A European Sojourn 1943-1945 An Autobiography Pvt. Frederick O. Scheer Serial No. 14118781

As the train pulled into the compound, the prisoners were required to disembark and to stand in groups in a vast field in the middle of which was a small table where two German officers were seated. We were separated from the table by at least one hundred yards and there were several buildings about another hundred yards beyond it, making it impossible for anyone to hear what was being said during the interrogations. One by one the POWs were required to go to the table and speak to the German officers, one of whom spoke flawless English with a distinctly British accent.

As I approached the table, the English-speaking officer looked at me and said, “Your papers, please.” I had no official papers, but I removed my wallet and put it on the table along with everything else in my pockets. The German looked at the contents of the wallet, but said nothing for a little while. After standing there for some time while nothing was happening I said to him, “If you are through with it, I’ll put all this trash back in my pocket.” The officer looked up at me with a scowl in his voice and said, “Don’t be cheeky. Pick that trash up and go to that building,” pointing to the building where, as I soon discovered, the showers were located. The other officer did not utter a word the whole time I was standing there. He just looked at me. After retrieving my meager belongings, I went to the building he had indicated. There I was told to take off my clothes and take a shower. That took care of my filthy clothing. I never saw any of it again.

After the shower, I joined a long line of other POWs who were being herded, totally nude, into what appeared to be a dispensary where we were each given a brief medical examination and some sort of inoculation. During the examination a German medic looked at me and, noticing my circumcision, asked, “Du Jude?” (I have since learned that by using du, the familiar form of “you,” he was not only questioning my religious status, but was speaking to me in a derisive tone. In this context, du is patently inappropriate; only the more formal form, sie, would have been proper.) I responded with a grunt. Finally, the entire group fi led through a supply area where we were issued prison clothes, which I think must have been clothing left behind by other POWs on their way to take their showers. At this point we were given forms to fill out asking primarily for name, rank, home address, next of kin and religious preference. I filled in the form correctly—except for the last question. I wrote “Protestant.”