Lipscomb unlocks forgotten chapter in history

Janel Shoun-Smith | 08/05/2015

Beaman Library's unique Stribling Brock Letters Collection featured on NBC Nightly News.

Click here to see more photos of these unique letters

Click here to see the NBC Nightly News broadcast

The donation of a unique collection of letters to Lipscomb’s Beaman Library has sparked new national interest in a forgotten chapter of Tennessee’s and America’s history this summer.

During World War II, a German prisoner of war camp was located in the Middle Tennessee town of Lawrenceburg, Tenn. The 300 or so prisoners housed there were contracted out to local farms as day laborers, and many of them got to know the locals quite well. When the war ended and the POWs went home to Germany, they wrote letters to their American friends.

Anna Hirth family Letter to D.H. Brock family. Christmas card. — ***Front***: A Blessed Christmas!

Malsch, December 16, 1948

Dear Mrs. Brock.
(I’m) sending dear and heartfelt Christmas greetings to you.
Mrs. Hirth {Eugen and Anna’s mother}

I don’t believe that the Christmas present (I sent) will reach you in time. The address arrived too late due to the postal delay. We hope that it arrives well and gives you great joy.
Yours, Mrs. Hirth

Greetings from Eugen
English Translation by Dr. Charlie McVey and Ines Konschewitz

One Lawrenceburg family, the Brocks, kept the letters, and in the 1980s, one of their descendants found more than 350 letters stuffed in a Corn Flakes box. Curtis Peters, an in-law in the Brock family and president of the Lawrenceburg Historical Society, kept the letters and made presentations on them for many years.

Then last year, Peters learned of Lipscomb University through a personal connection with one of Lipscomb’s history professors and decided to donate the letters to the Beaman Library archives. The family wanted the Stribling Brock Letters Collection to be housed at a faith-based university and to be available for the public to enjoy and for researchers to advance knowledge of this aspect of Tennessee history.

Eugen Hirth family Letter to D.H. Brock family. — Malsch, September 29, 1947

Dear Brock family!

Today is my first day at home after finishing my exam, and so I will redeem my promise and write to you again personally after such a long time. First, I want to thank you for the two packages, one with groceries and the other with soap. Further, my heartfelt thanks for both letters from August the 26th and September the 9th. I was really happy with news about the farm and especially with the photos. However, I am dismayed by the news of the fire. Is it the big barn down by the milk house or (the one) up by the gas tank? Hopefully no animals were lost in the fire. I was happy to see from the pictures that you, my dear Mrs. Brock look much better than during the time that we were there. Hopefully back then it was not the fault of your big ‘family’! The pictures of Mr. Brock on the horse are splendid. Both pictures remind me of books during my youth in which we read of Texas rangers. I am especially happy about the success at the horse show and would like to congratulate you for this huge success. Whatever happened to the young fox that you got when we were with you? Back then the poor animal had cut his chest on barbed wire.

Now dear Brock family, several days have gone by and it is now October the 10th. In the meantime, I was with my brother in Bavaria in order to get some groceries. If one does not pay attention to getting food, one could starve, especially with these ‘glowing’ prospects for the winter and the coming spring.

For the near future I will be busy sketching, in order to finish the work for the book which I already wrote (to you ) about. Then I will probably go to Tuttlingen in order to get a job. About 4-6 weeks will go by before then. If a job does open up here in the vicinity, I would prefer it primarily for the food, because Tuttlingen is in the French Zone.

Now my dear ones, I must write you about something else. I already wrote you that Americans are now allowed to visit Germany. Currently there are two such Americans visiting their families {American soldiers stationed here} here in Malsch. Naturally we asked how things were for you all over the ‘big pond’. They described America from their point of view. They especially emphasized the huge rise in prices. I don’t know if my conscience can bear it if you continue to send (us) still more packages. Even if we are still so happy (about receiving your packages), we would not want at all for you to have to stint yourself.

Now I must close because as a complete surprise some visitors from Ellwangen have just shown up. Until the next letter (I wish you) all the best and many heartfelt greetings

Yours Eugen!

Also, many heartfelt greetings from my parents and siblings!
English Translation by Dr. Charlie McVey and Ines Konschewitz

This summer, Lipscomb faculty and students have been working to catalog and translate the letters. A portion of the collection will be unveiled to the public on Sept. 10, at a Beaman Library event celebrating the 70^th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The donation of the letters to Lipscomb resulted in nationwide media coverage as well as media stories in Europe. The collection was featured on NBC Nightly News on Sunday, Aug. 9.

View the Stribling Brock Letters Collection in the Beaman Library archives.

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[NBC Nightly News, The Tennessean, USA Today, ABC.com, Daily Mail, Military Times]

Lipscomb unlocks forgotten chapter in history

Beaman Library's unique Stribling Brock Letters Collection featured on NBC Nightly News.

Anna Hirth

Eugen Hirth

Johannes Hartmann