While America's Japanese internment camps during WWII have been discussed at length by scholars, historians, and the like, there was another kind of camp that sprang up throughout the country during this time that isn't really talked about. For European POWs, life in American camps looked much different.
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00:00Much has been written about America's World War II Japanese internment camps, but you
00:04probably don't know about the POW camps that housed combatants from Europe. Here's how
00:09they earned a notable place in the war's history.
00:12As documented by the Society for Military History, because of the United States' limited
00:16experience dealing with POWs, the country chose to follow the edicts of the 1929 Geneva
00:21Convention. The foundational objectives of the convention were to, quote, prevent indignities
00:25against enemy soldiers, and to ensure that American POWs would be equally protected
00:30when held by enemy nations. Unfortunately, while the U.S. generally honored the convention,
00:35neither Japan, which never signed the agreement, nor Germany, which chose to ignore it, did.
00:40The far-reaching 1929 convention covered such things as camp location, punishments for escapes,
00:45and restrictions regarding POW labor. Among the many protections and guarantees provided
00:50for the POWs were adequate food, housing, medical care, protection from violence, intimidation,
00:56insults, and public curiosity, prohibition against medical experimentation, and reciprocal
01:00military rights and status.
01:02To create rights and status equal to the American military, German officers above the rank of
01:07captain were assigned their own POW orderlies, and generals were housed in private huts.
01:13American soldiers were compelled to salute higher-ranking POWs, and the infamous Nazi
01:17salute was even permitted. The convention allowed the display of swastikas, and some
01:21POWs were buried in local military cemeteries with Nazi flags and with swastikas engraved
01:26on their headstones. Undoubtedly, the biggest source of conflict in the POW camps were the
01:32ardent Nazis. Because the Geneva Convention limited how differently one POW could be treated
01:37from another, camp authorities initially made no distinction between soldiers with different
01:41ideological stances. Ergo, fanatical Nazis were thrown in with anti-Nazis.
01:46Furthermore, Article 43 of the convention required the appointment of POW administrators,
01:51and Nazi officers would often assume this role, becoming in effect camp commandants.
01:56They ruled with an iron fist, ordering work stoppages and holding kangaroo courts. The
02:01hardliners doled out harsh discipline and attacked fellow prisoners for their lack of
02:04patriotism among other offenses. There were documented occurrences of murder, forced suicides,
02:10the general camp riots, and other acts of violence.
02:13Nazi perpetrators usually received minimal or no punishment, as they were protected by
02:17the convention. Some were transferred to a special camp for Nazi incorrigibles in Oklahoma.
02:22The War Department eventually acknowledged the problem and began to enact reforms.
02:26As all the work done by POWs was forced labor, a major concern of the Geneva Convention was
02:31the matter of work regulations, including details like job locations, hours, hazards,
02:36and pay rates. POWs were put to work right from the start, although their assignments
02:40were limited due to the fears of escape, sabotage, and overseas exploitation. But when labor
02:46shortages due to the enlistment hit the American economy, the War Department rethought its
02:50strategy and greatly expanded POW labor.
02:53The camps supplied local industries and businesses with laborers while still adhering to the
02:57convention. In Texas, for example, POWs picked cotton, harvested fruit, and chopped sugar.
03:02Over in Kansas, they stacked hay and did masonry. And in New England, they harvested
03:06peas, cabbage, and apples. They also reportedly worked in hundreds of other positions, including
03:11mechanics, sign painters, tailors, and lumberjacks.
03:14Yes! A lumberjack!
03:17All enlisted men were required to work, and they were paid 80 cents a day, the same rate
03:21that American privates received. To keep them from accumulating enough cash to bankroll
03:26and escape, prisoners were paid in canteen coupons. Over time, the POWs not only proved
03:31themselves capable workers, they also earned the trust and admiration of many of their
03:34private employers. As a result, their supervision was relaxed, sometimes to the point of being
03:39unguarded.
