by Marilyn Walton

WWII Eighth Air Force historian and US POW expert, Marilyn Walton, has generously shared her expertise with the VBC over the past year. Marilyn served as an advisor on the Apple TV + series Masters of the Air. Below is a story she shared about one POW friend of her, Irving Baum.

B-17 Bombardier Irving Baum landed at Stalag Luft III at Sagan in present-day Poland, at exactly the wrong time. It was March 25, 1944. The Great Escape had just happened that morning, and the Germans were in no mood for gentle handling of new POWs, especially Jewish ones like Irving.

Irving had been shot down northeast of Paris on March 16, 1944 and captured within two hours by the French Civil Police, who turned him over to a German officer of 10,000 francs.

When the officer found out Irving was Jewish, he beat Irving so badly the airman a tough time walking.

From France, Irving was taken by train to the Dulag Luft (short for Durchgangslager der Luftwaffe, “Transit Camp of the Airforce”) near Frankfurt. The Dulag Luft was a collection center for newly-captured Allied airmen, where prisoners would be interrogated and processed for transfer for a permanent camp.

At the Dulag Luft, demanded Irving confess to being a spy. At one point, guards woke him up and marched him in front of a firing squad. Instead of the firing squad, Irving got kicked and returned to his cell.

Dulag Luft was the target of ferocious Allied bombings while he was there, and when Irving left Frankfurt, there was still smoke rising from rubble.

Stalag Luft III was in a frenzy when he arrived. 76 Allied POWs had escaped through a 300-foot tunnel codenamed “Harry.” Adolf Hitler was livid with rage, and ordered that all escapees be shot when captured. Tensions in the camp were electric between guards and prisoners.

Irving and other new arrivals were ordered to chairs at the end of a room in a building near the camp. On the other side of the room sat German guards who reviewed prisoner ID cards sent to them from Dulag Luft. Normally, the cards were complete, but this set had blanks due to the disruptions caused by the bombings days before. The guards at Stalag Luft III set to work filling in the missing information.

A guard stepped up to Irving and handed him his card, which Irving had never seen. The card contained Irving’s mother’s address, but the line marked “Religion” was blank.

Irving was given a pen and told to fill in the blanks. As the German private watched, Irving started to write the word “Jewish” in the blank for religion. He only got a “J” down when the German soldiers subtly got Irving’s attention and shook his head “no.”

The soldier was discreet, and his slight headshake went unnoticed by others in the room. Irving was puzzled, but he assumed that he should have written an “H” for “Hebrew” instead as it showed on his dog tags.

Irving’s hand moved close to the card again to continue. But just then the private stopped him and took his pen. Where Irving had clearly written the J, the German wrote over it to turn the “J” into a “P.” Then, he finished the abbreviation “Prot.,” for “Protestant.”

Without saying a word, this German answered a higher calling in a country whose official policy was the elimination of the Jewish population.  He had endangered himself to save Irving.

Irving went on to survive the next 13 months and 13 days as a prisoner in Germany before his liberation by Patton’s Army on April 29, 1945.