The Dulag Luft Interrogation

Jim Hoel’s interrogation center was called "Durchgangslager der Luftwaffe" or "Transit Camp of the Luftwaffe". Eventually, it came to be called "Dulag Luft" by the Allied airmen who “passed” thought it. Nearly all captured airmen went through the Dulag Luft where they were held for indeterminate periods in solitary confinement and subject to a sophisticated German interrogation process. There is an excellent website that has gathered information about POWs and includes a link to “The Interrogators” which describes in powerful detail the role this “transit stop”, played in the War. The site is called “Stalug Luft I Online” and can be located at http://www.merkki.com. It has also been added as a permanent link to our Blog.

An important point to remember is that, Jim and the other B-26 Marauder airmen brought to Dulag Luft, were the very first prisoners from a B-26 ever to arrive at the site. The first European B-26 mission was conducted on May 14, 1943. Every plane made it back from that mission. The May 17, 1943 mission was very different, all but one of the eleven planes were shot down and Jim’s B-26 Marauder was one of the first. It was therefore very important for the German interrogators to learn as much as they could about these planes and their strategies and tactics.

After days of solitary confinement for Jim, people started coming in. The first was a very nice guy. He was in a German uniform with a red cross on his sleeve and he said he was sure that Jim was concerned about his parents and that if he were in Jim’s position, he would be concerned also. He said that they wanted to notify Jim’s parents just as soon as possible that he was a prisoner of war and not “missing in action”. So he said, "Just fill out this form and then I'll take it and I can notify your parents immediately." Well, Jim and the others were under strict orders to give only their name, rank and serial number. (Jim adds that early on in the war some of the men got dog tags and he doesn’t know if it was a mistake or not, but anyway, the tag had Jim’s home address on it. That will come into play later in an extraordinary way.).

Jim filled out his name, rank and serial number and put the pen down and the German said, "I've got to have more information." Then he started quizzing Jim, "Where were you flying from? How many planes were there in your formation?" Jim said he could say no more. "Well," he said, "I'll try to do what I can, but without that information I'm not sure I can get this information through to your parents." And with that, he left. He was a nice guy, but he left Jim wondering if his folks would ever find out that he was a prisoner of war. That was the whole name of the game - just get your mind going.

They served Jim the same old boiled potatoes and hard dark bread and "ersatz" coffee. That was about the extent of his food, with a bowl of soup occasionally. The third day a Gestapo-type officer entered. He was just a tough and mean guy. He said, "Now, there's some information I want from you. I want to know where you were flying from." He asked Jim a lot of questions and after receiving no answers said, "Never mind, you don't have to answer any of them. I have the answers to all of those things anyway." And Jim thought, "Ha, the wise acre."

Another day or so went by and in came the same Gestapo officer. He said, "I know you were flying out of Bury Saint Edmond and I asked you where you took your training and I know you took it in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I know you left for overseas from West Palm Beach, Florida. We have all that information, so I don't need any information from you."

But he kept coming back to, "What kind of formation were you flying in?" And obviously, that was what they were trying to find out because they had never, to this point, interrogated anyone from a B-26. Jim didn't tell him and that was the end of that. The Red Cross worker came in a couple of times again and talked to Jim and he was always quite nice. Jim and the others were there about seven days.

At the end of seven days of solitary confinement, Jim was taken out and met again with his compatriots, including the P47 fighter pilot. They were taken to an area outside of the building, sort of a little rendezvous point. There they were met with maybe 25 or 30 British officers, American officers and guys that had been interned the same way that they had been. They were all waiting there now to go on to a permanent prison camp or so they thought.

After all of those days of being alone, having nobody to talk with, Jim can’t express the joy of meeting all of those guys and talking with them. Incidentally, they had cigarettes, so they all had a cigarette for the first time in a long time. They had some chocolate bars out of Red Cross parcels. They had something to eat.

It was absolutely like a party.


Tomorrow – An Unlikely Reunion