Given Up for Dead: American POWs in the Nazi Concentration Camp at Berga

by Flint Whitlock

In December 1944, the Ardennes Forest on the German-Belgium border was considered a "quiet" zone where new American divisions, fresh from the States, came to get acclimated to "life at the front." No one in Allied headquarters knew that the Ardennes had been personally selected by Hitler to be the soft point through which over 250,000 men and hundreds of Panzers would plunge in the Third Reich's last-gasp attempt to split the Americans and British armies and perhaps win a negotiated peace in the West. When the Germans crashed through American lines during what became known as the "Battle of the Bulge," in December 1944, thousands of stunned American soldiers who had never before been in combat were taken prisoner. Most were sent to prisoner-of-war camps, where their treatment was dictated by the Geneva Convention and the rules of warfare.For an unfortunate few - mostly Jewish or other "ethnic" GIs - a different fate awaited them. Taken first to Stalag 9B at Bad Orb, Germany, 350 soldiers were singled out for "special treatment," segregated from their buddies, and transported by unheated railroad boxcars with no sanitary facilities on a week-long journey to Berga-an-der-Elster, a picturesque village 50 miles south of Leipzig. Awaiting them at Berga was a sinister slave-labor camp bulging with 1,000 inmates. The incarceration at Berga is the only known instance of captured American soldiers being turned into slave laborers at a Nazi concentration camp. Given Up for Dead is the story of their survival.For over three months, the American soldiers worked under brutal, inhuman conditions, building tunnels in a mountainside for the German munitions industry. The prisoners had no protective masks or clothing; were worked for 12 hours per shift with no food, water, or rest; were beaten regularly for the most minor infractions (or none at all); were fed only starvation rations; slept two to a bed in ghastly, lice-infested bunks; and were never allowed a bath or a change of clothing. Of the 350 GIs in the original contingent, 70 of them died within the first two months at Berga; the others struggled to survive in a living nightmare. As the Allies' front lines moved inexorably closer to Berga, the Nazi guards forced the inmates to endure a death march as a way of keeping them from being liberated; many died along the route. Only the timely arrival of an American armored division at war's end saved them all from certain death.Strangely, when the war was over, many of the Americans who had survived Berga were required to sign a "security certificate" which forbade them from ever disclosing the details of their imprisonment at Berga. Until recent years, what had happened to the American soldiers at Berga has been a closely guarded secret.

Genres: History, World War II, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Holocaust, Nazi Party, Jewish

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 21, 2005

About the author

As an art major, Flint Whitlock graduated from the University of Illinois in 1964 with a degree in Advertising Design, but has always been as much a writer as an artist. His love for military history began at an early age—fueled by his father, James, who served with the famed 10th Mountain Division in World War II. Flint also had an uncle who was a military policeman with the 1st Infantry Division and another uncle who served with the Navy in the Pacific.

Wanting to serve his country, Flint was commissioned a Second Lieutenant through the Reserve Officer Commission Training Program and entered active duty in December 1964. After attending the basic Air Defense Artillery officers' course at Fort Bliss, Texas, Flint earned his jump wings at Airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was then posted to a Nike Hercules battery in Baumholder, Germany. After two years in ADA, he received a branch transfer to the Quartermaster Corps and spent an additional year with the Supply and Maintenance Agency in Zweibruecken, Germany, where he was promoted to captain.


In 1968, Flint was transferred to South Vietnam, arriving one day before the Tet Offensive in January, 1968. He served for six months as a supply specialist at 1st Logistical Command Headquarters at Long Binh, northeast of Saigon, before being transferred to the 14th Inventory Control Center at the same post. He returned to the States in 1969 and spent a year with the 5th Infantry Division Supply and Maintenance Battalion at Fort Carson, Colorado, before resigning his commission and returning to civilian life.

After a stint as the Public Relations Director for the Denver Dynamos of the now-defunct North American Soccer League, he served as a copywriter, art director, and creative director for several major Colorado advertising agencies. While holding down these positions, he also continued to paint and write, becoming a locally prominent artist of the “photo-realist” genre. His attention to visual detail also translated to the written word, as he sought to convey the emotional and physical aspects of the soldier's experience.

