Lone Star Stalag: German Prisoners of War at Camp Hearne

by Michael R. Waters, Mark Long, William Dickens

Between 1943 and 1945 nearly fifty thousand German prisoners of war, mostly from the German Afrika Korps, lived and worked at seventy POW camps across Texas. Camp Hearne, located on the outskirts of rural Hearne, Texas, was one of the first and largest POW camps in the United States. Now Michael R. Waters and his research team tell the story of the five thousand German soldiers held as POWs at that camp during World War II.

Drawing on newspaper accounts and official records from the time, an archaeological study of the site, and the recollections of surviving POWs, guards, and local residents, Waters and his team have constructed a detailed description of life in the camp: educational opportunities, recreation, mail call, religious practices, work details, and the food provided. Also revealed are the more serious issues that faced Americans inside the POW compounds: illegal alcohol distillation, suicides, escapes, hidden secret shortwave radios, and the subversion of postal services. Artifacts recovered from the site and from the collections of local residents add concrete details. Waters also discusses the national policies and motivations for the treatment of prisoners that prescribed the particulars of camp life.

The book reveals the shadow world of Nazism that existed in the camp, adding darkness to a story that is otherwise optimistic and in places even humorous. The murder of Cpl. Hugo Krauss, a German-born, New York-raised volunteer in the German army, was the most sinister and brutal example of Nazi activity. Captured in North Africa after service in Russia, Krauss was attacked seven months later by six to ten fellow prisoners who beat him to death with clubs, nail-studded boards, and a lead pipe. The dramatic recounting of the murder and the ensuing investigation illustrate much about the underlying political tensions of camp existence.

Numerous photographs and drawings enrich Lone Star Stalag's narrative, which will appeal to World War II historians and archaeologists alike.

Genres: History, World War II

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[carl theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author - Professor of Anthropology, Waters rediscovered, so to speak, the WW2 POW camp in the small Texas town of Hearne. Although there were over 500 camps in the US and over 50 in Texas, they were quickly forgotten as after the war the barracks were sold off for lumber, as well as the various other machinery. With no easily visible remnants the area became playgrounds for children, grazing land for cattle; the cows or the kids had no idea or care what the area was used for previously.

50 years later Waters developed an interest, found that many local people had plenty of stories to tell about befriending German POWs after the initial fear of their arrival, the bumbling escape attempts, the friendships made.

If you’ve seen a movie like ‘The Great Escape’ about Allied POWs in Europe, well the German captives here were no less sneaky or conniving about getting things done their way around the camp. They had little hope of escape, but they still tried to exude their political authority over themselves and well, their captors as well as short wave radios, making alcohol, and amazingly infiltrating the Postal service for all of the US POW camps.

The narration has an Encyclopedia tone to it, so can be well, monotonous and there are a variety of photos.

The last few chapters are the equivalent to an archeological dig, that is, if you don’t get real excited about how many holes are in the button of a Luftwaffe uniform, you may just want to power read over these.
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Visited Camp Hearne this summer (2024) in beautiful Hearne, Tx about 1.5 hrs from where I live.

Site of WW2 POW camp, mostly German, Afrika Korps residents, up to 4800 at times.

1 Restored barrack as a museum. Small but well done. can hike the trails through the woods where the POW part of the camp used to be, but too soggy so have to go back when it's cold.

Had several reenactors for 80th DDay commemoration. all young folks, depicting Ruski, male & female and female civilian, German, US, Italians, Romanian ! they were all ready to chat w/you about their uniforms, experiences. good to see young folks so into history.

With interest piqued, I acquired this book which is written by the fellow who re-discovered the Hearne POW camp.

[Carl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book, and one of the few strong studies of the archaeology and history of POW camps stemming from World War II. There is a TON of fascinating detail about camp life and the material culture of incarceration in here. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and strongly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in contemporary archaeology, conflict archaeology, or World War II history.

I only gave it three stars because of the organization, not the content. It offers up the history, then the archaeology, without really substantively trying to meld the two together, which would have made it a much stronger work. Also, Waters doesn't really celebrate the richness of the historical and archaeological materials strongly enough, in my opinion. There was, for instance, a running war between Nazi and anti-Nazi POWs that cut through Camp Hearne and extended to other camps, via the POW-run mail service. That's a fascinating point that I wish had been explored more fully. I was left fairly frustrated by the many aspects of conflict archaeology and the archaeology of confinement that are not addressed.

In the end, this is a book on a historic site written by an archaeologist trained in something other than historical archaeology (Waters is a Clovis specialist), and the trained eye will see its many gaps.

[Scott Ericksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dad told me stories of the POW camp near Sidney Montana where he grew up. He was a young boy at the time and mainly his knowledge of the camp was seeing prisoners working the sugar beat fields. This book goes into detail describing which prisoners were required to work, their housing, leisure time activities, and how they were treated while detained. I had a keen interest in reading this book, because I drove past the Camp Hearne location several times while going back and forth to college never knowing the camp existed. Turns out, these camps were dotted all over the U.S. This is a quick read for the history buff that you shouldn’t pass up.

[Diana Petty-stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a good educational read! Few Texans are aware that there were German WW11 POW camps in our state. One was Camp Hearne located in Central Texas. This book, the result of interviews with former POWs and guards, is very very detailed. The author writes about their daily lives as well as camp life in general, discusses artifacts he dug up and so many interesting facts. It is well worth reading!!

[Jdblair · Rating 4 out of 5]

We bought this book on the recommendation of the Texas State Historical Association and a person in the Baylor bookstore.
It is a very comprehensive look at the WWII prisoner of war camp at Hearne, Texas. I knew there were a number of German POW camps around central and south Texas but had never read anything like this. Many of these camps were located in farming areas where the POWs could be used as substitute labor for the young men who were gone serving in the military.
Many people were interviewed including local residents, camp guards and staff, actual POWs who had returned to Germany after the war, and others in the US government and military. Archeological surveys were conducted at the site in order to locate remnants of the camp improvements and personal items that had been lost or discarded. Texas A&M in College Station has many of these items in the Camp Hearne Collection. I would like to see if this collection is open to visitors. The last part of the book became very tedious because of the incredible detail describing each artifact.
All in all, I found the book interesting and now would like to know more about the smaller German POW camp that was located in our town.

[John Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good and illuminating. I thought the archaeology of the camp seemed to have been added on and unnecessary: perhaps it was a condition of publishing the main text. And the author's division of the inmates into Germans and Nazis in many instances was bothersome to me. After all, Germany declared war on the United States, and we reciprocated; our war was against Germany,not the Nazis, and their war was against the United States, not the Democratic Party.

[Sean Grant · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stories, facts, and charts. Kind of like describing your vacation with just your itinerary.

[Aggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Documentary of German POW Camps in Texas during WWII. Very Interesting!