German POWs on the American Homefront

Smithsonian Magazine ^ | 16 Sep 2009 | J. Malcolm Garcia

[Zhang Fei]

The proper comparison would be between Al Qaeda and the Gestapo.

[FredZarguna]

The Waffen SS was not, however, a small number of Nazi soldiers. At peak strength there were 38 divisions.

I take your general point: the author is interested in establishing that most puke-worthy liberal icon, the "straw puppy." The Russians love their kids, too... Iranian political leaders are really not so different from those in the West once you break down the cultural barriers... Serial killers and child rapists have families, too... and now the ever resourceful, always politically correct Smithsonian is attempting the double straw puppy construction: Jihadist = Nazi = German POW = not so bad when you get to know them. It's an insult to the Wehrmacht, yes, but not as big an insult as it is to the intelligence of anyone who reads the magazine.

[QBFimi2]

>> “Having a chance to be shoulder-to-shoulder with [the prisoners], you got to know them, ... They were people like us.”

Ooh, I can hardly wait to have milk ‘n hummus-flavored cookies with this bunch.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Remember: Not all those 38 divisions were actually German (many were volunteers and conscripts from conquered areas and ethnic Germans also). Wasn’t there even a Muslim division or two?

[Cloverfarm]

This is the second story in the news the past few days about foreign POWs bonding with the community around the camp.

Firstly was the one about some German who liked being in Scotland, and now this about the Germans liking the Midwest.

I think there’s a trend towards rosy nostalgia to soften up us rubes in fly-over country. That way we won’t fuss so much about Gitmo peeps getting dumped here. (As if!)

[SoCalPol]

Those POW’s were Catholic and Lutherans.
Many who were brought to the U.S. were the conscripts
and not the SS type.

The prisoners at GITMO are IslamOfascists who want to kill Jews and Christians.

the difference is no comparison. The anti war will reach at anything to prove a point, they lost on this one.

[epow]

I remember several occasions of seeing German POWs riding through town in the back of county trucks in western NY state during WWII on their way to work on the state and county roads and bridges. I was only about 8 years old, and I was surprised that the Germans were not mean looking and didn't have horns and forked tails. If they had not had “POW” painted in big white letters on the back of their shirts and jackets I would not have guessed they were Germans because they looked just like all the other men in that town. They rode in the open trucks with no guards except the truck drivers even when it was cold and snowing, and AFAIK none ever tried to escape.

[FredZarguna]

They were somewhat successful at recruiting in the Baltics. They could have raised twenty or more divisions in Ukraine and chose not to (slavs -- "inferior," dontcha know.)

My Dad, a "3rdDivisionVet" actually fought SS troops in the battle of Nuremberg. I believe he was of the opinion there were some Waffen SS, but by that late date also many SS who had been reservists and "police units," and their divisional organizations were disintegrating.

I will have to ask him, because he's the real expert on WWII in the family, but if I recall correctly, the SS tried conscripts and recruits in the occupied territories and was not very successful. I know partially this was due to Speer, who had made some promises to Vichy French and other occupied governments that in return for increased industrial production he would reduce the quota of drafted soldiers in the West. The SS resisted that, but did not regard most of the conscripts as reliable.

[Billthedrill]

These were prisoners of war, taken in uniform under international conventions that both sides honored (more or less). Those of them who were inveterate enemies were not treated this way.

The jihadists are not prisoners of war, were not in uniform, and do not observe international conventions. And they are, most of them, inveterate enemies.

The implication - the article is rife with it - is that if we're just nice to these guys they'll be nice too. I'm sorry, but I just don't think so.

[chrisinoc]

I went to Fort Robinson in northwestern Nebraska earlier this month and there were photos of German POWs held at Fort Robinson during WW2. There is nothing left of their camp.

Fort Robinson is more well known as the site where Crazy Horse surrendered and was killed in 1877.

[Gumdrop]

I agree - most of the German prisoners were not Nazi’s. but simply young men being drafted to serve in an ugly war. They were for the main part Christians, and cultured, and certainly most were easily accomodated in the midwest where there were many people of German descent already there.

The parallel to the prisoners at Guantanamo is simply not realistic.

[Rodamala]

No detainees need to apply around here ... we aren’t Muslim, we don’t speak Arabic or Persian ... and we are sane.

Look at the commonalities between the German POWs and the surrounding farms and factories — Christian background, Western culture, similar ethnic background, even some common language.

There’s no parallel between German prisoners helping out on the farms of German-American Midwesterners, vs. Gitmo detainees.

Hit the nail on the head, but one thing to add... there is certainly no labor shortage at present time either.

[Citizen Soldier]

exactly, they were soldiers, not someone seeking martyrdom. I have two German women friends who both said their fathers were told they would go in the army or be shot during WWII. Both ended up on the Russian front and one stayed in a POW camp there for a few years after 1945. Back home both families hid Jews fleeing Germany by hiding them in their cellars during the day as they fled, one had been their neighbor.