Camp Papago Park

World War II (WWII) brought enemy combatants to America's shores as prisoners of war (POWs). The physical signs of the POW camps have mostly disappeared, while the experiences of the prisoners and those who interacted with them have faded from collective memory.

The Second World War did not touch the continental United States' physical shores as it did across Europe and Asia. American cities and their civilian populations were left physically untouched by the horrors of total war. One part of the war that did reach America was the presence of enemy POWs, secured in camps scattered across the United States. Today, most of the physical remnants and memories of the POW camps have faded away. All that typically remains of the camps are concrete slabs or dilapidated buildings. The memory continues to fade with the passing of the prisoners, guards, and civilian populations who lived around the camps.

Hundreds of thousands of Axis prisoners served their internment in the United States, spread out in almost every state. These prisoners often found themselves in rural areas of the nation, providing labor to local farms. While estimates vary due to the size and duration of some camps, there were approximately 500 to 700 prisoner-of-war camps spanning the nation. According to author Keith Warren Lloyd, most of these prisoners (371,000) were German; fifty thousand were Italians, and four thousand were Japanese.

Despite the favorable living conditions and the Axis powers' increasingly desperate strategic outlook, prisoners tried to escape. Throughout the war, less than 1% tried, or 2,222 in total, according to David Holley. Those who did make it out were typically caught or surrendered relatively quickly due to the rural limitations of the areas they found themselves in. At the war's end, only twelve remained unaccounted for. There are a few unique stories of prisoners escaping toward the war's conclusion for fear of being repatriated to Germany's Soviet-controlled sectors. Some of these escapees, such as Georg Gaertner, secretly lived in the United States for decades. Gaertner became the last to "surrender" in 1984 after living under an assumed name in the United States for over 40 years, as related by Holley.

Arizona had 23 POW camps during the war whose labor was used in local agriculture, as noted by Lloyd. Camp Papago Park was one such park straddling Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona. The last German POWs left Camp Papago Park in March of 1946, returning to a Germany that lay in ruins. As time passed, the camp's physical remnants began to disappear as development took place in the area. Most of the camp is now the Arizona National Guard Papago Park Military Reservation and commercial and residential developments. It seemed destined that the experiences at Papago Park, which included one of the most remarkable tales of a POW escape, would fade into memory in the desert sand. However, in December 1954, the Papago Park POW's escape story resurfaced. An Arizona journalist named Lloyd Baker for the Phoenix Gazette wrote an article marking the tenth anniversary of the escape from Papago Park. Baker was able to track down Jürgen Wattenberg, the leader behind the escape, who eventually shared the details.

Camp Papago Park, or as it was officially known, Service Command Unit 1982, primarily housed approximately 3,000 naval prisoners, or Kriegsmarine. The camp had a history of minor escape attempts and lax security. Compounds 1A and 1B within the base housed the rowdier groups of prisoners and camp officers. The German POWs' duty was to be difficult, tie up enemy resources in any way possible, and ultimately escape, resulting in clever, often comical ways to disrupt American guards. As detailed by Lloyd, the disruptions included rowdy singing and disorderly conduct after drinking contraband beer or liquor fermented from prisoner rations to refusing to come out for roll call. One comical instance of insolence was when a group of POWs ordered civilian clothes to aid in their escape from a Sears catalog by the US Postal Service. A group of prisoners, under the leadership of Jürgen Wattenberg, eventually developed an escape plan to reach Mexico, attempting to return to the war effort or tie up American resources in the subsequent search efforts. This escape plan involved digging a tunnel from their compound, under the barbwire parameter, and out to a canal.

Work on the tunnel began in September 1944 with teams using hand tools between 2 pm to 2 am, only advancing a few inches daily against the rugged desert rock. Their main obstacle was what to do with all of the excess soil created by tunneling. Some were disposed of in garden boxes, toilets, and other areas, but this could not handle the excavated volume. The prisoners came up with an idea by complaining they did not have adequate athletic fields and could not use the same fields as the enlisted soldiers. The camp commandant allowed the prisoners to construct a field which allowed the prisoners to dispose of their soil unnoticed.

The Germans completed the tunnel in mid-December and planned an escape on December 23, 1944, while many guards would be on leave with a 16-hour break between roll calls. Serendipitously for the POWs, the German army launched a massive offensive on December 16, 1944, known as the Battle of the Bulge. The offensive's surprise and initial success bolstered the Papago POWs' morale. Escapees gathered in groups of two or three, known as Fluggruppen or flight groups, resulting in 25 members within ten groups. These groups had to individually devise their escape routes upon leaving the camp to maintain operational security from one another.

Most of the escapees would be captured or would surrender in just days. The FBI, military, border patrol, law enforcement, and other entities were all involved in the manhunt that made national news. Two Tohono O'odham (Apache) scouts were also hired for their tracking abilities and were able to assist in locating and capturing some of the fugitives. One by one, they were arrested, except for the leader, Wattenberg. His plan of going north and hiding in the mountains until search efforts died down was initially successful. Eventually, being the last one, he began his trek south and was captured due to his accent giving him away when asking for directions.

Two monuments reveal the stories of German POWS and their infamous escape from Camp Papago Park. The first marker is in a bronze plaque style with an inscription on a concrete podium. Due to fear of vandalism, it was initially relocated to the nearby Arizona Military Museum but is not currently on display. The second marker is a bronze manhole cover with inscription and artwork and remains placed at the tunnel exit location along the canal, which is a popular running path. Both pieces carry reminders about the escape, distance, and significance of the event.

The Camp Papago Escape monuments are slowly forgotten, just like the rest of the Axis POW experience. They originally served as a pilgrimage place for the Germans POWs and American service members who served there but have lost their meaning to current generations. World War II is a part of American national identity, but many elements of the war are disappearing. As Kate C. Lemay states, "Many, if not most, U.S. war memorials from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have completely lost their dedicated meanings to contemporary audiences."

(Edited by Brad Poss and Laura Bailey)

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