Three weeks ago, I was at a luncheon at the Aliceville Museum. Linda Anderson and her sister Bonnie Anderson Hariton had come from California to present to the museum a collection of silverware their father had sent home at the end of World War II.
Their father, Kermit Anderson had enlisted in 1941, passing for 17 when he had not even seen his 16th birthday. He served in Europe with the 42nd Rainbow Division ending the war as a 2nd Lieutenant. His company was among the units that occupied Munich in the spring of 1945. There they were assigned to guard the ruins of the “Braun House” which had served as Nazi party headquarters.
Within the rubble a sergeant discovered an intact cellar door and upon opening it found a room filled with Hitler’s silver and crystal. The sergeant reported the find to Lt. Anderson and it was decided to divide all the silver up among the men of the company. Lt. Anderson received over 50 pieces of Hitler’s personal silver. Each piece was emblazoned with a Nazi monogram that had been designed by Hitler.
In stark contrast to the silver Lt. Anderson had also inspected Dachau and witnessed firsthand the terrible horror wrought by Hitler. Dachau was the first concentration camp and was located about 10 miles from Munich. Over 32,000 were known to have died there and many thousands more were unaccounted for. There were over 30,000 suffering people there when the camp was liberated. Anderson had told his children when they were young that the silver had belonged to a very evil man. Anderson remained in the service after the war ended and retired as a major in the 3rd Regiment, the famous “Old Guard.”
His children were concerned that if sold, the extremely valuable silver might be purchased by an admirer of Hitler and decided to donate it to a museum to prevent that. It was offered to the Smithsonian, but they did not need it. However, they did provide a list of appropriate museums that might be interested. The first on the alphabetical list was the Aliceville Museum, which highlights the World War II Camp Aliceville where thousands of German POWs were held. After their conversation with museum director John Gillum, the Andersons decided they didn’t need to look anywhere else. Aliceville was the place the collection needed to go.
The Museum will feature the silver along with memorabilia relating to Major Anderson’s military career. The exhibit, which will display the silver in a proper context, is expected to open in late March of 2022. Until the silver can be displayed in a secure exhibit it will be housed off-site.
Construction of Camp Aliceville began in October 1942, under the direction of the Mobile District of the U S Army Corps of Engineers, and was completed in January 1943. At completion, the camp consisted of 329 wood-frame buildings including 120 fifty-man barracks. The first prisoners of war arrived in June 1943. They had been captured in North Africa where they had been members of “Heeresgruppe Afrika.” That was the German “Army Group Africa” of which, by 1943, the Africa Corps was only a part. Camp Aliceville’s stated maximum strength was given as 6,150. It was at one time the largest POW camp in the U.S.
Camp Aliceville grew to contain more than 400 buildings. It also employed more than 1,000 military and civilian guards and personnel. The camp was a barbed-wire compound complete with machine gun-equipped guard towers. Across its 823 acres were barracks, bakeries, chapels, theaters, a hospital and assorted other buildings. There were sports fields, gardens and even an amphitheater.
The camp was subject to inspection by international humanitarian organizations, such as the Red Cross. Marietta McCarter, of Columbus, worked for the Red Cross at its Columbus Army Air Field office during World War II. One of her duties for the Red Cross was to inspect the Aliceville POW camp.
Camp Aliceville closed on Sept. 30, 1945, and little remains at its former site, which now is next to an industrial park. However, the camp lives on at the Aliceville Museum. The museum has one of, if not the largest, German World War II POW exhibit outside of Germany. In a separate wing the museum houses a large collection of memorabilia of area veterans.
In recent years the memory of the good treatment the German prisoners received has paid remarkable dividends. After learning of the creation of the Aliceville Museum, former German prisoners of war and their families have donated sketches, paintings, wood carvings, uniforms and other memorabilia from the camp to the museum. Local residents have also donated furniture, artwork and other items from the camp.
The Aliceville Museum is located at 104 Broad St. NE in downtown Aliceville and is only about a 30-minute drive from Columbus. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. For information call 205-373-2363. There is an admission fee. It is well worth a visit.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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