To heighten his understanding of, and appreciation for, what the World War II combat soldier went through, he became involved in World War II re-enactment groups, in which he has been active for over 20 years. As a tribute to his father, he founded the 10th Mountain Division Living History Display Group in 1983 (www.tenthmountain.org). He is also a member of the 10th Mountain Division Foundation Board of Directors and the 10th Mountain Division Resource Center Advisory Committee.

Flint Whitlock lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife, Dr. Mary Ann Watson, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at Metropolitan State College of Denver. They have three grown children: Gillian Lee Whitlock, an actress and make-up artist in Hollywood; Suki Montgomery, a psychologist and member of the counseling staff at Ithaca (NY) College; and Matthew Montgomery, an anesthesiologist in Denver. To keep in shape, Flint skis, referees soccer, and plays tennis.

Reviews

[Bernie Weisz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Pembroke Pines, Florida April 15, 2011 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: U.S. POWS In A Nazi Concentration Camp:Described As a Million Dollar Experience Not Repeatable If Offered 2 Million!
Flint Whitlock has done it again! After reading and reviewing "Internal Conflicts" I was glad that the conclusion of that book was based on historical fiction. Quite the contrary, I was horrified that the contents of this book are very real and lurid, with such inhumane acts being inflicted to American prisoners of war that were doled out by barbaric men who in the end were given a slap on the wrist. The history of W. W. II is well known. It is the winter of 1944-45 that Whitlock's story centered on. Nazi fortunes continued to plummet. For it was that year that the Nazi siege of Leningrad, which began in September 1941 finally ended, sending the Soviets westward in a vengeful pursuit which would not cease until they met the Anglo American forces at the Elbe River on April 25, 1945. In February, the Allies began their massive bombing campaign of Germany, and the beginning of the end started on June 6, 1944, "D-Day" or "Operation Overlord." This was the Allied invasion of German-occupied Western Europe that began on the beaches of Normandy, France and ended similarly with Allied and Soviets shaking hands in Berlin. Seeing what was going on, Hitler sped up the extermination camp killing machinery, tried terrorizing Britain by launching "V-1" flying-bombs, nevertheless the handwriting was on the wall. Proof of this was the July 20, 1944 German military leaders failed attempt to kill Adolf Hitler in the Rastenburg Assassination Plot. Allied armies were now invading German-held Europe from all sides. From August on, the Allies retook France, the Netherlands, and October 21, 1944, they captured Aachen, the first city to be taken in Germany. On a steady diet of constant injections from his doctors, in a morphine and amphetamine induced euphoria, Hitler issued a "stand and fight" edict. Hitler proclaimed that although the once vast Nazi empire had diminished, the Fatherland could never be penetrated. He created the "Volkssturm," the German militia created to defend the German homeland in the last months of World War II. Nazi Germany's last-ditch effort to defend the fatherland fell on the Volkssturm, or "Peoples Army." Drafted were any able body, man or boy, ages 15-65. In most cases the Volkssturm were elderly men and Hitler Youth fanatics. This group, along with whatever remained of his Wheremacht, would coalesce together in one final effort to reverse the impending German defeat.