03:41As detailed in The Washington Post in 1997, the War Department went above and beyond when
03:46it came to POW food, education, and entertainment. Not only did POWs dine well, they took college
03:52courses, set up libraries, and formed orchestras and soccer leagues. Leisure activities included
03:56ping pong, chess, card games, and the screening of movies and cartoons. Some camps even had
04:02printing presses that churned out newsletters penned by POWs.
04:05Additionally, POWs mounted theatrical productions and played concerts that were regularly attended
04:10by American officers. Also, there were circus and acrobatic instruction taught by professional
04:15circus performers. Educational programs were varied. Some classes were taught by the POWs
04:20themselves, where others were conducted as correspondence courses.
04:24The level of instruction was so high that some German universities offered full credit
04:28to returning POWs. Although some in Congress decried this apparent coddling of the POWs,
04:34the War Department remained confident that news of the benefits enjoyed by the POWs would
04:38reach Germans still fighting overseas and encourage their surrender.
04:42When the first wave of POWs from Germany's elite Afrika Korps arrived in Mahea, Texas,
04:47the townspeople were reportedly dumbstruck. They stared as the POWs marched in orderly
04:52rows to the camp. Similar scenes played out across rural America, but over time, many
04:56of these small communities adjusted to the POW presence. Some even began to appreciate
05:01the novelty of it all, as reported by The Washington Post.
05:04Many locals recognized the vital role that the POWs played in their local businesses,
05:08and quite a few even befriended their captive employees and continued relationships after
05:13the war. In Kansas, for example, some farmers invited their POW workers for meals and allowed
05:17them to go hunting or pony-riding unattended. However, not all towns and townspeople were
05:22happy hosts. In Texas, some residents reportedly feared having Nazis nearby and locked their
05:27doors and cautioned their daughters. Other citizens wrote angry letters and staged protests.
05:33As the war dragged on and American casualties mounted, stories about cushy POW camp life
05:38and vicious crimes committed by Nazi prisoners enraged many Americans. The War Department
05:43was sensitive to public perception and aware that POWs were actually eating better than
05:47many civilians, so they cut back severely on the POW's rations.
05:52Although the total number of escaped attempts from American camps was proportionately low,
05:56some POWs did make a go for it. The 1929 Geneva Convention recognized that it is the duty
06:01of prisoners to attempt escape, so it contains numerous regulations limiting the severity
06:05of punishments for escapees. Consequently, the POWs had little concern about getting
06:10caught. Some did so out of homesickness, some out of patriotism, and others out of fear
06:15of being returned to their altered homeland.
06:18Methods of escape were as varied as the reasons for trying. POWs built secret tunnels, slipped
06:22away from inattentive guards, constructed dummies of themselves, and impersonated American
06:27officers, among other tricks. Once outside, they hopped trains or stole cars, or they
06:31simply took off on foot.
06:33The most elaborate escape attempt occurred in 1944 at one of the more spartan camps in
06:38Texas. Using a secret 60-foot tunnel equipped with lighting and air bellows, 12 German officers
06:43slipped away from their barracks and went separately toward Mexico armed with tissue
06:47paper maps. Each man had food and a change of clothing. Despite their careful planning,
06:5210 were captured within days, far from the border, while two were caught by an El Paso
06:56Railroad detective just before reaching the border. The majority of escapees were captured
07:01quickly and without incident. Back at camp, fellow POWs hailed them as heroes.
07:06As chronicled by the Associated Press, on a September night in 1945, POW Georg Gairtner
07:12escaped from New Mexico's Camp Deming by slipping under a fence and hopping a train bound for
07:16San Pedro. Gairtner had decided to escape because he knew that upon his release, he
07:20would be repatriated to eastern Germany, where his family lived and which had fallen under
07:24Russian control. As a former Nazi, Gairtner feared he would be sent to a gulag.
