I'm not even going to begin describing this, not much to watch, but just listen to the letters home written by German POW's describing America.
There is a lot to contemplate here.
Disregard the "video unavailable", just click on "Watch on Youtube"

When I was teaching I watched a students presentation from Minnesota for National History Day Competition. She researched and produced a documentary about German POW's in Minnesota. It discussed how the POW's worked on farms due to the shortage of help with so many young men in the war. It also discussed and showed documentation of how POW's were welcome in any store or restaurant, but interestingly, African Americans were not allowed some of them. Crazy to think our enemy we were fighting had privilege over our own citizens, except for the color of their skin.

Knew a guy that grew up in a small town in SW MO that had some at Camp Crowder. He said they came and went as they pleased, went to the movies, etc. Pretty good deal versus being KIA.

Wisconsin has the highest German ethnicity in the US and a lot of German POWs worked the many, many dairy farms in WI during the war and many of them stayed here. A lot were also used in the vegetable and canning industry such as sweet corn, green beans, peas, cucumbers, cherries etc. of which WI raised and still does a lot along with potatoes. I did not watch the video. Lot of history here regarding the German POWs.

Bryce

At the start of WWII there were more Americans of German descent, by a wide margin, than of any other ethnic group in the US. At 12.3%, there are still more Americans of German descent, than any other ethnic groups, though the margin has lowered. It's unlikely that any of the German POWs didn't have close family members here. There's only slightly fewer Germans living here than in Germany. Germany now has way to many non German immigrants. A good part of American culture and values is German culture and values. It's why there was little issue with German POWs.

Many German POW's went on to become American citizens.

If the allies had rebuilt Germany after WWI, instead of punishing it, the people would not have suffered enough to accept someone like Hitler.

Rommel in particular and Germans in general, treated American and Western European prisoners of non Jewish descent well. Rommel was the proponent of war without hatred. He was a very honorable man. If his attempt to kill Hitler hadn't been thwarted, millions of lives would have been saved and the Soviet Union never would have formed.



Keith

we were just talking about this , over the weekend.

there were POW camps in Door county as well as Wausau I was in Door county at my cousins place when the topic came up and he pointed out where they were.

Interesting thread. Thanks for posting!

Now pardon me while I finish my wienerschnitzel...

Ol dad

My DNA test comes up as 55% German now. They change the numbers all the time as they get new data. My first business partner, who had some Jewish ancestry, used to jokingly call me "Hitler's Poster Child", not because I was at all anti-Semitic, I like Jewish women and almost married an ethnically Ashkenazi woman, but because I had all the physical and mental attributes the Nazis wished to obtain.

Keith

My mother inlaw worked at scanning company as a supervisor over German POWs. I think she said they came by train each day from Fort McCoy. Which was just few miles east of where the cannery was. When the war ended and they were sent home. One guy who she had got know quit well. Gave her his pay check. Yep they actually paid them. Although he thought he would never be able to cash it so he wanted her to have it because she was nice to him. She showed me it once it was I her scrap book.

Mac

The old calvary remount station , Ft. Reno ,just outside of El Reno, Ok.; had Italian and German POWs . Some are interred there in the old cemetery. I believe they died when a boiler blew up. Once a year , they do an event called Tombstone Tales where local actors dress up as those buried there . Everything from children , Buffalo soldiers, to include German/Italian POWs. Pretty fascinating.

I watched some of the video and will watch more. Most of the last names of the POWs are last names of family, friends or people I know, such as Kaiser, Steuben, Mueller, Hoffman, Lang, Schultz, Kramer, Brown, Hartman, Miller, Fischer, Crist, Bower, Schmidt, Ackerman Meyer and Zimmerman.

The industry that the US used to defeat the Nazis was mostly built by American Germans. Almost all precision instruments were built by Germanic people in the US.

My mostly German grandfather lied about his age, enlisted at 16 and fought through Germany until they met the Russians coming in from the East. He received a Silver Star fighting with the Tigers.

Keith

Ft McCoy had them there by Lacrosse.

I watched the whole video. The work camps were clearly reeducation camps too. I have some mixed feelings about it.

Shaping the beliefs of 370,000 plus German men and then putting them back in their country, where they now makeup a significant portion of the male population, because of massive war losses of men, gives you incredible control of the future of that country.

I think the US over liberalized the views and beliefs of the German people. Diversity is not a strength, but a weakness, except in limited amounts. Kindness and openness need heeled in by rational thought.

The current destruction of European civilization is in good part caused by our teaching that diversity is good as are all people. Most people from the third world will never fit in an be productive members of Western society. Islam is a great danger to Western culture. We are on the precipice of seeing new ethnic cleansing in Europe. The question is will the migrants be driven out or will Western culture die?

Keith

I had great uncles in Germany that were Russian POW's, they were NOT treated well. One uncle claimed he survived only because he lied and said he was a cook, so got a tiny bit more food than the rest....

On the Federal property that adjoins our land there was a former German POW camp in Rhinelander, WI. Housed approximately 100 POW's from 1944- early 1946. They were housed in barracks that were constructed for Civilian Conservation Camp workers during the great depression. Interesting book in the local library titled "Stalag Wisconsin" which details the numerous POW camps around Wisconsin.

Chris

There's a pretty good flick with Kristy McNickle on the subject, can't remember the name, but you can google it.

There are graves of German POWs on Fort Drum near Watertown NY