Code named "Wacht-am-Rein" or the "Battle of the Bulge," it started on December 16th, 1944. Delusional thinking convinced Hitler that the alliance between Britain, France and America in the western sector of Europe was weak. Concluding that a major attack and defeat would break them up, he ordered a massive attack against what were primarily American forces. The attack was strictly known as the "Ardennes Offensive," but because the initial attack by the Germans created a bulge in the Allied front line, it became more commonly known as the "Battle of the Bulge." Hitler's goal was to launch a massive attack using three German armies on the Allies . This would, in his mind, destabilize their accord and also enable his forces to capture the huge port of Antwerp, through which a great deal of supplies reached the Allies. In theory, it was a preposterous plan, especially as Germany had been in retreat since D-Day, her military was depleted of supplies and was facing the awesome might of the Allies. Regardless, Hitler, as commander-in-chief of the military, decreed that the attack take place. He intentionally focused on an area in the Ardennes held by the 99th and 106 Divisions, mostly freshly trained, untested recruits of 80,000 Americans. Although in comparison it seems meager to his "Operation Barbarossa" (in the 1941 invasion of Russia, Hitler sent 3 million troops) he was able to muster almost 300,000 troops, thinking a miracle would occur. It almost did. The battle started with a 2 hour bombardment of the Allies lines that was followed by a huge armored attack with the majority of the German armored might based at the Schnee Eifel. The Germans experienced great success to start with. Even through British Intelligence experts, who broke the high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications of the Germans (called "Ultra") had warned the Allies of this impending attack, this was ignored resulting in them being caught totally off guard. Before the attack started, Hitler deceptively sent Otto Skorzeny to lead 1000 English speaking German soldiers dressed in American uniforms covertly behind the Allied lines causing havoc by spreading misinformation, changing road signs and cutting telephone lines. Climate was also in Hitler's favor. In December, snow, low clouds and fog meant that the superior Allied air force could not be used, similarly to the Vietnam War where the initial North Vietnamese assault on the U.S. base at Khe Sanh was successful. Though the weather was typical for the Ardennes in winter, the ground was hard enough for military vehicles, especially 1,083 German tanks to cross and thus initially meet success.

However, "Given up For Dead" is not about the war, politics or the "Battle of the Bulge." It is about the American prisoners Hitler's forces took in their initial success at this battle, specifically 350 of them. The seven main protagonists that Whitlock used were Morton Brooks, Gerald Daub, Anthony Acevedo, Norman Fellman, Joe Mark, William Shapiro, and the only non Jew, Peter Iosso, who, as Whitlock would later write: "By Christmas (1944-45) they would be fighting for their very lives in struggles of great magnitude. And their fates would be intertwined in ways they never could have imagined." The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle fought by the Americans in World War Two. 600,000 American troops were involved in the battle. The Americans lost 89,500 men while the Germans lost 100,000 killed, wounded and captured. 19,000 Americans were killed, 47,500 wounded, and 23,000 captured or missing. This book chronicles how Hitler's stooges treated Americans, particularly Jewish G.I.'s in captivity. Hitler's attack was so fast and furious, that many soldiers were captured without even their boots on. Immediately, the Geneva conference was flaunted by the Germans. Joe Mark reported after surrendering: "After capture, we were assembled by the road and Krause shared a K-ration with me. While waiting, the Germans prepared their anti aircraft weapons for transport. A German officer told one of the Americans to help. The American said it was against the Geneva Convention to help. The German said "Ja, Geneva Convention" and shot him." There are several books existent of how Germans were treated as POW's in this country, distributed in camps located in Wisconsin, Texas and New Hampshire, et al. There is no American equivalent as to the beastly treatment American G.I.'s were accorded in Nazi Stalag's, or Nazi sentiment if one was Jewish, Catholic,or "an undesirable" in Concentration Camps, used for slave labor.

Eleven years after W. W. I ended, the Geneva Convention was first adopted, although significantly updated after 1949. Spelling out the treatment meted out to prisoners of war, it defines humanitarian protections for prisoners of war. This treaty's most significant provisions are that people who took no active part in the hostilities be treated humanely (including military persons who have ceased to be active as a result of sickness, injury, or detention)and the wounded and sick be collected and cared for and treated with diligence. From initial captivity, it dictates what information a prisoner must give (name, rank and serial number only) and interrogation methods that the detaining power may use. No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion can be used for interrogation methods by the captor. It dictates what private property a prisoner of war may keep and that the POW must be evacuated from the war zone immediately. Proper housing, food, clothing, hygiene and medical attention are to be upheld by the captor, and to be both allowed and respected are religious, intellectual and physical activities of the POW. Articles 49-57 covers the type of labor a POW may be compelled to do, taking such factors as rank, age, and sex into consideration. Anything that is unhealthy or dangerous can only be done by POW's who volunteer for such work. The author clearly articulates that for many of the American POW's taken during the "Battle of the Bulge," particularly G.I.'s of the Jewish faith, none of the previously mentioned applied to them: "Although Germany had signed the Geneva Convention on July 27, 1929, four years before Hitler came to power, it was still legally bound to abide by the provisions. But like so many other treaties, conventions, and other agreements he broke, Hitler felt free to observe or ignore the Geneva convention as it suited him." Whitlock further succinctly added: "The loophole, of course, was that if Hitler and his Nazi minions wanted to make life miserable for the enemy prisoners-and they most assuredly did-there was no agency on earth that could enforce those sanctions."

