[The following is taken from Otto Giese’s memoir, Shooting the War: The Memoir and Photographs of a U-Boat Officer in World War II. Here, the author, Otto Giese, is just finishing his journey of repatriation back to Germany well after the war’s conclusion.]
I passed the German border at Bentheim and there was transferred to a cattle car, which brought me to the general collecting camp at Munsterlager. Here the situation was depressing in ever respect. The food was scarce and hardly eatable. While we awaited processing we had to clear mines outside the camp.
I still have in my possession a small English Bible that was given to me by a friend at Featherstone Park. He was repatriated a short time after I left the park. I received a letter from his wife later informing me that he had los this life at Munsterlager clearing mines. He had survived the bitter war in Russia and was killed just a few days before he was to arrive home.
Source:
Giese, Otto, and James E. Wise. “Prisoner of War and Repatriation.” Shooting the War: The Memoir and Photographs of a U-Boat Officer in World War II. Naval Institute, 2003. 253-54. Print.
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