AMERICAN PRISONERS OF WAR IN GERMANY
Prepared by MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE, WAR DEPARTMENT 15 July 1944
OFLAG 64
STRENGTH
477 officers, 52 E.M., all Ground Force.
LOCATION
Pin-point: 53°00'30" North latitude 17°44'30" East longitude. Camp is situated 2 miles Northwest of the railroad station in Atlburgand (new German name for old Polish town of Schubin) on a cobblestone road.
DESCRIPTION
Camp area, 300 x 200 yards, is surrounded by 2 barbed wire fences. It contains large, three-story, stone building formerly a Polish college and 3 brick and concrete barracks. Within enclosure are theater, sports field, chapel, infirmary, canteen, huts for classes and several unused barracks fenced off by barbed wire.
TREATMENT
Correct
FOOD
Ps/W subsist only because of weekly receipt of Red Cross food parcel by each. German ration is insufficient in quality and quantity to maintain life in a person normally active. (Authority: U.S.A. Quartermaster dietitian.)
CLOTHING
German issue no clothing. Sole supply is from the Red Cross. Because of shortages and transportation difficulties Ps/W suffered last winter in region's severe cold. Supply has since improved.
HEALTH
Adequate medical care is provided by the 8 American medical officers and 1 dentist, though material is needed for permanent fillings. Bathing and washing facilities are satisfactory. Health is generally good, due largely to American Senior Officer's insistence on sports programs designed to maintain physical fitness "so that when we're released we can fight Japan." Twenty patients are in the camp's 30-bed hospital, most of them suffering stomach ulcers probably induced by the heavy German bread that forms a large part of the German ration.
RELIGION
Interdenominational as well as Roman Catholic services are conducted. There is no German interference.
PERSONNEL
American Senior Officer: Colonel Thomas D. Drake.
Executive Officer: Lt. Col. John K. Waters.
Adjutant: Major Merle A. Meacham.
Dentist: Captain Paul G. Jacobs.
Interpreter: Lt. Edgar P. Moschel.
German Commandant: Oberstlt. Le Viseur.
Officer Ps/W are permitted to write the standard 3 letters, 4 postcards per month and E.M. 2 letters, 4 postcards. There is no limit on the number they may receive. Transit time for all letter, including airmail, from the U.S. is erratic, varying between 30 and 90 days. Airmail from camp takes 6 weeks, surface mail 9 weeks. Next-of-kin and tobacco parcels are 2 to 3 months in transit. Occasionally they are pilfered.
RECREATION
Athletics include baseball, basketball, football, softball, volleyball, ice skating, table tennis, ice hockey, occasional parole walks. Equipment has been sent by Y.M.C.A. Studies in a variety of classical and technical subjects are conducted by competent P/W instructors. Hobbies include painting, embroidering, woodcarving, gardening. Public address system enables Ps/W to stage shows and hear German music and news. Occasional movies, art exhibits, glee club, choir, minstrels, a phonograph and a few records offer additional diversion. Camp library has 1,600 books and Ps/W publish a newspaper.
WORK
Officers do not work. E.M. are orderlies.
PAY
Officers are paid on a sliding scale according to rank, with lieutenants receiving 60 marks a month. From this 22 marks are deducted for food and 10 for orderly service. What remains is of small value because canteen has virtually nothing for sale but weak beer.