Although they were scattered all throughout Axis territory, Whitlock focused on the aforementioned group that was transferred to Stalag IX at Bad Orb, 30 miles east of Frankfurt. At it's height, it held 4,000 U.S. POW's. Right after capture, captured U.S. G.I.'s, average age 20, were marched to a railroad station for transport to hell, devoid of food, water or heat in the middle of winter. Whitlock wrote that the POW's soon found themselves herded into boxcars like hogs headed for the slaughterhouse and rolling eastward. Locked in these trains, they were targets of constant Allied Bombing, and were packed in 70 men to a boxcar, without toilets nor the ability to sit down. For food at Bad Orb, the first week they received a meager ration of potato soup, and for the last four months of captivity up to liberation only sugar beets and turnip tops. Being a potential gold mine of intelligence to the Nazi's, Private Owen Chafee noted the following Nazi interrogation methods: Some men who were ahead of me refused to fill out anything but their name, rank , and serial number. The German officer got mad and called 2 guards over. The guards hit the Americans with their rifle butts and made them stand outside for 3 or 4 hours in the snow. I saw this happen to 25 men. Many of those so treated came down with severe frostbite." However, the fanatical Gestapo had special plans to single out any Jewish POW's. Although not Jewish, POW Peter House wrote the following when questioned about his religion: "A German corporal interrogated me. He was a mean spirited man. He was very upset when all I gave him was my name, rank and serial number. He asked my religion. I refused. He asked how would they know what type of service to provide if I died. This seemed reasonable at the time, so I said "Protestant." Another POW, Leon Horowitz, asserted: "In those days, your religion was imprinted on your dog tags so that, if you were killed in action they would know what kind of burial service to give you. I threw my dog tags away shortly after I was captured. In retrospect, the Germans would have quickly suspected that anyone who didn't have dog tags was Jewish."

Conditions grew worse for the U.S. POW's at Bad Orb. In order to distract oneself from starvation and the severe cold, POW's dreamed up escape plans and were preoccupied with killing rampant body lice. Body heat was the only source of warmth, and sleeping on filthy, vermin infested, straw filled sacks, they spent horrible nights in barracks with broken windows, leaky roofs and no toilet facilities. Whitlock pointed out that on the starvation diet of less than 1,000 calories a day, if one worked, they died. Furthermore: "Not surprisingly, food quickly became a burning obsession among the POW's. They thought about food, dreamed about food, and talked about food constantly." Just like cigarettes are a commodity in U.S. prisons, so was food at Bad Orb, with an antisemitic extortionist twist to it. According to POW Joseph Mark: "A guy from my own company called "Blackie" came up to me one day and asked if he could borrow some bread. I said, "I don't lend bread." He threatened me; he said, "then I'm going to tell them you're a Jew." POW James Smith continued describing the mistreatment: "Every morning we'd go out-we didn't actually have a roll call;it was just a head count. During this twice a day routine, camp personnel spent hours counting and recounting the prisoners and often spewing vitriol into their captives faces, screaming at them for minor infractions, beating them with sticks, whips, clubs and rifles; threatening them with vicious dogs, humiliating them in any way possible."

