Stalag Luft III Mess Spoon

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Upon the United States’ entry into World War 2, a monumental bombing campaign was launched against Nazi Germany. During this campaign, thousands of bombers were flown from Britain to Germany by the United States Army Air Corps. Whereas the British bombed the Germans at night, the Americans opted to bomb during the day for greater accuracy. This also made the Americans much easier to shoot down, resulting in roughly 8,000 US bombers being lost in these raids.

One of the bombers lost over Germany was a B-17 crewed by young airmen named Max Pinkerton. Max survived the ordeal but was taken prisoner by the Germans and transferred to the prison camp, Stalag Luft III.

Stalag Luft III was different from the prison camps we’ve come to expect from Nazi Germany. The Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, ran this camp. As such, most of the prisoners interned there were airmen. The camp was built in 1942 near the town of Sagan. This location was chosen for its sandy ground, making it difficult for prisoners to tunnel out. Food in the camp was a challenge, but the prisoners were able to maintain a decent caloric intake from Red Cross parcels and occasionally packages sent by the POWs’ families. This and the surprisingly good recreation program in the camp might make you think being a POW in Nazi Germany wasn’t so bad.

You’d be wrong. Many of the camp guards were men who were too old or too handicapped to fight on the front lines. Therefore, they had to use fear to keep the prisoners in line. The guards had a tendency for brutality, inspiring two major escapes. The first one was in 1943 and the second, much larger escape, was in 1944.

Despite the Luftwaffe’s measures to make digging escape tunnels impossible, both were achieved with escape tunnels. These tunnels were supported by wooden boards taken from bed frames and dug with spoons stolen from the mess hall. Although Max Pinkerton was not one of the escapees, he kept one of the spoons, and it later found its way into our collection.

Stalag Luft III was maintained all the way to Germany’s surrender. In the later months of the war, a large Gestapo presence grew in the camp. Being the secret police of the Nazi Party, the Gestapo arrived to investigate the 1944 escape. German General Arthur Nebe was known in the camp for executing prisoners. Ironically, he was never charged for this, having instead been executed by the Nazis for taking part in the July 20th plot to kill Adolf Hitler.

The camp was promptly shut down, but parts of it still stand today. It acts as a memorial and museum and even has the escape tunnels dug by prisoners mapped out for guests to see the immense effort that went into the plot.