Many times as a young child, I listened to the stories of fathers speaking of imprisonment in Nazi prisons. I even listened to stories of American farmers speak of German soldiers captured and brought to the States. What I personally experienced as a young woman in 1959 was a German who volunteered to turn himself over to Americans rather than the Russians in 1945 as one of the rocket program scientists. I came to love and respect him as a gentle soul who had lived to see his entire family bombed in Dresden where they lived for many generations and he never saw any of them alive ever again. So he became valuable to the space program and became an old man. Yet he remained forever locked into the trauma of war. Our own men came back traumatized forever with nightmares of screaming fellow soldiers lying out in the fields being tortured by German soldiers prodding them with force and our boys could do nothing knowing the Germans were baiting them. They lived with that guilt most of their lives. War is indeed hell and many of our own boys from Vietnam were never even acknowledged by Americans and instead came home to insults which greeted them as they came off ships in wheel chairs, or carried off on stretchers. The thing those protesters forgot was, they were drafted. Not volunteered. And so they came back home to yet more trauma. Some never got over it. My brother didn't.

One aspect does not quite ring true: "By 1946, all prisoners had been returned to their home countries." The U.S. may have shipped all prisoners out of the U.S. but not necessarily to freedom. Many tens or hundreds of thousands were sent to the UK where they were used as forced labor in the agriculture and not released until 1948. The U.S. also sent 740 000 to forced labor in France, where many were killed while being forced to clear minefields. Others were used as forced labor in the coal-mines, some until 1949. Wikipedia has a brief summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_labor_of_Germans_after_World_War_II

I don't like tacos, even though I am one.

My grandad is German. He was born in a farm in what is now Poland and lived amongst the polish. He started school at the age of 7 and left at 14 to attend agricultural school. He speaks fluent polish also. At the age of 17 he had to join the army, his father and brother had already joined. My grandad was basically guarding trains and we have talked lots about his experience. He never knew anything about what was going on, he was captured in Cherboug and you will find many were hastily put together and many were labourers. He was taken to Liverpool England then shipped to Boston then Scotsbluff. I have a book sketched in pencil one side in english and the other german. It has an Indiana seal 'Prisoner of war camp, camp atterbury, John L Gammell, Colonel U.S army commanding. My grandad ended up in Comrie scotland where eventually he was free, but his aunt from germany told him not to go home as many were going missing, some in russia. He met my gran and they married. My grandads mother unbeknown to him was given 24 hrs by polish civilians, people they had lived with all their lives and a previous generation also, and left the family farm, and with a horse and cart took the rest of the sibblings and headed to Halle in Germany. They had not much else as everything was left. My grandad never saw his mum until 27 years later 1969 when the Berlin wall went up. My Grandad had been living in scotland up to that point. He is a great guy and talks very positively of his experience and he learned a lot, the sketch book I have reflects this. I think you will find many German POWs did not support the nazi idealogy.

Also comparing current POWs to German POWs is not fair. First off many of the German POWs that this article where just regular joes. They where grunts who got caught and where happy they weren't getting shot at any more. Most Germans from this era that I spoke to didn't believe in the Nazi belief. This is evident even among German high command. My Great Grandmother who is German said she never believed in Hitler, and thought that the killing of Jews was senseless. When you ask why she didn't do anything about it she said "because I had 9 kids to raise and the Nazis put food on the table"

My family had 6 german POWs working on our farm in Neberaska. We had one POW who worked from us from approx 1943 to 1954 (yes 1954, after the war he hid out and the Army wasn't that concerned with tracking him down) During this time both during the war and post war he had developed a deep relationship with my Aunt? (my Grandpa's Sister) In 1954 he was finally deported in 1955 my Aunt flew to Germany and married him where they lived out the rest of their days. He passed in 93 I got to meet him although I was very young. I however do remember my Aunt who passed away in 2001. Their relationship was famous in the town, everyone knew the story and loved it. I remember he used to joke, he said "Had I known Americans would treat POWs with as much respect and dignity as they did. I would of joined the Army and in my first encounter with an America i'd of thrown my rifle down and raised my hands up"

As a kid growing up in Dearborn, Michigan, during the war, I think I remember my family driving by some German and some Italian POWs near Willow Run, west of Detroit. I think they were playing soccer in their shorts and without shirts. My Father wanted my brother and me to know that the Italians were not bad guys, but he said the real enemies were the Germans. I remember looking at the two groups and not being able to see any difference. I also have a vague memory of our driving near Leamington, over in Canada, and seeing POWs picking tomatoes out in big tomato fields. A neighbor two doors north of where we lived on North Waverly went down in Europe in a B-17. He was taken prisoner, sent to a camp in eastern Germany, and forced to march westward as the Soviet army approached. He received some very rough treatment on that march near the end of the war, but he survived the war and I never heard him speak badly of his German captors. The young man in the house just to the north of us also served in the European Theater, and I can recall some of the German "souvenirs" he brought home at the end of the war, including a pistol, a few badges or insignia, and two-lens, large "flak finder," one that stood on a tripod and that we kids enjoyed looking using to read small inscriptions on a Charles A Lindbergh school over a half a block away.

