KLB Club

KLB Club pin designed by the airmen while detained in Buchenwald

The KLB Club (initials for Konzentrationslager Buchenwald) was formed on 12 October 1944, and included the 168 allied airmen who were held prisoner at Buchenwald concentration camp between 20 August and 19 October 1944.[1][2] 166 airmen survived Buchenwald, while two died of sickness at the camp.[3][4]

Background

As allied air forces took control of the skies over Europe in the summer of 1944, Adolf Hitler ordered the immediate execution of allied flyers accused of committing certain acts.[4] The most common act was to be captured in civilian clothing and/or without their dog tags by the Gestapo or Secret Police.[5] These airmen had been shot down mainly over France, but also over Belgium and the Netherlands and were turned over to the Gestapo and Secret Police – by traitors within the French Resistance – while attempting to reach England along escape routes such as the Comet and Pat Line.[6] A notable traitor within the French Resistance was Jacques Desoubrie, who was responsible for betraying a significant number of allied airmen to the German authorities.[3][5][7]

These captured airmen were given the name "Terrorflieger" (terror flyers), and were not given a trial.[4][8] The German Foreign Office however, expressed concern about shooting prisoners of war (POWs) and suggested that enemy airmen suspected of such offenses not be given the legal status of POWs. Following this advice, the Gestapo and Security Police informed these captured allied airmen that they were criminals and spies.[2][4] Using this justification, 168 allied airmen from Great Britain, United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Jamaica were taken by train – in overcrowded cattle boxcars – from Fresnes Prison outside Paris, to Buchenwald concentration camp.[9] After five days in the boxcars, they arrived at Buchenwald on 20 August 1944.[1][3][8]

Buchenwald

Main article: Phil Lamason
Nationalities of the 168 airmen[1][10][11]
United States 82 American
United Kingdom 48 British
Canada 26 Canadian
Australia 9 Australian
New Zealand 2 New Zealander
Jamaica 1 Jamaican

Buchenwald was a forced labour camp of about 60,000 inmates of mainly Russian POWs, but also common criminals, religious prisoners (including Jews), and various political prisoners from Germany, France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.[12] For the first three weeks at Buchenwald, the prisoners were totally shaven, denied shoes and forced to sleep outside without shelter in one of Buchenwald's sub-camps, known as 'Little Camp'.[12] Most airmen doubted they would ever get out of Buchenwald because their documents were stamped with the acronym "DIKAL" (Darf in kein anderes Lager), or "not to be transferred to another camp".[13]

In late 1944 a rumor crossed inspector of day fighters Colonel Hannes Trautloft's desk that a large number of Allied airmen were being held at Buchenwald.[14] Trautloft decided to visit the camp and see for himself under the pretence of inspecting aerial bomb damage near the camp. Trautloft was about to leave the camp when captured US airman Bernard Scharf called out to him in fluent German from behind a fence. The SS guards tried to intervene, but Trautloft pointed out that he out-ranked them and made them stand back. Scharf explained that he was one of more than 160 allied airmen imprisoned at the camp and begged Trautloft to rescue him and the other airmen.[14] Trautloft's adjutant also spoke to the group's commanding officer, Phil Lamason.[15] Disturbed by the event, Trautloft returned to Berlin and began the process to have the airmen transferred out of Buchenwald.[16] Seven days before their scheduled execution, the airmen were taken by train by the Luftwaffe to Stalag Luft III.[17]

To address the constant stress, long appells (roll calls), boredom, insecurity and apprehension, it was decided amongst the 168 airmen to hold formal meetings to give them a sense of purpose and order.[3] Thus, the exclusive KLB Club came into existence with several chapters; Canada, United States, Great Britain, and Australia/New Zealand.[2] Elected representatives of each nationality held separate meetings to collate the previously scattered efforts of those who had proposed address lists, meetings after the war and other pursuits. The meetings at Buchenwald displayed the 168 airmen's militariness and solidarity, forming a bond that brings them together more than 60 years after the liberation of Buchenwald.[2][3]

At one meeting, it was agreed to design a club pin. The winning design, put forward by Bob Taylor from Great Britain, showed a naked, winged foot, symbolising the airmen's barefoot condition while in the concentration camp. The foot is chained to a ball bearing the letters KLB, with the whole mounted on a white star, which was the crest of the Allied invasion forces.[3] Canadian airman, Willie Walderam, also wrote the poem titled, A Reflection, about Buchenwald[1] (see below). On the night of 19 October, 156 of the 168 airmen were transferred from Buchenwald to Stalag Luft III by the Luftwaffe. Two airmen died from sickness at Buchenwald, while the remaining 10 were transported in small groups, over a period of several weeks.[1]

In the book 168 Jump Into Hell, the purpose of the KLB Club was described as being to perpetuate the comradeship already shown by the flying personnel of Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada, by the interchanging of pamphlets, ideas and visits.[1] More than 30 years later, in 1979, 4 Canadian KLB members made the first serious attempt to trace all club members.[7] Of the original 168 members, only 28 have not been located or accounted for.[1]

KLB Club members

Poem

Walderam, Willie, A Reflection [1] R.C.A.F. KLB 78402

I'll think of you dear KLB
Again some future day,
When the world is gay and free
And I am so far away.

Of those long appells in pouring rain
With neither boots nor shoes,
And the SS guards who counted us
Hitting whom they choose.

When I bounce my children on my knee
I'll think of the Gypsy kids,
Who, instead of wearing ball and chain,
Should have been wearing bibs.

When I Lay in my cosy bed at night
I'll think of your hard boards,
With a single blanket to cover us,
And fleas and lice in hordes.

