Prologue
From Johanna Berglund to Charles Donohue, attorney-at-law
January 26, 1945
Dear Mr. Donohue,
If I were an expert in criminal law, I’d be sick to death of outraged clients claiming to be falsely accused, and especially of weepy female clients wringing their hands and saying things like, “How could it have come to this?” Which is why I deliberately avoided any of that in our initial meeting, though it occurred to me later that I might have come across as cold or detached.
So allow me to say thank you for agreeing to take my case. I’m aware that representing a civilian charged with involvement in prisoner-of-war–related crimes is a complicated affair.
The following file contains all of the documents I’ve gathered related to the incidents at Camp Ironside this past year, arranged by date received. I wasn’t sure what would be of use, so I’ve sent everything, including some information that might, at first glance, seem incriminating.
Many of the letters I translated for censoring and for the camp records had carbon copies, and the Ironside Broadside archives have been helpful as well. Quite a few of the people I wrote to had other reasons for keeping my letters to them—Brady McHenry saves all correspondence to the newspaper office because he’s paranoid about being sued for libel; Pastor Sorenson hasn’t thrown away anything larger than a Doublemint gum wrapper since the start of the Great Depression; and Peter . . . well, his reasons should be obvious as you read on.
In assembling this collection, I’ve found that every letter has two messages: the one written on the lines and the one written between them. Both are necessary to give a full picture of what really happened during my employment at the camp.
This morning I was seized by a sudden, crazed instinct to burn every last page instead of giving them to you. I even opened my nearly brand-new Acme Tires matchbook—only one match missing; you’ll get to the significance of that later—and pictured these papers curling into shriveled black ashes. Not because I’m afraid their contents will condemn me, but because they will reveal me, every detail of my personal life made public.
Since I gathered up enough common sense to present you this paper trail undestroyed and complete, I hope you’ll agree that it provides evidence to clear me of any wrongdoing. I am innocent, no matter what the outcry surrounding this case has led people to believe.
No, I should clarify. Years of reciting “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” with the rest of the congregation every Sunday has trained me. I am guilty. I know that with certainty after reading these letters again. Guilty of selfishness and bitterness and foolish, reckless pride. Guilty of hurting the people I love the most.
But not guilty of treason.
I want others to know the truth. Not the newspapers and their readers across the country, eager for a spy scandal. Just the people closest to me: Dad and Mother. The Sorensons. Peter. I hope, whatever the judge decides, that they can forgive me for all of the hurt I’ve caused, starting years before the first piece of evidence.
Now I just need to forgive myself.
In any case, thank you for the book of legal terms and procedures. I read it cover to cover and now consider myself fluent in seven languages, including jurisprudence. Memorizing vocabulary is at least one thing I’m unfailingly good at.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the enclosed as I prepare my testimony.
Johanna Berglund
CHAPTER ONE
From Major J. E. Davies to the citizens of Ironside Lake, Minnesota
To be read at the January 1944 town hall meeting
My fellow Americans,
Yes, it is as Americans that I appeal to you, not Minnesotans or residents of Ironside Lake. This call to sacrifice goes far beyond the tenuous ties of state or even community!
After careful consideration and planning, within two months, Ironside Lake will be home to a camp of German prisoners of war, who will work at several farms requesting day laborers with the Trade Center Committee.
The army considered several factors in making this decision. First, the people of rural Minnesota have been exceedingly generous in lending us the use of your strongest and bravest sons, with thousands fighting Axis forces far from home. However, because of this sacrifice, last year’s harvest from your county was minimal.
Second, if you would, imagine your community on a map of the United States, far from oceans and government buildings, without any mountains that might provide security challenges. You are, quite plainly, the ideal location for such a camp!
Construction has already begun on the other side of the lake to repurpose the abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps facilities built there in ’35. All is proceeding according to plan!
I myself was called up from the Army Reserve to serve as camp commander, overseeing twenty of our finest soldiers, who will be assuming guard duty. In addition, we will be posting open positions for a cook, secretary, and other support staff. We have a special need for a translator, as it is necessary to keep fluent German-speakers on duty at all times.
To address a possible concern, I will reassure you that most of the Germans in the prison camp will be enlisted men captured in the North Africa campaign and certainly not dangerous, as all prominent Nazi officers and SS agents are kept in a high-security camp in Oklahoma. We are confident that through the hard work of tilling the fertile American soil, our enemies will become our allies!
I will come myself in person to a special meeting at your town hall in one week’s time to answer any questions you may have. Thank you in advance for your enthusiastic support of your country’s efforts!
With Great Respect,
Major J. E. Davies
US Army, Fort Snelling
Editorial in the Ironside Broadside on January 20, 1944
Dear Editor,
This paper’s coverage of Tuesday night’s town hall meeting made me sick. Sticking in one timid quote from that backwoods politician Carl Berglund doesn’t show the town’s real reaction to news of a prison camp on our doorstep. “I invite you all to think carefully about the situation and raise any appropriate questions” hardly begins to cover it!
Why not mention the cry of outrage that erupted before the letter was even halfway through, I ask you? Or talk about the mothers who wanted to know why, after kissing their older sons good-bye, they have to stand by and see their young ones endangered too? Or quote from Mr. Dahl’s speech about how we don’t owe the German prisoners any care or courtesy?
And another thing: We may have been behind in our quotas last year, but who says putting prisoners to work will help and not hurt? We’ve all seen the Sabotage Can Outweigh Production posters. It’s a warning we’d best heed, if you ask me.
As for the translators, the camp planners are crazy as loons if they think we’ll stand for bringing a truckload of those foreigners from New Weimar into our town to watch over their own countrymen. We might as well tear down the fence and hand the POWs a ticket back to Germany.
We’ve all heard the reports on the radio and gotten letters from our boys. We know plenty about the brutality of German soldiers. None of us will be safe with them as our neighbors, mark my words.
A Soldier’s Mother
From Johanna to her parents
January 23, 1944
Dear Mother (and Dad),