Lipscomb unveils letters from German POWs to Tennessee

Lipscomb University is preparing to officially unveil a collection of letters telling the story of German prisoners of war who were held in Tennessee during World War II.

Almost 350 letters and photos are included in the Stribling Brock Letters Collection, which will be housed in Lipscomb's Beaman Library and displayed online. The university is celebrating the collection during a free event at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Swang Business Center on campus.

Curtis Peters of Lawrenceburg donated the letters to Lipscomb this year after meeting professors there who thought the unusually large collection could form the bedrock of a unique historical record of the POWs and their time in the Volunteer State. Peters' sister-in-law had found the letters — all from German men who were held at a prison camp near Tennessee's southern border — in the late 1980s.

After returning to Germany, the former soldiers wrote back to people they met as POWs with striking affection, sometimes referring to the Tennesseans as "Uncle and Aunt."

Letters found in cereal box tell story of German POWs in Tennessee

Lipscomb gave German professor Charlie McVey a summer grant to research and translate the letters in time for the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. And the Tennessee State Library and Archives gave the university a $1,250 grant to help digitize the letters and catalog them online.

McVey's work drew national media attention this summer, triggering a wave of intense interest from local history buffs. Peters and McVey will be on hand Thursday to discuss the collection.

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and on Twitter @tamburintweets.