The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force’s monthly Author Talk series is proud to present a documentary screening of the Kriegie Kids: On our Father’s Trail with three of the participants for a Q & A to follow. This program will take place on December 11th at 10:00 am at the museum.
The program is free to the public, but please register at https://forms.gle/kcNxFX5KKgqHdnLY6
Optional Lunch: Join us for an optional lunch afterwards. $10/12 cash/credit for members or $15/17cash/credit for non-members.
About the Film
The film follows five strangers, brought together almost eighty years after the end of World War II, to follow the paths their fathers endured as German prisoners of war. They call themselves “Kriegie Kids,” children of US airmen who were shot down and taken as prisoners of war by German forces. The Kriegie Kids follow their fathers’ trail through Germany and Poland, learning about their fathers’ closely guarded secrets. Their search for the truth honors the collective experience of the airmen who fought in the deadly skies over Nazi Germany and acknowledges the impact such events have had on subsequent generations.
All the Kriegie Kids are sons or daughters of airmen who were imprisoned at Stalag Luft IV, a POW camp for non-commissioned Air Force officers located near the Baltic Sea in what was Pomerania (now Poland). Part of their quest was to follow the path of the brutal forced march from that camp, often referred to as the Death March or the Black March, which lasted as long as 86 days and covered 600 miles. The conditions were horrendous. The prisoners marched on and on, day after day, carrying all their belongings on their backs. Many developed severe frostbite. They had very little food and lost a massive amount of weight. At night, they were locked in drafty barns, packed tight, side-by-side. Some nights were spent outside in freezing temperatures. There was no ability for the men to keep themselves clean. All became infested with lice and fleas. No clean water was provided. Almost all developed dysentery. The story of this march chronicles the sufferings of a patriotic and heroic group of young men who sacrificed for both American and European freedom.