07:29From San Pedro, Gairtner traveled north undetected, taking a series of odd jobs on the West Coast
07:34as a fruit picker, logger, and ski instructor. In Oakland, he landed a steady salesman job,
07:39and in 1964, he met his wife Jean. Now going by the name Dennis Wiles, Gairtner told Jean
07:44that he had been raised in an orphanage. Gairtner remained under the radar for years, and eventually
07:49authorities stopped looking for him. Jean was unaware of his secrets until impending
07:53retirement required that she obtain his birth certificate. He finally confessed, and Jean,
07:58determined that he should turn himself in, began researching the POW camps. Her research
08:02led her to Arnold Kramer, who ended up writing a tell-all book with Gairtner.
08:06In 1985, Gairtner surrendered to the INS, and as a publicity stunt, on NBC's Today.
08:12Of the 2,222 German POWs who attempted escape, he's the only one to have eluded capture.
08:18The fact that he kept it a secret for 40 years is what's amazing.
08:23Until 1948, the U.S. military was, like much of America, a segregated institution. Black
08:28soldiers experienced institutionalized discrimination both at home and overseas. Their prejudicial
08:34treatment occurred not only at the hands of white Americans, but white POWs as well.
08:39In Southern POW camps, some facilities were segregated by race, and Black servicemen were
08:43given the worst jobs. Blacks in the military expressed outrage that after risking their
08:48lives fighting Nazis, they were considered beneath their white enemies back home.
08:52The journal article Icons of Insults, German and Italian Prisoners of War in African American
08:57Letters During World War II, recounts numerous instances of racist encounters involving white
09:02Americans and POWs. In one incident, Black servicemen were barred from entering a restaurant
09:07at a Texas train station while POWs were invited with their white captors.
09:12Another episode involved entertainer Lena Horne, who became enraged while performing
09:16at an Arkansas camp when she saw that Black servicemen had been seated behind the POWs.
09:21In 1944, as Allied victory appeared imminent, American officials began to plan for a post-war
09:26Germany.
09:27Out of the ruins of fascist defeat, the U.S. and its allies hoped to plant the seeds of
09:32At the same time, stories about Nazi violence and influence in the POW camps were beginning
09:36to circulate. When a group of female columnists informed First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt about
09:41the situation, she vowed to investigate and take action. The result of this initiative
09:45was the Prison of War Special Projects Division, led by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Davison out
09:49of Fort Kearney in Rhode Island.
09:51To ensure its success in the camps, the project was kept top secret. A hand-picked group of
09:56intellectual American officers joined forces with anti-Nazi POWs, and the democracy-promoting
10:01strategies of the factory, as it became known, were devised. The factory's first step in
10:06the POW camps was the distribution of books banned by Hitler. Complementing that were
10:11screenings of carefully selected movies, including horrifying footage showing the liberation
10:15of Nazi concentration camps.
10:17The factory also created Der Ruf, a German-language newsletter that was written by and for German
10:23POWs. To disguise its purpose, the factory POW staff interspersed pro-democracy tracks
10:28with fiction and other entertaining fare. Although Nazi POWs reportedly denounced Der
10:33Ruf as Jewish propaganda, most POWs loved reading it, and its effectiveness at changing
10:38hearts and minds was indisputable.
10:40After Germany's surrender in May 1945, the process of POW release and repatriation began.
10:46But many in America, especially farmers, didn't want them to go. Labor unions, on the other
10:51hand, regarded them as competition for returning American forces and demanded their expulsion.
10:56President Harry Truman ordered them sent back to Europe.
10:59As a result of this order, many POWs ended up in France and England. The last batch of
11:03them sailed from New Jersey on July 26, 1946. Although America's treatment of POWs earned
11:09high marks for most German prisoners, its repatriation policy was widely criticized.
11:14Many transferred POWs reportedly died in France while performing forced labor.
11:19According to the journal article Returning to America, German Prisoners of War and American
11:23Experience, of the more than half a million Germans who immigrated to America between
11:271947 and 1960, several thousand were former POWs. Having experienced the American way
11:33of life, some POWs sought U.S. sponsors or worked for American occupational forces in
11:37Germany in order to return to the United States.
11:40Welcome back.