Camp Ruston: German P.O.W.'s in Louisiana | 2007

[@zippymufo9765]

There was one legendary story about how a farmer pretty much turned over the entire farm management to the POWs, who had all been raised on farms in Germany. When it was announced that all POWs had to be returned to Germany (as the Geneva Convention requires) he protested that "But my business will fall apart without these guys running it!"

[@rickbar123]

I worked for a POW. He was captured and sent to one of these camps. After the war, he went home and became a policeman. He hated it and moved to America, just outside Philadelphila. He opened a restaurant and raised a very nice family. The food was fantastic and the beer was even better. My sister was a barmaid and worked her way thru college, earning enough to pay her own way. I was a busboy and a dishwasher. He paid well and treated us very good. He was loved by many people.

[@Grenadier311]

Back when the American dream was a reality. Thanks for sharing.

[@coldfrostice]

My father was a POW and was in one of these camps. He was 2 years in USA and 1 year in UK. He was captured in Normandie in the fall 1944. He was a good father and married my mother here in Norway. We was of course often in Germany with his family. He was 18 when he volunteered and his brother was 16.

[@vrvaughn]

@@Grenadier311the American Dream is still a reality.. We just need to bring back strong unions and get corporate executive pay back into a realistic scope. Don’t tell me that higher medical costs are the cause of high monthly payments for seniors and then pay 11 top executives of one health insurance company over 75 million dollars

[@TheJackBaker]

very much agreed!!@@vrvaughn

[@taliabraver]

Cant say the Germans treated our Americans the same,monsters!

[@jacksonbiggs4291]

My mom and her sister took food and supplies to the P.O.W.'s there. They were treated good. My dad was a put into a German POW camp in Germany B-17 pilot shot down then captured. He and a buddy escaped in a snow storm. They found a house with a woman that took them in fed them and darned their socks and repaired.uniforms. they asked why she was so nice and she pulled out a picture of her only son. She said he was in the USA in a Ruston louisiana POW camp AND he'd gain weight and looked so much better than when he left for the war. I am trying to thank your Country for taking such great care of him. German soliders showed up to take them back but the woman said she'd look after them while they gathered up the other prisoners and they could come back to pick them up. Tht gave her a chance to make them more food and they got a chance to dry off more. My mom didn't even know my dad at that time. Met after the War. I could tell so many stories about this time.

[@patsadventures6381]

My uncle told me of the story when the guards took some POW's into town for some work and supplies. The guards then decided to stop at a bar and told all of the POW's to stay in the truck. Hours passed and finally a couple of the POW's went into the bar to find the guards passed out drunk. The POW's drug the guards back to the truck, loaded them in, and the POW drove the truck back to the camp. The POW's did not want any problems apparently.....funny story.

[@lucymanet3297]

Ha, like the time when Newkirk transported Schultzie back to Stalag 13 in a wheelbarrow after (Newkirk made sure that) Schultz got drunk at the town bar.🤣 (Hogan's Heroes.) Never had a clue that the US ever held POW's in America.

[@armybeef68]

@@lucymanet3297 Educate yourself. There's probably a lot you don't know but are quick to assume.

[@tomservo5347]

I think the German officers realized that escaping was out of the question in the middle of nowhere, plus why ruin such marvelous privileges? All the POW's agreed that the mess hall was really good (along with the harvest meals farm families would lay out for their workers). I've heard countless times of guards needing to use the latrine, and handing their rifle to a POW to watch. I also read in various camps a Nazi Party member would try taking over the camp-and the regular officers and enlisted POW's put a stopper on it. Rather unfair how history lumps them altogether.

[@claypiper8374]

Well, not all German soldiers were SS troops or even a Hitler fanatic. Some of those soldiers were drafted into the war and wanted nothing but to go home to their families. Late in the war Germany got so desperate for soldiers they were declaring Poles in the Polish Corridor "ethnic germans" and drafting them. Sometimes unwillingly. So I can understand alot of those P.O.W.'s just wanting to behave and go home.

[@37thousand]

The way you used the word “drag” in the past tense made me re read the paragraph like 3 times 😂😂😂

[@gabydersch1482]

My father was one these German prisoners. He was 20 years old. We have his pictures and documents of his 2 year stay at a POW camp in the US. He gained weight and said they treated him very well. He then spent another 2 years building roads in Great Britian. He then finally arrived back home to Germany in 1947. Thank you for the post. God bless you.

[@philzolth4710]

My uncle was at camp gruber in oklahoma , when he died in the 1980s my dad was sent some of his stuff well all my dad got was his documents from camp gruber they were facinating to read because my dad didn’t talk about the war , my uncles documents said he was shot twice and put in hospital and there were also his German ID with nazi stamps on them, my dad burned it all just before he died i was a bit annoyed because I wanted that stuff

[@softailspringer9915]

I’ve wondered how the children of Nazi soldiers wrap their minds around what their fathers did

[@jakisfly]

@@softailspringer9915 pretty easily I’m sure

[@theluckyegg3613]

@@softailspringer9915 You really should study history first, before you make comments like that. It has never been easier to gather information than now. Internet 4G / 5G.

[@theluckyegg3613]

@@jakisfly You really should study history first, before you make comments like that. It has never been easier to gather information than now. Internet 4G / 5G.