In the first week of February, 1945, Hitler's henchmen decided that underground armament factories had to be carved out of solid ground in the final defense of the Third Reich. Shifts were to be 12 straight hours for 40 days straight, using pneumatic drills to carve out the caves. This was to be done with no protective garments for the elements, on 400-600 calories a POW. Selected from Bad Orb Stalag IX-B would be 350 POW's, all to be sent to "Berga" a stone throw from Buchenwald. POW Tony Acevedo wrote of the Nazi selection process to work the tunnels: "They wanted to do that with Jews, but they couldn't find enough. so they went down the line; if you looked Jewish or your name had a Jewish sound to it, they pulled you out. If you looked Catholic or they assumed you were Catholic, you were also pulled out. Of the 350, only about a third were actually Jewish; the rest were either Catholic or they were troublemakers in the camp-people they caught stealing, etc." African Americans were involved as well. Although they were not fully integrated into the U.S. armed forces until 1948, POW Fred Koenig recalled It was sometime in February 1945 that a Corporal Schulz, a German guard at IX-B, beat up a colored American Soldier: "I witnessed this assault. Named "Shorty", his crime was walking past a group of German soldiers without saluting them. Schulz stopped him and said something in German which the American did not understand, so Schulz hit him several times with a bayonet scabbard, knocked him to the ground, and kicked him. Shorty was a bloody mess." POW James Smith quoted about Black POW's the following: The camp commander suggested that we put them in the MP barracks for their own protection. He said, "We've got a lot of fanatical idiots," which was an understatement. He was afraid that if we didn't keep them in there for their protection, some Germans might do harm to them."


The stories told at Berga in the last part of Whitlock's book are nothing less than spell binding. Witnessing hangings of fellow POW's, threatened by German Shepard dogs, frozen, beaten, and starved, POW Joe Mark quipped: "Dying was of no great consequence, but being hungry was." The families of these POW's were notified that these men were "MIA" (missing in action), but other from that, they had vanished off the face of the earth. Unfed, full of body lice, working 12 hours a day for 40 days straight in the elements digging tunnels, POW's began dying. Shaving with broken glass, being fed only bread made of sawdust, ground glass and sand, camouflaged with barley, POW Medic William Shapiro, commenting on the horrid conditions at Berga, wrote that many men turned inward just trying to survive, cutting contact off with their fellow POW's. Afraid of Nazi "plants" among the POW's, no one dare complain. Shapiro had the following to say: "Food would activate the POW's into a frenzy, but after the distribution of the food, they would go off, climb into their bunks, and disassociate themselves with other men...I would learn the beginning signs of the "giving up" syndrome. This book is so disturbing that I am grateful that Whitlock had a few humorous stories to break up this unimaginable tale of human degradation. One was told by POW Joe Mark, right after German capture: "They marched us back to a town and searched me. I had a tin of aspirins, Bayer aspirin, and this German who was searching me thought I had taken them off a German because Bayer is a German product and he was going to shoot me, but a sergeant told him that Bayer was commonly distributed, so I wasn't shot."

POW Gerald Daub wrote about the constant underground drilling in the caves the following entry: "The air was just totally filled with stone dust. Everything coated with it, including your lungs filled with it. And we had no bathing facilities, so you can picture that, after a day or two, we just looked like cement statues walking around." Then there is the humorous story of Private William Thompson, a POW assigned to a German officer's quarters for housekeeping duty. With no one else there, he discovered a plate of cake and a bottle of brandy. Unable to resist, he imbibed the brandy and wolfed down the cake, finding himself completely inebriated. Thompson recalled: "The cake was almost gone and I was drunk as a sailor. I finally had to lie down on the commandant's freshly made bed. I was rudely shaken awake by an enlisted German guard who was shaking with fright at the sight of a drunken, lice-infested POW sleeping in the captain's bed after having consumed a cake and most of his fine brandy. I soon found myself on the operating end of a bucksaw, cutting logs for firewood. I had difficulty keeping the saw blade taut and was receiving a tongue lashing when I was saved by the flyover of a 1000 plane raid. The sky was filled with contrails, and P-47's weaved back and forth. We were looking up. I told my guard, "All is kaput-you're going to lose." He said, "When, for God's sake?" How many of the original POW's made it home? Who liberated them, and how? During the war crimes trials, were the Nazi's that were guilty of atrocities receive punishment commensurate to their crimes? How much did the "Cold War" of the late 1940's affected the outcome of those trials? Were any of the POW's allowed to testify? Since Flint Whitlock did a follow up of the originally mentioned 7 POW's, did any in this groups suffer from "Survivor Syndrome" or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?" You will have to read "Given Up For Dead" to discover the answer. I guarantee you will not be disappointed!

