They were kept on a starvation diet. 913–915; [2] The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. All in winter. Germany in general followed the 1929 Geneva Convention in the treatment of American and British servicemen in POW camps, with little difference to be found in treatment with Americans and British. He doesn’t hold any emnity toward the German people, which is a good thing, I guess, because my mother studied at the University of Bonn, and that’s where she met my father. [5] Antony Beevor Stalingrad (Penguin Books, New York, 1999), pp.- 15, 60, 166 The worst permanent damage was to his spirit. A Japanese officer told them that Japan was not a signatory to the Geneva Convention, and as such the Americans were not prisoners of war, but rather were guests of the Emperor. I think a lot of it was due to German resources being stretched pretty thin. It ended April 29th, 515 miles later. By VE Day, there were more than 370,000 POWs from the Third Reich being held on American soil. In the book Death March, one of the former prisoners interviewed said that they were assembled shortly after the surrender. Enlisted men might be required to work for pay, but the nature and location of their work were not to expose them to danger, and in no case could they be required to perform work directly related to military operations. Took almost 2 months before he could eat normally. -Germans didn’t want to chase POWs around Germany Members of the German military were interned as prisoners of war in the United States during World War I and World War II. Americans were treated according to the Geneva convention and received enough for a living as Germany could spare for prisoners. Merchant Marine sailor Lionel Romney, who was sent to Mauthausen, and pilot Lieutenant Darwin Nichols, who suffered in a Gestapo prison. https://phdessay.com/treatment-of-us-pows-by-the-germans-in-world-war-ii/, The American Military Government in Germany during World, The Rearmament of Germany in the 1920s and 30s. The reason you probably haven’t heard much is because it wasn’t at any extreme. When they heard the Russian guns the Germans rounded up the POWs and marched them on foot west. The prisoners, involved in work received small payment (5 to 10 marks) for their effort, though the amount of money, which a POW could possess was limited. There weren’t any rations–he tells stories of “grass soup.” Anyone who couldn’t keep up was shot. In February 1944, a Black soldier named Bert Babero wrote in a letter that a POW camp in Texas segregated “a section of the latrine for Negro soldiers, … Understandable, I guess, and sad. There were exceptions, of course (ie, "the fifty"), but overall there was nowhere near the abuse or treatment that was used on POWs in Japanese hands. Of these, 22,376 were Australians of whom 7,777 died. (2017, Jan 24). Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. There were many groups from different camps, literally wandering around different parts of Germany that winter. Officers were to receive pay either according to the pay scale of their own country or to that of their captor, whichever was less; they could not be required to work. Among these were U.S. But in January 1942, only a few hundred of the Soviet prisoners who had originally been brought to Auschwitz—out of a total of 10,000—were still alive, and no further influx was expected. He said the Russians were good to trade with, but the French sometimes took the stuff you threw over without throwing anything back. The the POWs from each country were kept seperate from one another, but they traded stuff from their C.A.R.E. More POWs were detained by American forces in Europe, the Far East and elsewhere. http://www.holocaust-history.org/questions/blacks.shtml. During the final collapse of Nazi Germany (1945), between 3.4 and 5 million p-1 German PoWs fell into US hands. One can notice, that the treatment of British and American POW‘s was tolerant enough, except for some cases of spontaneous violence, such as murder of USAF and RAF pilots by the German civilians, angry with their air raids. The hearty young men who helped his father pick corn or put up hay or build livestock fences were German prisoners of war from a … If double forced labour wasn’t bad enough, during their time as POWs Soviet soldiers were among the worst treated in WW2. The Germans generally treated captured western allies relatively well - both sides were parties to Geneva. I second IzzyR’s question: were Jewish POWs separated from their fellows and sent on to concentration camps? … Treatment of US POWs A former US prisoner of war (POW), United States Navy Lieutenant Jack Taylor, testifies to the treatment he and other American POWs received in … The UK government figured out that they were trying to escape and would sent things like record albums with maps in the middle. 35000 German POWs sent to Canada wanted to stay because of how well they were treated and how much they grew to like the people here. Again I say: ouch! My family is German, and my father was just a little boy during the war (born in 39). The Germans did not treat allied POWs at all well. The POWs were to be put to work in the huge industrial conglomerates that the SS was planning to set up together with firms such as I.G. They call it “The Black March.” Do a google search on “Black March” Germany POWS. It has to do with the above part of your post. **. The POWs were to be put to work in the huge industrial conglomerates that the SS was planning to set up together with firms such as I.G. Soviet Jewish POW's were usually treated as Jews, if their national origin could be determined. The prisoners were allowed to arrange recreational activities, such as sport games by their own, also some attention was paid to the religious demands of catholic and protestant POW‘s, the largest POW camps had chapels on their territory. