The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1948-08-26
Polish War Bride
Tells of Russian
Slave Labor Comp

/ ShA@ ~ ~ ~ - ~
/ American Communists who are
/ so anxious to change the present
form of government ought to speno
some time either in the European
section controlled by the Russians
or in Russia itself.
That's the message of Mrs. Stem
Carlson. a Polish war bride VINO
landed in the United States Thurs
day, July 20.
Mrs. Carlson knows of the brutal
ity of the Russians and she said that
compared to them the Germans
were a mild lot of people.
Born in Poland and reared there,
Mrs. Carlson felt the brutality ana
horrors of war when the Germans
invaded her native land to start
off the Second World War. The
German occupation wasn't long un-
derway until she and her parents
were herded on a train for slave
labor camps of Germany. 4
En- route the train was bombed
by the Russians and everyone was
on his or her own until the bombing
was over. Those rounded up headed
for the woods alongside the rail-
road tracks. She became separted
from her parents and to this day
does not know their fate.
Mrs. Carlson, then Steffi Batruch,
was forced to work in a German
factory as a slave laborer. There
was no pay and only enough food
to exist. She slept at night in
room in which were crowded more
than a half hundred other girls
working in the German factory.
When the war was over she began
to work in an American hospital,
where Ray Carlson of Libby, Mon
tana. a mess sergeant, was station
ed. They worked there together
for some time before becoming &C |
uuainted AS a matter of fact 1t
wasn't until they were invited to
a private home for dinner that they |
met each other and then their war |
time romance began.
They were married February IA, |
1947 and when they returned to |
this country brought back with |
them their eight month old daugn-
ter Christine, named for Mrs. Carl
sons mother Surprisingly the baby
stood the trip over the Atlantic
ocean and the subsequent plane
trip from Fort Hamilton to Pitts
burg better than the parents.
The Carlsons came to Grindstone
Saturday to pay a visit to James
Duratz, Jr. The latter and Sgt.
Carlson had been stationed in Ger
many together.
The Carlsons are headed for Mon !.
tana where they expect to live. I
Here they were met by the Ser
geants parents, Mr.. and Mrs. Fred
Carlson, and Mr.. and Mrs. Alfred
Roy, who drove east to meet them Il
and take them back home. They /
eft at noon Sunday and after drop I
ping the Roys off in Michigan they {
expect to reach Libby, Montana, !
within week There Sgt Carlson
will return to working for a lumber s
after serving more than {
i've years in the army. +
Sgt. Carlson said he knew little F
1ore of actual conditions concern
ng the Berlin situation because in n
Germany the civilians and enlisted S
1en had to rely on the same news -
OurceS available here However,
he home newspapers carried more
ews and were not liable to the
anne censorship.
He said that conditions in Allied
Germany were not near .
7 as bad as they were painted in
)me cases. He saw no starvation
Though food was not plentiful, It te
'as adequate and probably better H
)r the population than more lux F.
ry items would be- He said the B
merican control had finally wiped 4
ut the black market and that the te
were able to get all the
)od they were entitled to under W
leir ration cards. US
On the other hand ration cards R,
/ the Soviet sector of Germany W
allied for more food but seldom ga
ere the people able to get even
alf of what the ration cards per- w
itted-Brownsville (PaD Tele- H,
'aph, August Z. m
Mr.. and Mrs Fred Carlson left D;
libby July 2 and arrived home Aug en-
st 9. On their trip, they visited
r. and Mrs. John Mass in Glas fit
wv, Mrs Carlson's brother in On ha
rio, Canada, and her sister in sh
uluth. While in Duluth, Mrs Carl bu
ms brother, whom she had not NJ
en- for twenty years, came from a
inneapolis to visit They visited 81;
r. Carlsons folks in Cass Lake
inn, and also visited at Rapid City ac
ich., Mooseheart, Ill and Fit Peck roi
am They were glad to get home an
Id liked Montana best of all. de
bu
Norris E. LittIeton q.