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first saw a PBS program based on this book. As much as I've read about the Holocaust and all those souls lost in the concentration camps I never thought about America's POW's lost. I'm sure this story only touches the tip of the iceberg on their time spent in the concentration camp to the death march and finally liberation.

The way it follows the individuals from before enlisting, to going to war, and then becoming POW's really gives you a complete picture. I also liked that it completed the survivors stories by sharing with the reader what happened with them after the war. You get to read a few paragraphs from the survivors in their own words about their war experience and their lives after the war.

This is a very moving story and one I would highly recommend.

[Catherine Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening and upsetting book of the atrocities our American POWs in WWII suffered at the hands of the Germans.
Even more upsetting was the fact they were not given the chance to face their war criminals and abusers when the Germans were charged with war crimes. Unbelievable.
It is difficult for me to comprehend how our GI's survived and lived such amazing, productive lives following what they were subjected to at Berga.
Highly recommend this book as a must read for our young people coming up so they understand what sacrifices have been given for the freedoms they now have. Freedom is definitely not free.

[Sheri S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated this tribute to American POW's whose stories have not been told. Like others, these men should have been protected by the Geneva Convention, however, the rules of the Convention were not observed by their German captors. I admire the courage and bravery of these men to persevere through adversity. And, it is appalling to learn of the testimony of their captors in court and the leniency shown them. These former POW's transitioned back into society and made positive contributions to their communities despite the atrocities they suffered. I am grateful to these men and the example they set for all. Thank you to the author for telling these men's stories.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so much respect for these POWs ! What a horrible experience to live through. I wish I could make it up to them. I will make sure my kids know these stories and cherish our freedom. I typically read the Jewish survivor stories, so this was different. All the military talk was hard for me to get through. But, it's worth it. I feel we owe it to our vets to hear their stories.

[Phylisha Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not my usual type of reading material, but it's good to change it up sometimes. This is a true WWII story about POW held at the worst Nazi concenttation camp (Berga). This book is not for the faint of heart. It details the horrifice treatment the POW's experienced. The title says it all. It took me several days to read it.

[Zander Bean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very good, I enjoyed all the facts and how well the details were said. I really like these war books, all the ones that I have read lately. This book was great and will definitely recommend

[Cj Zawacki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on the soldiers who were taken to as POW's and placed into a Nazi Concentration Camp instead of a POW camp. The ignoring of these men during the war trails because of the start of the Cold War.

[Vince · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story. American GIs taken prisoner in the last 6 months of the war. Destined for slave labor they started dying at an alarming rate. Liberated in the last days of the war there story laid mostly untold. The author lets the survivors tell their stories but never asserts enough of a point of few to stir the reader.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book, about American troops captured in Germany pretty much right after they got there. The beginning is very good, but the end its lumpy and doesn't flow very well. There are so many people he is talking about and then he starts throwing them all together without much flow. It was just a bit choppy. It had a potential to be a great story though.

[Charity U · Rating 4 out of 5]

Admit it: how much do you know about American POWs in Germany? I'll confess...POWs had never even entered my mind until I picked up this book. It's a very interesting book and taught me much about them! Recommended.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book and I learned a ton. Just not one you breeze through. (Full of research and documentation) About American GIs who were captured by the Nazis. The Jewish ones were separated out and put in a concentration camp. All near the end of WWII.

[Tom Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well written story showing man's inhumanity to his fellow man. It's a story of survival in the face of great diversity. It's a story of man's will to survive. I highly recommend this book to everyone who has an interest in WWII history.A very praise worthy book.

[Umberto · Rating 2 out of 5]

couldnt hold my interest

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent account of POW's in WWII.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upsetting! I bet a lot of Americans don't even know that there were GI's in concentration camps. Awful that they weren't allowed to testify at Nuremberg Trials.

[Kay Fellows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow