Nazi Prisoners of War in America

Rating:
Summary: "I thought they wuz Yankees."
Review: At age 55, I've finally learned something about an American experience that ended two years before I was born. About time, don't you think?

NAZI PRISONERS OF WAR IN AMERICA is a concise and (apparently) comprehensive overview, which describes the incarceration of the roughly 375,000 captured members of the German military in 500+ camps and branch camps thoughout the United States from May 1942 to July 1946. The book's eight chapters summarize the process from initial capture and dispatch westward across the Atlantic through repatriation and return to Europe. In between, author Arnold Krammer depicts the general layout of the camps, the life behind barbed wire, the work and re-education programs, the escapes, and the ideological tensions between the ardently Nazi minority and non-Nazi majority that generally resulted in internal control of a camp's inmate population by the former prisoner group. Each chapter has a 4 to 8 page photo section relevant to its topic. The 44 pages of notes, based on a 15-page bibliography, indicate a commendable and thorough level of research.

As an informative exercise about an interesting topic, I can't find fault with NAZI PRISONERS OF WAR IN AMERICA. As a work of popular history for one casually interested in the subject, it's completely satisfying in all respects.

At times, there's even humor of a sort. In the chapter "Escapes", the author relates the incident wherein three U-boat submariners fled into the hills of Tennessee, where one was subsequently shot dead by an old granny defending her water pump. When told by the local deputy sheriff whom she'd killed, she broke down saying she'd never have fired if she'd known the men were Germans. Asked who she thought the intruders were, she replied:

"I thought they wuz Yankees." Bobbie Lee would have been proud.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent, enlightening
Review: I found Nazi Prisoners of War to be a fascinating look into the little known (and explored) history of American POW camps. This book really put a human face on the soldiers of Germany who weren't always Nazi sympathizers. I felt the author presented quite a balanced view of both the anti-Nazi prisoners and the pro-Nazi officers and enlisted men.

Of particular interest was the discussion of how the camps were run, the photographs of the prisoners and the stories of their escapes. Also, some stories were quite humorous: the story where the Americans tell the Germans to clean their barracks/common rooms and the German POWS refuse. The Americans perform a trick by telling them a high-ranking German officer would be imprisoned there to get them to comply without the use of force. This was quite clever.On the flip-side I found it disturbing that the American army officials preferred to supervise hard-core nazis in prisons because they were easier to manage, rather than anti-nazis. At times these officials encouraged nazism!

I recommend this book for a different and balanced look into the past.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible!
Review: I was lucky enough to be a student of Dr. Krammer's when I attended Texas A&M Univ. His grasp of the subject matter and readable style makes this book a must have for every history lover!

Rating:
Summary: Incredible!
Review: I was lucky enough to be a student of Dr. Krammer's when I attended Texas A&M Univ. His grasp of the subject matter and readable style makes this book a must have for every history lover!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and well-done book ...
Review: This is a very interesting and well-done book.

By interesting, I mean it's a unique topic. It never even occurred to me that their were POW camps in the US, and as it turns out there was one less than 20 miles from where I live.

And by well-done, I mean Krammer has done his homework in preparing for this book. The many many pictures are fascinating. The snippets from letters from German POWs are insightful, and even funny in some cases. And the various data, all with cited references in the bibliography, is the sign of a quality history book.

Just to give you an idea of what you'll find: escapes, internment process, re-education process, work programs, etc... it's all fascinating and reads quickly. Mostly, one gets a sense of how well we treated the German prisoners, and how well they responded, and how this stands in contrast to American prisoner's experience in either Japanese or German camps.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and well-done book ...
Review: This is a very interesting and well-done book.

By interesting, I mean it's a unique topic. It never even occurred to me that their were POW camps in the US, and as it turns out there was one less than 20 miles from where I live.

And by well-done, I mean Krammer has done his homework in preparing for this book. The many many pictures are fascinating. The snippets from letters from German POWs are insightful, and even funny in some cases. And the various data, all with cited references in the bibliography, is the sign of a quality history book.

Just to give you an idea of what you'll find: escapes, internment process, re-education process, work programs, etc... it's all fascinating and reads quickly. Mostly, one gets a sense of how well we treated the German prisoners, and how well they responded, and how this stands in contrast to American prisoner's experience in either Japanese or German camps.