"On reaching Bad Orb, Stalag 9B, Christmas Eve, we were interrogated. Name, rank and serial number did not suffice. We were held out in the snow and freezing cold to loosen tongues for information they already knew. After a short stay the officers and non-coms were separated from the privates and sent on to other camps. I was a corporal, and with other non-coms, again in boxcars and then on foot marched to Ziegenhein, Stalag 9A."
Edmonds Roddie, M. Sgt, 422, HQ Co, POW IX-B, IX-A 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5007/thread
A brief note of Edmonds heroism at this camp appears in the Army Press story above. More links can be found in the thread listed here beside his name. Included in the thread are links to a book by his son and a 15 minute video that tells of this event and includes statements by many who credit him with saving their lives.
Frampton, Duward Belmont Jr. "Pete", Cpl 422 CN. POW IX-B, IX-A WIA 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4774/thread
Sulser, Jack 423 F POW Stalags IX-B, IX-A www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Stalag%20IX-A%20Ziegenhain/Jack%20Sulser/Jack%20Sulser.htm
We arrived at Bad Orb, 'Stalag IXB,' on Christmas Day and had the first food we'd eaten since Dec. 16." Ten days later, Sulser was herded aboard another boxcar for a POW camp at Ziegenhain. Until March 30, when U.S. troops liberated the camp, Sulser lived on what a U.S. Army doctor estimated was a 900-calorie diet: herbal tea for breakfast, soup for lunch and a slice of bread for supper. By January, the men began dying of malnutrition. We slept in triple-decker bunks, without heat, and had only cold water for washing and the use of one outside latrine," Sulser said. On Easter Sunday, as the ex-POWs began conducting their own sunrise worship service, a U.S. Army chaplain arrived and passed out communion wafers and hymnals. It's then that we felt truly liberated, Sulser reflected.
Tanner, Lester, S. Sgt. 422 HQ Co. POW IX -B, IX A www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/edmonds/lester-tanner-testimony.html
Tanner 's statement about Roddie Edmonds courageous actions at Stalag IX-A
Also see him in the video on Roddie Edmonds: Footsteps of My Father 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5010/thread
Peterson, Richard (Pete) 423-I weapons Platoon POW IX B & IX A 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/1611/thread
from camp history on Indiana Military Site: One of those 106th non-coms that was shipped to Stalag IX-A was Dr. Richard Peterson PHD. “I” Company, 423rd Infantry Regiment. “Dick” (deceased Oct 2003) was from “I” Company, 423rd Combat Infantry Regiment and was a very dear friend to all of us. He made many trips back to Ziegenhain, five or six over the years. In fact he made a very detailed study of the facility known as Stalag IX-A. Because of his excellent studies and his association with some of the French former inmates of Stalag IX-A, he was awarded a French medal with high honors.