| This is a generously illustrated history of the little-known German internment camp located in the southern Appalachian village of Hot Springs during World War I. It is also the story of the relationship between the mountain villagers and the German prisoners in their midst, including the crew of the worlds largest ship, the “Vaterland.” “In May 1917 fear and dread followed the realization that an alien ‘city would be dropped into the tiny village of 650.” Thus began the saga in this small community in the mountains of Western North Carolina, when the United States Government took over the Mountain Park Hotel and grounds and turned it into an internment camp to house 2200 German prisoners. (This would be the largest World War I prison camp in the United States at the time.) The first evidence of the German “invasion” was that all the guests of the hotel were asked to leave and work was begun to transform the grounds of this beautiful resort into barracks, guard houses, and other facilities. The majority of the “prisoners” (most of whom were civilians) were officers and crew of German and Austrian commercial ships seized by the U.S. Government on April 6th. Therefore, they could not be called “prisoners-of-war” but were named “enemy aliens” by the Department of Immigration. - United States - North Carolina - |
