Episodes of War: Christmas 1945 in captivity – “The Trumpeter of Arkansas” by Rudolf Müller (Published on 13/12/2024)
In a publication by Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, the former prisoner of war Rudolf Müller reports on the trumpeter of Arkansas (Rudolf Müller, Trompeter von Arkansas, from: Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V., Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht – Weihnachtsgeschichten aus schwerer Zeit, 3rd ed. (2008), p. 84 ff. [translation from German language]):
“After the end of the fighting around the fortress of Brest/Brittany in September 1944, the survivors were first sent to several prison camps in France and England. From here, transports to the USA were organized. The journey ended on 12/11/1944 at Camp Chaffee/Arkansas.
The ‘POWs’ (prisoners of war) of Camp Chaffee will never be able to forget one of their comrades, the little trumpeter. A corporal in the Afrika Korps in B Camp, he was small and slight, and his trumpet gave the signal to wake up in the morning and to rest in the evening. But that alone would not have made much of an impression on us.
The nights in Arkansas were often so humid in summer that it was difficult to fall asleep on the cots. At 10 p.m. there was dead silence throughout the camp as everyone waited for the signal. First our comrade blew the ‘Zapfenstreich’ and then a trumpet solo. You could hear a pin drop in the 30-man barracks when [the songs] ‘Hörst du mein heimliches Rufen’ [‘Do you hear my secret calling’] or ‘Mädel dir bin ich so gut’ [‘Girl, I am so attached to you’] rang out in the starry night.
Even the guards gathered at the camp gate every day at this hour to listen to the melodies of our trumpeter. His playing was especially cheering at Christmas 1945. Many comrades, including myself, had not yet received any mail from home. Many of them still knew nothing about their bombed-out and displaced relatives back home.
There was a large Christmas tree at the camp gate. Our trumpeter waited there patiently on Christmas Eve until the camp commander informed him that the small internal celebrations in the individual barracks were over. All the barracks immediately fell silent when ‘’Stille Nacht’ [Silent Night’] was played.
None of us had ever received this melody so intimately before. Our trumpeter put all his art and feeling into this solo. I stood with a few comrades in the barracks and we listened into the night. The forest began behind our camp and the Christmas carol was now carried into its eerie silence.
Our trumpeter stood under the illuminated Christmas tree and gave us the kind of comfort that no one else could give us. I can no longer remember how long he brought us closer to home that night. What I do remember is that he also played ‘Heimat deine Sterne’ [‘Home, your stars’]. There were many US soldiers at the camp gate and in front of the camp who were just as moved by the sound of the trumpet as we were.
At the beginning of 1946, it was announced that all prisoners of war would be released to Germany. Our ship docked in Ostend/Belgium in March 1946 and after four weeks in a starvation camp in Camp 2227, we found ourselves in labor camps in England for the next two years. An unforgettable experience for us was the friendly corporal from the Afrika Korps. He gave us a lot of comfort and inner support in difficult times, especially at Christmas. We were grateful to him and have never forgotten him.”
(Head picture: Barbed wire wrapped in cobwebs
on a pasture near Düsseldorf, October 2022)
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