In 1941, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, The Greenbrier was converted to an internment center for foreign diplomats and newspaper reporters. In 1942, the FBI identified seven hotel staff at The Greenbrier, – six waiters and one baker – as enemy aliens. Charged as being dangerous, they were taken to the Summers County jail. The next day, they were moved to Lewisburg for a secret Federal hearing that was closely guarded. Only officials and the wives of the accused aliens were allowed to attend. The hearing was conducted by the Southern Enemy Alien Board. After the hearing, one of the seven, an Austrian waiter was released. The other six, one of whom was also Austrian and the rest were from Germany, were taken to Cincinnati, Ohio, the day after the Lewisburg hearing. The men were not allowed attorneys nor were they allowed to see or challenge the evidence against them.
Of the accused aliens, all but one had arrived in the United States in the 1930s or early 1940s. They ranged in age from 33 to 46. At least two were married. What happened to these men in Cincinnati is unclear. There is some evidence they were taken into custody by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and sent to civilian internment camps. During World War II, some 130,000 American residents and citizens were forcibly interned in camps without due process. Most were interned only because of their nationality.
Of the six employees of The Greenbrier who were detained census records indicate at least three became US citizens. Although Hans Hensel died in New York, he was buried in Greenbrier County. Erich Ohlendorf became a manager in the Hilton Hotel chain and is buried in Low Moor, Virginia. Guy Bertuzzi, the Austrian who was detained, had immigrated to the US in 1906, was working as a baker at The Greenbrier in 1930, was married to Flora Bertuzzi, and owned a home in White Sulphur Springs in 1940.
Sources: Hinton Daily News, The Leader, The Roanoke Times, The West Virginia News, The Cincinnati Enquirer, National Archives, Smithsonian.
