MEMORIES OF BILL JEFFERS
I was confined briefly at Dulag Luft, Oberursel in late February, 1945. It was an interrogation center. Our crew of nine arrived there after a journey by foot and rail (mostly foot!) from where we had been temporarily held in Holland after capture.
We were each held in individual cells without
any contact with other crew members or any other prisoners. We were
fingerprinted, photographed and then interrogated at great length. The cells were
entirely concrete as I remember without any view to the outside or to any other interior
area. The cells were unheated and lacked any furniture or facilities. I do recall
what looked like radiators for steam or hot water heating, but they were not functioning
when we were there. I later learned from other POWs that the heating apparatus was
sometimes used at the maximum, not for comfort, but as a form of torture in an attempt to
extract information from prisoners. We were fed meager rations in our cells once or
twice a day and were escorted individually twice a day to the latrine. The cells
were very cold (February) and also unlit as I recall. Our crew was at that facility
only about two or three days, after which we were transported to a Dulag Luft transient
camp near Wetzlar for another short stay before going on to Stalag 13-D near Nurnberg.