The Accidental Captives: The Story of Seven Women Alone in Nazi Germany

In April 1941, seven Canadian women became prisoners of war while on a voyage from New York City to Cape Town. The aging Egyptian liner, the "Zamzam," was sunk off the coast of South Africa by the German raider "Atlantis." The passengers were transferred to a prison ship and eventually put ashore in Nazi-occupied France. The Americans were released after five weeks in captivity, and the news of their narrow escape became an overnight sensation with the help of the Life photographer in their midst. The seven Canadians were taken to Bordeaux and became part of a group of 28 women and children forcibly interned in various German detention camps. With some freedoms, the Canadians adapted, organizing their lives among the Berliners and establishing contacts with American journalists and diplomats, Red Cross officials, an elderly Jewish professor, and even with Nazi propagandist P.G. Wodehouse. Finally, in June 1942, they were able to board a special diplomatic "Freedom Train" bound for Lisbon, and from there they got back across the Atlantic to New York.