We are nearing the end of our journey and spent our time time today meeting with town officials in Oberke and Fallingbostel. These two towns claim Stalag 11-B and Stalag 357 as their own. Both mayors made presentations in their respective town halls or Rathouses. The presentations were detailed and lengthy. In all the villages and towns we have visited, cameras seem to bring the town’s marketing people in to make sure we, and film viewers, know how important their areas are to the world. I don’t blame them and would be doing the same thing.
Oberke is a town of 500 townspeople but situated on the edge of a long time British military installation. When the British pulled out a few years ago, the empty barracks became the haven of Afghanistan refugees fleeing their country from the war. Germany is to be recognized for providing a safe place for these war weary folks but you can visualize what a culture shock 5K Afghans would have on Oberke’s 500 citizens. The mayor never made any recognizable comment on the matter.
My high point of the day was a trip to Celle to the sight of the airfield from where my father, Vic, was flown to begin his trip back to the U.S. after liberation. He said in some notes he made when preparing for a talk to a school group that he was liberated by British troops in a barn near Celle. We don’t know where the barn is but being at the site of the airfield gives some closure to our journey. This visit wasn’t in our schedule, but for some reason the time became available and we drove the extra couple of hours to the site. Thanks to Christine, our film director for making the special effort to get me to the spot and to the others in the travel group for agreeing to the change.
We couldn’t get on the base, an active German helicopter tactical base, but the Commandant came out to visit with us. Very kind of him and it made the stop even more memorable. He also verified the base is the same one that flew WWII ex-POWs to freedom. It is certainly modernized but the same spot.
This is a picture of POWs after liberation as they walk out of Stalag Luft 11-B and 357.