Ironically, I'll think of how
You took our dog-tags from us,
'Nix soldat-civil' you said,
Smiling fanatically at us.

Yes, you gave us soup and enough black bread
To etch out a mere existence,
Enough to keep us wanting more
And weaken our resistance

How two of our number lost their lives
For lack of medical aid;
You wouldn't even give them food
To help save them from the grave

And then: after eight weeks spent in your filthy soul,
Which seemed to me like years,
The Luftwaffe came, took us away,
I felt like shedding tears

And so to all you Konzentrators,
A toast I offer thee;
Here's wishing you a happy life,
And to Hell with KLB

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kinnis & Booker 1999.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 McDonald, Joanne (2005), "POW survives horrors of Buchenwald concentration camp", The Flamborough Review, retrieved 2010-08-18.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Burgess 1995.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Army Air Forces Victims of the Holocaust, National Museum of the US Air Force, retrieved 2010-07-29.
  5. 1 2 Childers, Thomas (2004), In the Shadows of War, New York: Henry Holt & Co, ISBN 0-8050-5752-8, OCLC 50559805.
  6. ↑ Prisoners of War in the Second World War, Veterans Affairs Canada, retrieved 2010-07-29.
  7. 1 2 Harvie, John (1995), Missing in Action, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, ISBN 0-7735-1350-7, OCLC 34558799.
  8. 1 2 Moser, Joe (2008). Buchenwald Flyboy: Chapter 8. Retrieved on 2010-07-24.
  9. ↑ Moser & Baron 2009.
  10. ↑ Recognizing and commending American airmen held as political prisoners at the Buchenwald concentration camp (PDF), 105th Congress, 1997, retrieved 11 January 2009.
  11. ↑ Stein, Harry (2004), Buchenwald Concentration Camp 1937–1945, Wallstein, p. 171, ISBN 3-89244-695-4, OCLC 61263627.
  12. 1 2 Marshall, Bruce (2000), The White Rabbit, London: Cassell, pp. 193–94, ISBN 0-304-35697-2, OCLC 59575058.
  13. ↑ Bard, Mitchell (2004), The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War II, Alpha, pp. 259–60, ISBN 1-59257-204-9, OCLC 43803305.
  14. 1 2 Makos, Adam (2013), A higher call, New York: Berkley, pp. 316–18, ISBN 978-0-42525286-4, OCLC 791682283.
  15. ↑ Moser & Baron 2009, p. 122.
  16. ↑ Burgess 1995, p. 133.
  17. ↑ Kinnis & Booker 1999, p. 176.
  18. ↑ "A flier is remembered", News, RNZAF (93), June–July 2008, retrieved 2010-09-26.
  19. 1 2 Lancaster LM575, UK: Lost Bombers During World War II, retrieved 2010-10-17.
  20. 1 2 Halifax LV880 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-16
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Part 5, Chapter 7: Anzac POW sent to Buchenwald", ANZAC Prisoners of War, retrieved 2010-09-26.
  22. ↑ "Keith Cyril Mills", The Daily Mercury (obituary), Legacy, retrieved 2012-02-27.
  23. 1 2 3 Lancaster ND424 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-16
  24. ↑ "Leslie Faircloth – Evasion from France 1944", History: WW2 People's War, BBC, retrieved 2010-09-29.
  25. ↑ Redpath, Laura, "Air Jamaica celebrates for the last time", The Jamaica Gleaner, retrieved 2010-09-29.
  26. 1 2 Halifax LK866 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-17
  27. ↑ Harold Bastable, The Memory Project Digital Archive, retrieved 2012-02-27.
  28. 1 2 Lancaster LM621 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-17
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 Lancaster KB727 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-17
  30. 1 2 3 4 Halifax LW120 Information. Lost Bomber During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-16
  31. ↑ Halifax LW123 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-17
  32. 1 2 Halifax LW582 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-17
  33. ↑ Lancaster ME668 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-16
  34. ↑ "Canadian war hero Arthur Kinnis spent life fighting for veterans", iPolitics News, February 6, 2011, retrieved 2011-12-02.
  35. 1 2 3 4 Halifax LW143 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-16
  36. 1 2 Lancaster ME805 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-17
  37. ↑ Lancaster LM480 Information. Lost Bombers during World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-16
  38. ↑ "TH Blackham", Obituaries, Central Flying School Association, retrieved 2010-09-26.
  39. 1 2 3 Halifax MZ630 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-17
  40. 1 2 Halifax LV790 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-16
  41. ↑ Lancaster ND533 Information. Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-10-16
  42. ↑ Blundell, Nigel (November 7, 2011). Sacrafice [sic] of Britain's Bomber Boys. The Daily Express. Retrieved 2011-11-10
  43. ↑ Robb, Ian (16 May 2009), Own Story, QMUL, retrieved 2011-12-03.
  44. ↑ Lancaster ND921 Information (2009). Lost Bombers During World War II. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
  45. ↑ Splinter Adolphe Spierenburg (PDF) (in Dutch), NL: Planet, pp. 5–8, retrieved 2010-09-25.
  46. ↑ "Bill to compel rail firms to admit Holocaust role advances", The Los Angeles Times, retrieved 2011-06-05.
  47. ↑ Elmer C. Freeman (obituary), Tributes, retrieved 2013-01-06.
  48. ↑ Oppmann, Patrick (2009). World War II vet honored 60-plus years later for bombing mission CNN International. January 30, 2009. Retrieved 2010-10-16
  49. ↑ Michael R. Petrich Obituary. Legacy.com. Retrieved 2015-01-19
  50. ↑ Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 119. Retrieved 2015-01-19.

Bibliography

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