I had another Uncle who is an American who was at a pow camp in Florida. He said the German pow could get anything just about it in their PX's. He said he would talk to a pow and get him to get him hosery for his girlfriends because you couldn't buy them on the open market. He said of one incident a guard had a thompson MG and opened up on a prisoner and cut him in half. He was then courtmartialed and then charged for the cost of the bullets. But this was not a german pow but was an American soldier.

My Uncle Hugo had first talked about his experience as a pow after I had returned from Viet Nam and went to Germany on vacacation. He said he surrender with 15,000 other Germans at the Battle of The Bulge. He was I believe in with the Panzas. He said first he was in Colorado and worked in the fields. He said that they would let them go to town on weekends. He said then he was sent to ElPaso, Texas. He said everyone seemed to be real nice to them. He said they always smiled and spoke, but he said that they may have cussed them out while they smiled they wouldn't known. They had PX privilages and were abel to buy cigareets and about anything else including hosery. He didn't smoke so he sold his cigareets and when he returned back to Germany he was able to buy property and build a house. When the war was finally over he said people would spit at them and throw rocks.

When I was living in Australia, I found an autobiography in the local library written by a German WWII tank driver who was taken POW by the US. It was a fascinating read. Because he could speak excellent English, he found himself working in the admin offices of the POW camps. In his book he tells many amazing stories of events that happened while he was a POW. But you can tell that the really enjoyed his time here and really respected his treatment. He wasn't a Nazi. Just an 18 year old kid who was drafted in to the war. He ended up at a POW camp in the UK for many years after WWII, and married a local English woman and spent the rest of his life in England. He says he wrote to book to explain his experiences to his grandchildren. I really, really have tried to find the title of his book. I'm so sorry I can't find it. It was published in the UK and doubt he sold more than 5 copies. I read it in 2002. My favorite bits are the stories from his time at a POW camp near Phoenix. He and another POW were transferred to a camp in San Bernardino, CA. The army assigned two MP's in two jeeps to transport them there, about an 8 hour drive across the desert. As soon as they left base, the two MPs stopped and told the two POW's to drive one jeep so that the two MP's could chat on the long drive. The POWs were told told to follow the MP jeep. It wasn't long before the POWs got lost, never to find their MP's again. So they drove on to San Bernardino on what is now Interstate 10. When he crossed the Colorado River into California, he encountered the agriculture stop where Calif. officers check for prohibited fruit and veg. He panicked, thinking it was a security check. Two German POW's, driving alone in a US Army jeep in WWII across the Southwest US would not look good. But, they just asked him if he had any fruit and waived him on. He eventually found his way to the base, late a night, and their MP's were already there, fed, and bed.

My Grandfather who spent his whole life in the southwestern corner of Minnesota told me about his work during WWII. As a civilian, he was in charge of transporting German POW's to work as farm labor in the area farms. He told me that they never ever gave him any problems. He said the reason was that the German officer POWs kept all the enlisted POWs in line. He told me was very impressed with their discipline. I don't know where the camp was. Sorry. Probably near Marshall, MN.

I grew up in NW Indiana and met several Germans that were interned at a POW camp south of Chicago. The buildings were still there in the early 70's and were part of a Girl Scout camp. Think it was part of the Sweetwoods South park system. Believe the Germans said they were captured in Italy and were surprised by the generousity of thier captors. Said the gaurds allowed people to pass them sandwiches and fruit at railroad stops. They worked on area farms that were owned by folks of German and Dutch heritage who fed them like family along with home made beer. They were encouraged to stay in touch after the war, which they did. Many returned home only to find all of their families dead or missing and their towns utterly destroyed. They went to the US Army looking for work and were offered to become recruits in the US Occupational Army to serve as interprators working with the DP's trying to go home. Once their enlistment ended then they were eligible to immigrate to the USA. They did and returned to camp area where they were warmly welcomed back.

German POWs worked at the JP Ritter compamy in Bridgeton, New Jersey during WWII. Does anyone have pictures or stories of this time in history?

I live in Orange County, in Southern California as I have all of my life. Grew up on an orange ranch in Fullerton, Ca. As a child I have memories of German POWs with guards that came to pick our oranges at harvest time. It was an interesting time, but have found no one else now that I'm in my later years to confirm this. Does someone have any information about POWs in Orange County, California.