Karlo

Couple of weeks age I read a book Iron coffins, by Herbert Werner, anyway, in the end of the book he vaguely explains his experience in post war POW camps. So I am wondering, how did the allies treat captured German soldiers?

Bish

For the most part i think the Western Allies treated German Pow's very well. I believe there were some problems just after the war, a number of German PoW's died in camps. But i think this was more due to a lack of resources than neglect or ill treatment. Of course, the issue of PoW's on the eastern front is a different matter.

Fire_Raven

It varied by nation and where they were kept. German POWs
The link is to a site on German Pows in the US

tjadams

By the end of the war Texas held 78,982 enemy prisoners, mainly Germans, at 33 military installations. Records indicate that only twenty-one POWs escaped, but were recaptured within three weeks.

Karlo

I have just found this statistic

Percentage of POWs that died

German POWs held by Russians 35.8%
German POWs held by French 2.58%
German POWs held by Americans 0.15%
German POWs held by British 0.03%


Although 2.58% might not sound like a big number, especially if we compere it to the number of those who died in Russian camps, it is still quite a lot more then then the number of Germans that died in American or British camps. I have also found out that even Robert Jackson, a judge in Nuremberg, accused the French of violating the Geneva convention.

Why is there such a difference in the way the German POWs were treated by different in allied countries? Life in France was not so bad, those in the Vichy France had fewer restrictions then people in Germany, also Germans(usually) did not harass civilians in the occupied zone, so why did the French took the war so personally, and the Brits did not?

Iolo

The British hadn't been beaten and had had no jack-booted bully-boys stamping around, and, on the whole, the nazis respected them as successful imperialists. There was a long tradition, too, of respect for German culture. My Grandfather, a choirmaster, had a German pianist protegé he used, to a fair degree, to save from farm work. All the same, there was a German POW camp in Glamorgan from which, as I believe, the only serious break-out in the War was made, though I think they were all recaptured - unless one or two, as I half suppose, got over to the Irish Republic.

Fire_Raven

The French used their German prisoners in dangerous jobs like clearing mines and munitions. France's Deadly Mine-Clearing Missions: Surviving German POWs Seek Compensation - SPIEGEL ONLINE

Kraken

From everything I've read, the German POW's were generally treated well in Canada, and spent much of their time working on lumber camps on the lake. There also didn't seem to be as much tension and discord as both sides just wanted to make the best out of the situation. A game of cards involving both parties wasn't rare for instance.

In Russia, that's a whole other story though. Many got worked to death in the gulags being completely neglected of basic needs. Others spent as long as 8-12 years there, before returning to Germany in ill health and traumatized.

Bish

I know a lot of the German PoW's were shipped over to Canada. But i have no idea in what area they were held. If a lot worked in lumber mills, i am guessing in BC.

Kraken

Most were in Ontario.

List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Canada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia