Richard Widmark: A Princeton legend

Richard Widmark is in the drama "True Confessions" for NBC radio and the comedy "Ethel and Albert" on ABC radio during the summer of 1944 in New York City. He and his wife, Jean, are living in Bronxville, N.Y., and Richard is commuting into the city. He would be starring in "Trio" on stage at New York City's the Belasco Theater starting in December. His brother, Donald Widmark, is interned as POW No. O686522 at Stalag Luft I, Barth, Germany. Their mother, Ethel Mae, is living in Los Angeles, Calif., and their father, Carl, is in Lima, Ohio.

Widmark’s classmate and friend, Gail Castner, is still a civilian flight instructor in the Army Air Corps Reserve at Randolph Field in Schertz, Texas, in the summer of 1944. His family is living nearby in Dallinger, Texas. His brother, Max Castner, is interned as POW No. O682976 at Stalag Luft I, Barth, Germany. Their parents, Frank and Jennie, are still in Princeton at 206 S. First St.

Stalag Luft I was a German World War II prisoner of war camp near Barth, Germany, for captured Allied airmen. The presence of the prison camp is said to have shielded the town from Allied bombing. Approximately 9,000 airmen (7,588 American and 1,351 British and Canadian) were imprisoned there during the war. The population of Barth was around 8,000.

The most striking view in Barth is the old church, the St. Marien Church, which was built in the early 17th Century, originally as a Catholic church, but later it became the Protestant church of the town. There are grave markers on the floor of the church dating back as early as 1607. These are the “brasses,” and the burials under them are vertical. You can view the church from miles away, and the men living in captivity could see it in the distance. One can only imagine how they would feel, being able to see the outline of the steeple. It is almost certain that faith would have helped them to survive, and the view of the steeple was a constant reminder that could provide solace; a house of worship from behind barbed wire. Max Castner and Donald Widmark, like many others at Stalag Luft I, found this solace gazing at the landmark that was an island of tranquility for the captive body and freedom for the mind.

The Stalag was divided into five separate compounds: South or West, North 1, North 2, North 3, and 'The Oasis," the fifth area for the Germans. The camp had an L-shape appearance which followed the natural contours of the bay on which the camp was situated. Guard towers were placed at each corner of the compound and midway along each side. The compounds were intercommunicating, and the gates were closed at all times after the spring of 1944.

There was a guard wire that ran around the perimeter of the camp and two barrier fences. The barrier fences, capped with rolls of barbed wire, were approximately 12 feet tall. The two barrier fences were separated by a distance of 8 to 10 feet, and filled with rolls of barbed wire. If you approached the guard wire, you were told to halt. If you crossed the wire, the guards would fire on you. The camp was designed in such a way that it was difficult to find an area concealed from view of, at least, one of the guard towers. The barracks formed another perimeter inside the fencing and guard wire. There was a space between the back of the barracks and the guard wire that allowed a prisoner to walk around the barrack complex. The interior of the barrack’s perimeter formed a large quadrangle where they had roll call formations.

Each barracks contained triple-tiered wooden beds equipped with mattresses filled with wood chips. A communal day room was set aside in almost every barracks, but equipment was negligible. Lighting was inadequate throughout the camp, and the shutters remained closed from 2100 to 0600 hours. Ventilation was entirely insufficient. In addition to the buildings for housing, North 1 and West compounds contained: 1 kitchen barrack, 1 theater room, 1 church room, 1 library and 1 study room each. These were used by all compounds because no other facilities were available. Maintenance of the buildings was completely lacking, in spite of the fact that the officers volunteered to take care of many of the repairs if furnished the necessary equipment. Stoves for heating and cooking varied in each compound, except that facilities in all compounds were inadequate. Many of the buildings were not weather proof, and the extremely cold climate of Northern Germany made living conditions more difficult for the POW. The stoves were  immense and porcelain tile-covered. Each room was allotted 14 lumps of coal per day, not nearly enough to keep them warm, and the barracks were not insulated. You slept in your clothes and had only a single, thin, gray blanket. There was one ceiling lamp (electrical) which was turned out at about 2200 (10 p.m.) each night.

There was one small 8-inch-14-inch window at the top of the exterior wall, which was left open at all times for ventilation purposes. There were two other windows in the outside wall with heavy, wooden shutters that were locked one hour before sunset and unlocked one hour after sunrise. Max and Donald were in the West or South compound.

The POWs had two duties; To stand roll call in the morning around 1000 hours and again approximately one and one-half hours before sunset. The guards counted the prisoners to see that no one had escaped or died during the night after the morning roll call, and then after the second roll call they were locked in the barracks for the night.

It would be a story in itself to tell of the sanitary conditions, the escape attempts, the tunnel digging, the poor diet with food that contained bugs and worms, the hidden radio for BBC broadcast, playing chess all in your head without board or men, and even the moonshine stills constructed using Red Cross dried fruit to convert to alcohol. The POWs received Black bread that was baked in Barth. One loaf per person per week. Each loaf weighed over two pounds. The filler used was sawdust. The German people and guards ate the same thing. The bread became rarer as the Germans continued to lose the war.

Men in captivity under harsh conditions could do anything. The POWs always had mind problems trying to cope. One of the prisoners had captured a fly. He put a long length of thread around the fly’s body and cut off little bits of the thread until the weight of the thread was reduced to the weight that the fly could lift, so he could control it — a pet. Little things like this went on all the time. Things to keep your mind right. Max Castner had the church steeple. Donald Widmark had his headaches. It was a life of tension. Tension even to the day of liberation and the end of the war

There were larger tensions building between Russia and the Allied Forces. On April 30, 1945, the prisoners were ordered to evacuate the camp in the face of the advancing Red Army. The prisoners refused. There were negotiations. The guards left the camp, and when the Russians arrived, they treated the POWs well. The fate of the POWs was uncertain. The Russians finally gave permission for the POWs to be evacuated by air. The 8th Air Force flew into Barth and rescued the POWs in a massive airlift called “Operation Revival.” The Russians had liberated the camp on May 1 and on May 12,13 and 14, 1945, approximately 9,000 prisoners of war at Stalag Luft I were flown out of Barth, Germany, and back into Allied control.

Max Castner and Donald Widmark were released on May 13, 1945, and were flown to Camp Lucky Strike in Le Harve, France, arriving on June 5, 1945. Royal Air Force POWs were flown back to England, and the American POWs in Le Harve were processed and waited for a liberty ship to return to the states. Max Castner and Donald Widmark were heading home. Life after the war next time ...