What I find interesting, personally, is how I've never even considered the subject before now. No book or movie I've read or seen mentioned it--they focused on the war itself--and apparently I have little imagination or curiosity. There's a lesson for me there....
Don’t be fooled by the stern tone of the article regarding the German POWs. A lot of them had it better here than they would have had it back in Europe. A plant engineer my dad worked with was one of them. He stayed in a “camp” in Louisiana where he was employed in farm labor. They lived in a barracks/dormitory setting, worked on farms during the days, occasionally had dinner with the farm families, and got weekend passes to go into town to the movies, etc...
And like my dad’s acquaintance, a lot of them found reasons to get back here after they were repatriated.
Contrast this with the experiences of the Germans taken by the Soviets, who were literally worked to death in the camps, held until 1955, overwhelmingly chose repatriation to West Germany, not East Germany, and never had a reason to go back.
He had done farm work in the area during the war and managed to return and eventually get citizenship.
He was from Breslau, Silesia, which as studious members of Homer's class we all know was being handed to Poland to compensate for the land Stalin stole from them in the East. The world he knew was disappearing. He lied about where he was from so they'd ship him to the western zone.
The farmers were short labor during the war but the demand for foodstuffs was high. The POW's had nothing else to do and could make some money on the side. None of them were under any illusion they could find their way on their own back to Germany from the American Midwest. A win-win.