Men in German uniform : POWs in America during World War II /
Thompson, Antonio S. 1975-
Men in German uniform : POWs in America during World War II / Antonio Thompson. - 1st ed. - Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, c2010. - xiv, 178 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. - Legacies of war . - Legacies of war. .
Includes bibliographical references (p. [159]-173) and index.
Housing the enemy : prisoner of war administration and camp construction -- Sprechen sie Deutsch? : from recruitment in the Third Reich to incarceration in the United States -- Igniting the powder keg : Nazi influence within the camps and the last acts of defiance among POWs -- Love thy enemy : coddling, segregating, and fraternizing with German POWs -- The devil is in the details : German POW labor and the American home front -- Idle hands : recreation and intellectual diversion behind barbed wire -- Exorcising the beast : the reeducation of German POWs in the United States -- Leaving a place called Amerika.
Examining the largest prisoner-of-war handling operation in U.S. history, this book offers a meticulous account of the myriad problems - as well as the impressive successes - that came with housing 371,000 German POWs on American soil during World War II. Antonio Thompson draws on extensive archival research to probe various ways in which the U.S. government strove to comply with the Geneva Convention's mandate that enemy prisoners be moved from the war zone and given food, shelter, and clothing equal to that provided for American soldiers. While the prisoners became a ready source of manpower for the labor-starved American home front and received small wages in return, their stay in the United States generated more than a few difficulties, which included daunting logistics and also violence within the camps. Such violence was often blamed on Nazi influence and control; however, as Thompson points out, only a few of the prisoners were actually Nazis. Because the Germans had cobbled together military forces that included convicts, their own POWs, volunteers from neutral nations, and conscripts from occupied countries, the bonds that held these soldiers together amid pressures of combat dissolved once they were placed behind barbed wire. When these "men in German uniform," who were not always Germans, donned POW garb, their former social, racial, religious, and ethnic tensions quickly reemerged. To counter such troubles, American authorities organized various activities including sports, arts, education, and religion within the POW camps; some prisoners even participated in an illegal denazification program created by the U.S. government. Despite the problems, Thompson argues, the POW-housing program proved largely successful, as Americans maintained their reputation for fairness and humane treatment during a time of widespread turmoil--Publisher's description.
9781572337282 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1572337281 (hardcover : alk. paper)
40018667068
2010019337
World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, American.
Prisoners of war--History--United States--20th century.
Prisoners of war--History--Germany--20th century.
Soldiers--History--Germany--20th century.
Germans--History--United States--20th century.
World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--United States.
World War, 1939-1945--United States.
D 805 .U5 / T455 2010
Men in German uniform : POWs in America during World War II / Antonio Thompson. - 1st ed. - Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, c2010. - xiv, 178 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. - Legacies of war . - Legacies of war. .
Includes bibliographical references (p. [159]-173) and index.
Housing the enemy : prisoner of war administration and camp construction -- Sprechen sie Deutsch? : from recruitment in the Third Reich to incarceration in the United States -- Igniting the powder keg : Nazi influence within the camps and the last acts of defiance among POWs -- Love thy enemy : coddling, segregating, and fraternizing with German POWs -- The devil is in the details : German POW labor and the American home front -- Idle hands : recreation and intellectual diversion behind barbed wire -- Exorcising the beast : the reeducation of German POWs in the United States -- Leaving a place called Amerika.
Examining the largest prisoner-of-war handling operation in U.S. history, this book offers a meticulous account of the myriad problems - as well as the impressive successes - that came with housing 371,000 German POWs on American soil during World War II. Antonio Thompson draws on extensive archival research to probe various ways in which the U.S. government strove to comply with the Geneva Convention's mandate that enemy prisoners be moved from the war zone and given food, shelter, and clothing equal to that provided for American soldiers. While the prisoners became a ready source of manpower for the labor-starved American home front and received small wages in return, their stay in the United States generated more than a few difficulties, which included daunting logistics and also violence within the camps. Such violence was often blamed on Nazi influence and control; however, as Thompson points out, only a few of the prisoners were actually Nazis. Because the Germans had cobbled together military forces that included convicts, their own POWs, volunteers from neutral nations, and conscripts from occupied countries, the bonds that held these soldiers together amid pressures of combat dissolved once they were placed behind barbed wire. When these "men in German uniform," who were not always Germans, donned POW garb, their former social, racial, religious, and ethnic tensions quickly reemerged. To counter such troubles, American authorities organized various activities including sports, arts, education, and religion within the POW camps; some prisoners even participated in an illegal denazification program created by the U.S. government. Despite the problems, Thompson argues, the POW-housing program proved largely successful, as Americans maintained their reputation for fairness and humane treatment during a time of widespread turmoil--Publisher's description.
9781572337282 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1572337281 (hardcover : alk. paper)
40018667068
2010019337
World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, American.
Prisoners of war--History--United States--20th century.
Prisoners of war--History--Germany--20th century.
Soldiers--History--Germany--20th century.
Germans--History--United States--20th century.
World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--United States.
World War, 1939-1945--United States.
D 805 .U5 / T455 2010