Stalag Luft 1
Barth, Germany
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This is the story of my adventure across the world to see where my grandfather was in prison camp for many months during WWI. (It's a good story)
The day before the three of us decided to go to Berlin, I was trying to figure out how I could get to Barth, Germany where my grandfather was in Prison Camp during WWII. He was shot down while flying a bomber over Germany, jumped out of his plane and landed safely. He and others from his plane hiked for some time until they were captured by the Germans. During his stay at Stalag Luft 1, he kept a secret journal of sort with paper that was supplied by the Queen of England. "Papa," as we call him, wrote down everything in this book on life in prison camp. He rated 1 thru 5 every one of the two hundred-some books he read, drew grids of the camp and cells, explained bargaining techniques with cigarettes and guards, wrote stories of friends being shot in the head in front of him during an air raid and told many stories prison camp life. The journal that he kept is about 150 pages long and each one of his children and grandchildren have a bound copy thanks to my Aunt Nancy.
I was very excited about the possibility of visiting Papa's prison camp but as time approached and as we got closer to Germany, it didn't look as if I would be able to do it. I didn't know if I could catch a train to Barth so I looked into renting a car. That was a problem because no tourist office I called in the northern part of Germany spoke English. The other problem was that I didn't realize where the prison camp was until, literally, a day before I got there. I thought that Barth was near Cologne so the three of us were Cologne-bound the last day in Amsterdam until the last minute when we caught a night train to Berlin.
The night train was really an experience. The little
cabin that we got was awesome. On top of that, I had some DVD's so the
three of us watched "American Pie." Boy was that great.
The cabin looks small but there was plenty of room for the three of us to relax
and watch the movie. The three seats on the ground folded into a bed and
there were two more that folded out from the wall above us.
Right
behind Cassidy was where we put the computer and had a night at the movies.
The train left at about 9:00pm at night and arrived at 6:40am the next morning. We all slept very well and were ready to go in Berlin the next morning. We got into Berlin that next morning and I looked into getting a train to Barth. I was excited to find that there was a train that could bring me right into Barth. It left at 8:40 and would arrive in Barth at about 12:30pm. The last returning trip was at 7:10 so I would have plenty of time to figure out where I was going. Great! I could also use one of my ten Eurail passes so the trip wouldn't cost me anything.
Unfortunately, the train to Neutrelitz was 20 minutes late
and I wasn't able catch the connector to Stralsund. I walked to the train
information station and not a person spoke English. I somehow figured
out the schedule that was in German and made my way to Stralusund. The
train ride was actually very nice because I was able to plug in my computer
and finish up my Amsterdam pages. 
When I arrived in Stralsund, there was a big DB (Die Bahn is the German rail
company) party with Hawaiian singers singing some hoola song. I bought
a German dictionary because I figured that there would be very few people at
the tip of Germany that would speak English. I called home to my mom and
aunt to get some info on where to go when I reached the area. (Nana, of
course I tried to call you but it was 8am CT and I knew you were up partying
the night before.)
I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to when I reached Barth, I figured that
the town was small enough and I could hopefully find the tourist office.
An hour later I got on a train that would arrive in Barth
around 3 o'clock. I had four hours to see as much as I could.
Pulling out the German dictionary, I started to write down as many words as I
would need in the next three hours. It was really quite funny.
The train that I took to Barth was old and only had two cars. However,
the view was spectacular. I was in north Germany, in the middle
of nowhere.
The train came to a halt and I had finally made it.
18 hours earlier I had been in Amsterdam and had been traveling ever
since. 6 hours ago I was in Berlin, a city which I hadn't given a second
thought to on my way to northern Germany. But here I was, and I was
pumped. This is a map of exactly where I was. What was I doing here?
The train station was all I needed. It came right
out of a movie and probably hadn't been touched since the 40's. What a
great start.
The town was even better!