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy. He knew how to find potable water, what a potato field looked like even in winter, etc. This site says African-American POW’s were not only segregated but also given inferior rations and supplies. In the Soviet Union, German POWs were not a topic for public discussion. The POWs were employed as forced labor in the Soviet wartime economy and post-war reconstruction. Farmers were thrilled to hire the prisoners to hoe and pick cotton. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Overall, POWs in Germany were well treated. It’s still pretty bleak, though. Most were captured in a string of defeats in France, North Africa and the Balkans between 1940 and 1942 and held in a network of … Was able to walk with braces on both legs. American Prisoners of War in Germany. Did he recover? Many of the images staged to give a false impression to the enemy of how well the POWs were being treated Images of War: Allied POWs in German … The POWs were on starvation rations while well many, many of the civys actually died … I’ve never heard a word about this in all the history I’ve learned…. On foot. One of the significant features of World War II was a great number of prisoners of war (POW‘s) to be kept both by Allies and Axis. By 20 May 1945, all surviving American POWs were back in US hands. Five days later, the POWs arrived in Berga, a quaint German town of 7,000 people on the Elster River, whose concentration camps appear on few World War II maps. My uncle flew with the RAF during World War II. [6] Antony Beevor. Held by the Nazis to be racially and politically inferior, they were starved and brutalised. [back] Mass Starvation of Germans, 1945-1950 HOW ALLIES TREATED GERMAN POWs. We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. Things were a bit worse for men who were both Soviets and Jews, but it was basically "Soviet" that determined their treatment. On the other hand Russians soldiers were treated far worse. That program brings a small group of American POWs and family members to Japan each year to meet with officials and private citizens and, in some cases, visit the sites where POWs were held. Can’t stand it. I had a friend how was in the Air Corps and was in a Luftwaffe camp. POW‘s were not to be individually confined, and the food served them should have been equal to that served to German troops. The stone walls of Dartmoor, located in Devonshire, enclosed 400 barracks and, according to prisoner of war Charles Andrews, "death itself, with hopes of an hereafter, seemed less terrible than this gloomy prison." The Japanese did not sign it and did not feel obliged to follow it. My family is German, and my father was just a little boy during the war (born in 39). Between January and April 1945, 80,000 Allied POWs were marched westward ahead of the Soviet Army in harsh winter weather. POW life sucks across the board, but relative to other situations, the POWs experience in Germany was moderate. Polish, Yugoslavian and especially Russian prisoners received the worst treatment ever imaginable. How Did The Germans Treat American POW's in WWII? At the later period working with Russian POW‘s became more organized. With virtually no food provided. Ibid. POWs didn’t just sit around. It brought considerable changes. They were normal POW camps, like most throughout history. For example, 600 Soviet prisoners were gassed in Auschwitz on 3 September 1941 at the first experiment with Zyklon. In comparison, 98 percent (about 2 million) of the French, American, British, and Canadian POWs returned from German prison camps. p.-59, Treatment of us pows by the germans in world war II. [QUOTE] By comparison, they were treated well compared to combat troops. Based on the overstated one can make a conclusion, that treatment of the American and British POW‘s, captured by the Germans was surely  preferable to the treatment of other POW‘s. He was sent to a Luftwaffe camp (IV) near the (old) Polish border. There were many groups from different camps, literally wandering around different parts of Germany that winter. He reports similar experiences to the others in this thread. (Opa was a combat engineer, and an officer.). Those of the prisoners, who conformed with the racial demands (mostly originating from the Baltic or western regions of Russia) could voluntary join the Wehrmacht. I’ve heard horror stories about how the Japanese treated our POW’s. An estimated 40,000 died in American stockades because of neglect and hunger between May and July of 1945. In general, and particularly in the philosophy of the SS, the Germans considered the United States to be the most raciest country. Prepared by Military Intelligence Service, War Department 1 Nov 1945, [4]W. Wynne Mason, Prisoners of War (Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945) (Wellington, New Zealand: War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, 1954), pp. approximately 40, who were victims of the more serious cases of shrapnel, flak and gun wounds. While they were still in the camps, they were on starvation rations, supplemented by Red Cross packages. Dealing with Russian prisoners became even more complicated