World War II U.S. Prisoner of War Mail from Germany by Private Albert P. Jodice - 1944

Stalag IIB (Hammerstein, Germany), 1944. Unbound. Very good. This German Kriegsfangenenpost Postkarte (prisoner of war mail postcard) is addressed to Jodice's girlfriend in Watertown, Massachusetts. It bears an indistinct German town postmark and purple handstamp from Stalag IIB. A U.S. censor's handstamp that was applied before delivery is in the lower left corner. The card is in very nice shape.

In his short message, Jodice inquired about his friends health, sent his love, and reported,

"feeling fine & in the best of health . . . . I'm doing O.K., working on a farm as horseman."

Stalag IIB was located near Hammerstein about 10 miles northwest of Koblenz. Jodice's message could well be untrue as the War Department identified Stalag IIB as the worst of the POW camps for Americans, noting in its final report that "Treatment was worse at Stalag IIB than any other camp in Germany. . . . Harshness at the base Stalag degenerated into brutality and outright murder. . . . Beatings of Americans . . . by their German overseers were too numerous to list, but records [show] that 10 Americans in work detachments were shot to death by their captors.".