REAL PEOPLE
SEAMEN
Werner Ahrens, Enemy Alien
Dad's Story: Werner Ahrens, Enemy Alien written by his oldest daughter, Shirley Weiss November 20, 2005 My father died in 1957 at age 45. Because of his early death, he took his internment story to his grave. Perhaps he signed an oath of secrecy like other internees,...
Distressed Seamen or Internees?
On January 19, 1939, having scuttled their boat off Cuba to avoid its capture by the British, German sailors from the luxury liner, the S.S. Columbus, were brought to Angel Island, California, March 1, 1940. At first these internees were labeled “distressed seamen...
German Sailors on the High Desert: a WW II Detention Camp at Fort Stanton
"German Sailors on the High Desert: A WW II Detention Camp at Fort Stanton" was written by Tomas Jaehn, an historian who works as archivist and librarian at the Fray Angélico Chávez History Library, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Published for El Palacio, the oldest museum...
Interned: Internment of the SS Columbus crew at Fort Stanton, New Mexico 1941-1945
McBride, James J., 2003—The first residents of the Fort Stanton Internment Camp, New Mexico, were the German crew of the German luxury liner Columbus, who arrived in 1939, after scuttling their ship off the coast of Cuba.