Santa Cruz Valley Searches
Do you have Arizona history or genealogy questions you would like help with?
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Santa Cruz Valley Searches
Do you have Arizona history or genealogy questions you would like help with?
Please send them to info@SantaCruzValleyHistory so we can post them for community feedback.
Research Request from Germany
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I am researching my family history regarding a former German World War II Prisoner of War, Herbert Barthel (born January 21, 1926, in Carlsbrunn, Germany).
According to military records, he was interned at Camp Florence, Arizona, with the Prisoner of War Serial Number 92303. During the year 1944, he worked as a laborer picking Pima cotton in Arizona and we believe he was stationed either at the main camp or at Camp Continental (Sahuarita).
During his time working on a local cotton plantation in 1944, he fathered a child with an American citizen (likely a farmer’s daughter or a local agricultural worker).
I was just a child when I saw my dad crying, hidden behind a book. When I asked what was wrong, he told me that he had been a prisoner of war in Arizona and had fathered a child with a farmer's daughter there and that he was thinking of her at that moment. I am no longer certain today whether the farmer's daughter's name was June or if the child was given the name of June. We were living in the former East Germany at the time and one couldn't speak openly about such things there.
In 1980, we were allowed to emigrate to West Germany; I was 11 years old then. Shortly before my dad passed away, he told me again about his time in Arizona and the daughter he never really got to know. We never really probed for details because my dad always cried when talking about it. Unfortunately, that is all I know. I wish I could tell my sister that our dad always thought of her.
NOTE of Clarification:
POW records indicate that Herbert was moved a number of times. His son feels certain that his half-sister was born in Arizona. I see nothing to indicate that he was at our Camp Continental. Below is a summary of his movements:
10 September 1944 to 14 March 1945, Camp Florence in Coolidge, Arizona so an AZ Child would have been born May 1945 to December 1945
17 March 1945 to 8 September 1945, Camp Roberts near Paso Robles, California so a CA Child would have been born November 1945 to June 1946
10 September 1945 to 21 December 1945 to Camp Rupert near Paul, Idaho so and ID Child would have been born May 1946 to September 1946
21 December 1945 to 20 February 1946 to Camp Stockton in Stockton, California so a CA Child would have been born August 1946 to November 1946