Allied airmen at Buchenwald concentration camp facts for kids

Between August 20 and October 19, 1944, 168 Allied airmen were held as prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp. They called themselves the KLB Club. This name came from the German words Konzentrationslager Buchenwald, which means Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Out of these 168 airmen, 166 survived Buchenwald. Sadly, two airmen died from sickness while they were there.

Why Were Allied Airmen Captured?

In the summer of 1944, Allied air forces were becoming very strong over Europe. Adolf Hitler gave an order to immediately execute Allied pilots if they were caught doing certain things. The most common reasons were being captured in civilian clothes or without their dog tags.

These airmen had been shot down mostly over France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. They were trying to escape to England using secret routes. However, some people working with the French Resistance betrayed them to the German secret police, called the Gestapo.

The Germans called these captured airmen "Terrorflieger" (terror flyers). This meant they were seen as criminals and spies, not as regular prisoners of war (POWs). Because of this, they were not given trials. The German government was worried about shooting POWs. So, they decided these airmen would not be treated as POWs. Instead, they were told they were criminals.

Using this excuse, 168 Allied airmen were taken prisoner. They came from Great Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Jamaica. They were packed into overcrowded cattle trains from Fresnes Prison near Paris. After five days in these terrible boxcars, they arrived at Buchenwald concentration camp on August 20, 1944.

Life at Buchenwald Camp

Nationalities of the 168 airmen

82 American

48 British

26 Canadian

9 Australian

2 New Zealander

1 Jamaican

Buchenwald was a very large forced labor camp. It held about 60,000 prisoners. Most were Russian POWs, but there were also criminals, religious prisoners like Jews, and political prisoners. These prisoners came from Germany, France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.

For the first three weeks at Buchenwald, the airmen faced very harsh conditions. Their heads were completely shaven. They were not given shoes. They had to sleep outside without any shelter in a part of the camp called "Little Camp." Many airmen thought they would never leave Buchenwald. Their documents were stamped with "DIKAL." This meant "allowed in no other camp." It made them feel like they were stuck there forever.

The KLB Club: Finding Hope Together

To deal with the constant stress and fear, the 168 airmen decided to do something. They chose to hold formal meetings. This helped them feel like they had a purpose and some order in their lives. This is how the special KLB Club began.

The club had different groups, or "chapters," for each nationality. There were chapters for Canada, the United States, Great Britain, and Australia-New Zealand. Each group elected leaders. These leaders held separate meetings. They worked to organize ideas that had been scattered before. For example, they made lists of addresses and planned to meet after the war.

The meetings at Buchenwald showed how strong and united these airmen were. They formed a bond that kept them together for more than 60 years after the camp was freed.

At one meeting, they decided to design a club pin. The winning design was by Bob Taylor from Great Britain. It showed a bare, winged foot. This symbolized how the airmen were barefoot in the camp. The foot was chained to a ball with the letters KLB on it. The whole design was placed on a white star. This star was the symbol of the Allied invasion forces.

A Canadian airman named William Arthur "Willie" Waldram also wrote a poem. It was called A Reflection and was about Buchenwald.

On the night of October 19, 156 of the 168 airmen were moved. They were taken from Buchenwald to Stalag Luft III by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe). Two airmen had died from sickness at Buchenwald. The remaining 10 airmen were moved in smaller groups over several weeks.

The book 168 Jump Into Hell described the KLB Club's goal. It was to keep the friendship strong among the airmen from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada. They planned to share pamphlets, ideas, and visit each other.

More than 30 years later, in 1979, four Canadian KLB members tried to find all the club members. At that time, they had found all but 28 of the original 168 members. Now, all of them have been found. Information about each airman, including their military history, is available online at www.buchenwaldairmen.info. As of June 2021, three airmen were still alive. However, the last surviving airman, Ret. 2Lt. Russell Hilding, passed away on November 7, 2021, at 100 years old.

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