as the amount of captives at the first year of war reached 5 million, creating problems even with simple accommodation. However, how did they treat our POW’s? This resulted in great bitterness among the survivors. Grandpa and my German grandfather have met, and they spoke about the war. ill treatment was based on deprivation; as World War II dragged on, it became clear to every POW that the Third Reich’s resources were being stretched thin, its attentions increasingly diverted from taking care of its prisoners. Save time and let our verified experts help you. My grandfather was a POW in a German war camp. They weren’t killing the POWS’s, but then they weren’t makng it a vacation for them, either. Take Nebraska, where around 12,000 prisoners of war were kept in camps. At least from what I’ve read, it seems the Germans treated American POW’s better than the Japanese did, and better than they treated Russians, but their treatment was in no way a model of following the Geneva accords. I have never read of Jewish prisoners being separated, though there are stories of the Germans threatening to separate out the Jewish prisoners (only defeated by American unity and steadfastness). Five days later, the POWs arrived in Berga, a quaint German town of 7,000 people on the Elster River, whose concentration camps appear on few World War II maps. The Germans and Italians had almost twice as many, 235,473 with a death rate of 4% (242 Australians). Says analyst. http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/redcross.html, http://stewthornley.net/hthornley_pow.html, http://www.holocaust-history.org/questions/blacks.shtml. Each man got 1/2 of a blanket. Well, Klink treated his prisoners fairly well, but I think that was due to incompetence rather than compassion. It was a long time before my grandfather could talk about his experiences, but now he speaks to my mother’s high school German classes. The best estimates of casualties is that more Americans died on The Black March than on D-Day. Though prison camps provided some shelter, they didn’t offer great protection against the weather, particularly the cold of winter.Food became a huge preoccupation for prisoners. The Library of Congress: Veterans History Project Home : Home >> POWs in Germany: More Stories: A-Z List T he Germans were hardly the genial hosts, whether you were a POW during World War I or World War II. Men from the Waffen SS were especially picked out for"special treatment" by both the Red Army as well as the American soldiers. Dulag Luft . Seems like a lot; hopefully a knowledgable Doper can confirm or deny this. At least he came home; lots of guys didn’t. Of course, this was the official point of view, but actual treatment depended on commanders in the field. That program brings a small group of American POWs and family members to Japan each year to meet with officials and private citizens and, in some cases, visit the sites where POWs were held. They call it “The Black March.” Do a google search on “Black March” Germany POWS. My grandfather was a POW. Infantry wenrt to camps like the one described in Stalag 17 (written by a couple of ex-POWs, and a lot bleaker than Hogan’s Heros ever was.). The way those prisoners were treated differed greatly dependently on the nation of a prisoner and the country of imprisonment. In addition to German facilities, there were camps in the U.S. to house more than 51,000 Italian POWs and 5,000 Japanese prisoners. Out of the approximately 94,000 American POWs, at least a staggering 75% were captured over the course of the final 12 months of the war in Europe. History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2004) American treated the German POWs incredibly well, so much so that many returned to the United States to live and become citizens after the war. The erosion-control work proceeded rapidly, and the camp closed on July 9, when the German POWs were sent … Fortunately, at the Luftwaffe prisons (where Brickhill was interned) the Red Cross parcels started coming through after the first few months, supplementing their meals with KLIM, Bovril, Chocolate, and the like. Conditions there were very satisfactory in equipment, medical, clinical and surgical attendance. After the unification of Germany, an exodus of Mexican intellectuals and students arrived, which took the educational and labor supply. Of these, 22,376 were Australians of whom 7,777 died. American soldiers casually climbed over the still twitching bodies, killing the wounded. He knew how to find/make shelter because they slept out in the open. They flew an exact replica of it years later and it actually worked. POW‘s were not to be individually confined, and the food served them should have been equal to that served to German troops. Major camps, as well as camps mentioned throughout the exhibit, are indicated on this map. This happened in Fort Robinson, Nebraska, during the 1990s. 42–43; They were lined up every morning and counted to make sure no one had escaped. POWs who were American or British were often segregated from non Jewish compatriots. He was required to observe ordinary military discipline and courtesy, but he could attempt to escape at his own risk. But in January 1942, only a few hundred of the Soviet prisoners who had originally been brought to Auschwitz—out of a total of 10,000—were still alive, and no further influx was expected. Some categories of prisoners, such as Jews or Communist party members were usually shot immediately. 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