This is such a great video.
It's all about the goodwill that existed between German POWs and Americans in 1944-1945. Many of these Germans were held in captivity nears farms in Kansas. They would be "hired" as day laborers on these farms and would enjoy the home-cooked meals of the lady of the house.
In 1978 I went to Germany for 3 months to play the trumpet on a brass octet that traveled widely and performed evangelistic concerts from the Baltic to the Swiss border. So that I could share the Gospel with the Germans I encountered, I decided I would teach myself to speak their language. At that time I was a professor at Biola in Southern California. In nearby Anaheim ("Ana's home"), a large number of ex-Wehrmacht soldiers had settled after the war. One of them was Paul Mittmann from Ostpreußen (East Prussia). He pastored a small German-speaking Lutheran Brethren church in Anaheim. I began attending his services on Sunday mornings before my own English service began in La Mirada. He and I eventually began to meet weekly for practice in German conversation. Eventually I preached 4 times (in German) in his church before leaving for my mission trip to Germany in 1978. Thus when I arrived in Basel for my doctoral studies in 1980 I was already fluent in the language.
Paul Mittmann had served in the German military from 1939 to 1945. He had fought in France, Russia, and Italy, and was eventually captured by the Americans in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany in 1945. After his release from a POW camp there he emigrated with his wife to Anaheim. He was a godly born-again Lutheran who loved the Lord with all his heart. I have to thank him for my proficiency in German prior to my arrival in German-speaking Basel. In all, 425,000 German POWS lived in the U.S. during WWII. They could work on farms only if they were paid as required by the Geneva Convention. Many local farmers valued their contribution. Most of the Germans who were repatriated to Germany after the war left with positive feelings toward the country where they had been held.
I will never forget Paul Mittmann. I am forever indebted to him for tutoring me in German in his pristine Prussian accent.