(The Birmingham Jewish Federation salutes Congressman Bachus and his commitment to proper recognition for the Berga soldiers.)
World War II American POWs, who survived a death march from the Berga concentration camp, recuperating at a Army hospital after the war. (US Holocaust Memorial Museum )It is always refreshing, especially in these turbulent times, to hear about good things, especially when they are initiated by one of Alabama 's own.
BJF Assistant Executive Director Joyce Spielberger was alerted recently to a great story, one that many Americans are not familiar with, yet one that Alabamians can be proud of, thanks to the initiative and dedication of Birmingham-area Congressman Spencer Bachus.
The story is about the Berga survivors of World War II. Bachus initially learned of them from one of his constituents, Berga survivor Wallace Carden, who lives in Vestavia Hills.
HELD AS SLAVES
During the war, 350 US Army soldiers were held as slaves inside Nazi Germany. These men were separated from other prisoners of war in February, 1945, for being Jewish or "looking like Jews" and sent to Berga, a slave camp and sub-camp of the notorious Buchenwald death camp.
The men were beaten, starved, and forced to work in tunnels at the camp where the Nazi government had a hidden V-2 rocket factory. More than 100 of the Berga soldiers died at the slave camp or on a forced death march of more than 200 miles in April, 1945.
The US Army, however, never officially recognized their ordeal. In addition, the Berga survivors signed documents upon their release which led them to believe they were never to speak about their experiences. The documents specifically stated that "the interests of American prisoners in the event of future wars, moreover, demand that the secrets of this war be vigorously safeguarded."
It remains unclear as to why the Army never recognized the prisoners of the Berga slave camp and what they endured. Update was told that the Army had no formal procedure in place to recognize these POWs, and this, coupled with the ambiguity of the signed documents, resulted in the matter remaining secret.
FORGOTTEN HEROES
In any case, Congressman Joe Baca of California and Congressman Bachus both recognized the importance of finally honoring these forgotten heroes and the urgency of getting it done. In December, 2008, the two proposed legislation to recognize the Berga soldiers and to "honor the heroic service and sacrifice of these 350 American soldiers detained at the Nazi camp" and also prodded the Army to act on the matter as well.
Added Bachus in a written statement, "...recognition of these brave soldiers is long overdue. Their story is an integral part of the history of World War II, and their conduct under the most extreme and trying conditions is an enormous credit to themselves and their country."
This past June, the Army officially recognized the soldiers enslaved at Berga at a ceremony in Orlando. Maj. Gen. Vincent Boles represented the Army. "These men were abused and put under some of the most horrific conditions," the general told a private gathering of Berga survivors.
Boles also acknowledged that the "secrecy" documents the survivors signed were misunderstood. "The intent of the documents was, for those who had been POWs, to not talk about escapes, people who had assisted them, or people who had helped them. Our inability to explain that correctly was, therefore, misunderstood by them....What they went through didn't need to be kept a secret."
22 STILL ALIVE
There are 22 known Berga survivors still alive, but only six made it to the recognition ceremony. The six included Vestavia's Mr. Carden, who is 84.
According to a CNN story on the gathering, "The men's faces hid decades of pain from what they endured in the waning months of World War II in 1945. They'd given up decades ago that the Army would recognize them."
The Birmingham Jewish Federation salutes Congressman Bachus and his commitment to proper recognition for the Berga soldiers.
Click to thank Congressman Bachus.
