Articles written by Carol Van Valkenburg

Carol Van Valkenburg, Emeritus Professor UM School of Journalism|Updated Jun 25, 2024

When full-scale war erupted in Europe in September 1939 as Hitler's troops marched into Poland, merchant seamen docked in U.S. ports found themselves stranded. Great Britain refused to grant safe passage home to the crews of German and Italian ships because it did not want the ships or their crews to be used in the war against them. When the crews began to sabotage their own ships to keep them out of British hands, the men were taken off and sent first to Ellis Island and...