An african American nurse, joined the racially segregated army in Jim Crow-era Arizona during World War II, Elinor Powell. The discrimination she faced compounded she was assigned after she fell in love with Frederick Albert, a German prisoner of war to whom. Journalist Alexis Clark told the NewsHour Weekend’s Ivette Feliciano in regards to the couple’s unlikely story and her guide, “Enemies in Love.”
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IVETTE FELICIANO:
German soldier Frederick Albert ended up being captured in Italy in 1944 and taken to a prisoner of war camp in Arizona where he came across African American nurse, Elinor Powell.
IVETTE FELICIANO:
How did they fulfill? And what is the whole story of these courtship?
ALEXIS CLARK:
Frederick, who was a great cook, and a baker, worked in a mess hall. And, evidently, he saw Elinor for the first time and he stepped right up to her and said, “You ought to know my name. I’m the person who is going to marry you.”
IVETTE FELICIANO:
Also it was all sailing that is smooth here?
ALEXIS CLARK:
Well, she ended up being shocked, of course. After all, here is this prisoner that is german of, you realize, striking on her. Broad daylight. And so it was obvious he was, you understand, trying to court her.
IVETTE FELICIANO:
Can there be any such thing about their particular upbringings them more open to an interracial romance that you feel made?
ALEXIS CLARK:
She was from a prominent family that is black the Boston suburbs. It absolutely was actually extremely modern. It had been called Milton, Massachusetts. Went to schools that are white. Had friends that are white. And she had been from an informed family. So although she knew about discrimination. She was mainly secluded from that.
Now on the other hand, Frederick was from Nazi Germany. In which he ended up being from the extremely rich family members. a prominent household. And they had been nationalists that are german. Now although they don’t join the Nazi celebration, these people were believers in Hitler, and also the German kingdom. But Frederick was an artist. And was extremely into jazz. And to ensure have been outlawed in Germany by Hitler, but he snuck around and would listen to it. So he had this impression of African Americans. They certainly were creative. They certainly were warm. All the stuff that he never felt growing up in their household, because he’d a very dysfunctional relationship along with his dad, in specific. Because he had beenn’t a guy that is military. He had beenn’t to the war. He to be real this artistic, free spirit. Therefore he saw Elinor, and attached all these emotions and some ideas, and dropped madly in deep love with her. So that they began to see one another in secret. He volunteered during the medical center in addition they were able to go on these secret rendezvous, and began a romance that is full-blown.
Whenever you think about two people who never ever should’ve been dropping deeply in love with each other, they discovered each other. And that is what makes this whole story, if you ask me, even even more unbelievable. I am talking about, he was a soldier. She was although discriminated against, she still had been a us officer in the military. So they really were committing a crime, actually.
IVETTE FELICIANO:
If caught dating an enemy POW, Elinor has been court imprisoned and martialed. But which wasn’t the only crime. Frederick ended up being white and Elinor had been black colored, and so they wanted to marry. In Arizona in 1944, that too was up against the legislation
IVETTE FELICIANO:
Exactly How were they capable get hitched?
ALEXIS CLARK:
Following the war ended, all of the POWs that are german deported. So Elinor and Frederick we mean, call it youthful rebellion. I do not know. Insanity. They knew that they the easiest way they could reunite is if they conceived a kid. So they did. So he could be deported. She comes back home. Pregnant because of the German POW’s infant. And their plan worked. He returned in 1947 because he was allowed to get a sponsorship and. And they married in ny.
IVETTE FELICIANO:
Interracial marriage was permitted in New York State. But that didn’t suggest their lives were likely to be easy.
ALEXIS CLARK:
They started getting around, having a complete lot of difficulty getting, also, leases, because nobody desired to live close to them. He couldn’t really get yourself a task. So they really made the decision which they should move to Germany because he had been groomed to simply take over his father’s business. It had been terrible. Elinor had been addressed defectively. Their mother wasn’t stoked up about having a daughter-in-law that is black and made that very clear. They left Germany following a year . 5. Then they moved back again to the United States. They first settled in a few suburbs outside of Philadelphia. They mightn’t enroll their son in college which they wished to. These people were told to attend a black colored college. So right here these were, coping with racism on both relative sides associated with Atlantic, right?
In addition they end up settling in Connecticut, where he gets a working job with Pepperidge Farm. And there is this community called Village Creek, that is in Southern Norwalk. Is in reality within their covenants, it’s advertised as “a prejudice-free area.” So they settle there, since it had been a community that welcomed mixed-race partners.
IVETTE FELICIANO:
Frederick and Elinor had two sons and spent the remainder of these everyday lives for the reason that Village Creek community. He passed on in 2001 and she in 2005.
IVETTE FELICIANO:
What exactly do you think we are able to study from this slice of US history that you have documented? How come this tale today that is important?
ALEXIS CLARK:
They did not allow racism win. And i do believe you can invariably study from that. And especially now. I believe we’re in such times that are partisan. We know that there is a rise in hate teams. I do believe racism is just a complete lot more overt, in that person, now. I like stories like these, when you reveal that that’s not gonna win. And I also think we have to be reminded of the whole tales of perseverance, of courage. Of difficulty. But, by the end, there exists a ending that is happy.
