Documentary features German POWs in Pee Dee

Alison Jones is the writer/producer of “Enemy Lines: The Story of German POWs in America,” a 60-minute radio documentary to be broadcast on public radio.

The documentary is in its earliest stages and the name may change. It consists of two 30-minute segments. The first segment centers on the experience of German POWs in South Carolina at the height of wartime. They were mostly in Florence and the Pee Dee.

Jones, a prize-winning print and radio journalist, is hopeful there are residents in the area who remember the POWs. Many worked on area farms. The local contact is Bett Phillips of Darlington. She can be reached at (843) 395-2460.

The second segment takes place in Texas and concerns the German POW camp at Hearne, Texas, which was one of the largest in the country.

The documentary brings to life a moment in history when nearly 400,000 German soldiers landed on American shores. Through this documentary, listeners will come to understand life on the World War II home front in a fuller light.

Shipload after shipload of soldiers poured into the United States in the early 1940s, as the army scrambled to erect POW camps. Nearly 400,000 German soldiers reached the U.S. this way and a disproportionate number ended up in the South, where many POW camps were built because land was plentiful and the weather warmer.

In South Carolina, news of the war filled newspaper headlines and movie matinee newsreels and many families had soldiers fighting overseas. For many people, though, the war still felt far away.

But that changed when German POWs arrived and began showing up on area farms, where they were put to work to alleviate the severe wartime work shortage.

The first section of the documentary tells the story of the Germans’ arrival in Florence and other South Carolina cities, the relationships that sprang up as a result, and the various reactions local residents had to their presence.

The second 30-minute section of the documentary centers on Texas, which had more German POW camps than any other state. In particular, this portion of the documentary focuses on Hearne, Texas, site of one of the largest German POW camps in the country.

Hearne, like most German POW camps, was an early test of the Geneva Convention. When the German POW camps were built, the Convention was new and untested. American military officials hoped that if the U.S. observed the convention strictly, American soldiers in German custody would be similarly well treated.

The story would ultimately turn out differently in Germany.

But in this country, German soldiers were generally treated quite well, such that some German POWs went on to become important U.S. allies.

“The story of German POWs in America, on the whole, is a success story,” Jones said. “It is a story of unlikely friendships and an early success for the still-new Geneva Convention that helped sow the seed for future German-American cooperation.”

German POWs who spent time in this country would go on to become important business leaders. One even went on to lead the United Nations. But the story of the German POWs in America is also a complex story, with episodes of darkness, including murder.

“This documentary will help enrich listeners’ understanding of life on the World War II home front by bringing this rich moment in history to vivid life,” Jones said. “The story of German POWs in America, and the way they touched peoples’ lives across the South, is a fascinating tale about an important period in our history.

“The moment to tell this story is now, while some of the eyewitnesses are still with us. We look forward to bringing listeners this compelling tale about a moment when two warring cultures came into intimate contact.”

Sponsored by the Southern Documentary Fund and the East Texas Historical Association, “Enemy Lines” is supported by a grant by the Humanities Council of South Carolina.

The completed 60-minute documentary will air on public radio in winter 2011/2012, will be supported by its own website and will also be featured on the Southern Documentary Fund website.

Jones, meanwhile, is a former staff writer for the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. She has also worked as a stringer for Time Magazine and had pieces published in, among others, The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun.

Jones has produced radio stories for “All Things Considered,” “Morning Edition,” World Vision Report, American Public Media, WUNC-FM and others.

Deborah George is the editor of the documentary. She has worked as an editor and reporter for the nation’s most respected public radio programs, and has filed stories from Asia, Africa and South America. Her current work includes “The Hunger Chronicles,” a multimedia collaboration between Homelands Productions and Magnum Photos. She also edits the prize-winning “RadioDiaries” series, which has aired on NPR’s “All Things Considered” since 1996.

She has also worked as an editor and producer at NPR News, working on “Morning Edition,” “Weekend Edition” and “Tell Me More,” as well as the NPR national, cultural and foreign