[@mcedd54]

While serving with the US Army in the early 1980's, 1/33 Armored Battalion, 3 Armored Division, Gelnhausen, West Germany, my wife and I lived in an apartment not too far from the Kaserne. My landlord was a WWII veteran who had served in the Kriegsmarine throughout most of the war. In the Spring of 1945 his naval unit no longer had a mission so they were absorbed into a rag-tag battalion of the Wehrmacht. Given rifles they were placed in defensive positions to hold back the Allied forces that were approaching. They were soon attacked by a British armored column, quickly overrun and forced to surrender. He and his best buddy were sent to a rear area and placed in a hasty POW camp. After a few days he and his Bud decided that the Brit chow was not to their liking. They heard a rumor that the Americans were just a bit South of them and made an escape attempt that night and succeeded. They crept through the night and later the next day encountered and surrendered to the first Americans they spotted. They both decided that the risk they took was well worth their while as the GI 'cuisine' was much better with real coffee, an adequate supply of American cigarettes and even the rare gift of a Coca Cola. After VE day he was eventually processed out and sent home. He told me he never forgot the decent treatment he'd received from the Americans and the respect he had gained by seeing the time and effort the USA put into rebuilding and healing his country. He was a great landlord and also became a very dear friend. I will always remember his humor and kindness.

[@b.wright1597]

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 GOD bless

[@fligemon]

3AD Divarty in Hanau 79 to 81……….Gelnhausen 2nd Brigade was our supported unit

[@jackjohnsen8506]

I was in the US Army in 1966 to 1967 in Southern Germany in a Dental lab that had many Germans employed, who were in the German Military, during WW 2. I had a group I ran that had a German named Victor Zimmerman, who followed my direction. He was a survivor of Stalingrad, and three years of prison camp, by the Russians. I didn't speak German, and He didn't speak English, so we came to a new Language, call Gerlish....and knew just what the other was saying. He died while I was there at age 56, because of the abuse he got from the Russians. My whole command went to the funeral in class A uniform, 90 miles away....with my commander, leading..an 06

[@derrick4544]

@@jackjohnsen8506 ...and you're proud of that?

[@billkaldem5099]

@@derrick4544 you’ve obviously never been in the military. You no conception of the respect one soldier has for another.

[@never2late454]

My uncle was a guard at this camp. He had a couple of the P.O.W.s who were cabinet makers during peacetime, they made my grandmother a hutch that I still own to this day. The workmanship and quality is top notch. Growing up I always heard stories of how they were extremely well behaved and very friendly.

[@Anthony-vx1tx]

Ya... extremely well behaved, especially in the concentration camps all over the Europe.

[@toastnjam7384]

My dad was a POW camp guard. He said they were a industrious bunch, always making stuff out of scrap wood to sell. Some made all wood coo-coo clocks.

[@beatrixbrennan1545]

@@Anthony-vx1tx maybe it was a change of their environment that changed their behavior.

[@pawelpap9]

Of course they were well behaved, they had no arms.

[@davesy6969]

You keep your grandmother in a hutch?

[@gateway8833]

I went to High School with a guy that his Dad was a German POW, when he got to the US he asked what he had to do to become a citizen of America. He was a great guy.

[@nole8923]

@Abby Babby. If I was a German soldier in Africa or on the western front I would surrender at the first opportunity. I would say take me to a prison camp in America, anywhere but Louisiana.🤣

[@onionhead5780]

Min Tin Tell that to a victim of the Holocaust.

[@tk9839]

@Min Tin I don't mind the Germans but ask the French, Dutch, Belgium, Poles, and Russians ..they'd probably disagree vehemently.

[@gljay]

@@tk9839 Russians weren't anything to write home about either. Germans ran to the American zone to get away.

[@tk9839]

@@gljay never said the Russians were angels but the revenge factor made them vicious and numb...It appears the Canadian soldiers were the most decent...

[@blockmasterscott]

My mom was born in 1946 in Louisiana. She told me that as a little girl in the 50s she met former German POWs in Louisiana that decided to live there and had no intention ever of going back to Germany. She also told me that in grade school there were a lot of kids whose fathers were former POWs that decided to live in the States.

[@johnj.flanagan-hymnsoffaith]

You know why they were mostly smiling? For them, the war was over, no chance of being sent to fight the Russians in the frozen fields of Siberia. After the war, some of them settled in Louisiana and learned how to barbecue baloney, southern style. We had lots of German POW's imprisoned upstate New York. I ran into a bunch of these ex-vets in Brooklyn, and more than a few moved into German neighborhoods in the city, and worked in some of the meat packing plants. They were hard and excellent workers, very reliable and conscientious, ethical, and disciplined. I think they adapted to America very well, and being half German myself, I can see how they assimilated quite well.

[@r2gelfand]

Barbecue baloney! Never heard it prepared like that! We just called it 'fried' baloney. I used to eat it growing up. Then I went to live in Mobile and it was cuisine down there in LA.

[@gondolfozarzana1527]

While stationed in Germany 1961-64, I had a German husband and wife as close friends. He did not want to go in the German Army, he was soon a POW housed Arkansas when the war was over he begged to stay in the U.S. His wife during the war hid downed pilots in her basement and helped them return to England. Both received good jobs with the U.S. facilities in Germany after the war because of her heroic efforts.

[@gondolfozarzana1527]

How did they do it? I never asked for detail, but the did it. The wife received an honorable award from the U.S. military for her actions. Both are deceased so I can't get an answer for you. She did show me the cellar where the pilots were hidden in Limburg.

[@tyroniousyrownshoolacez2347]

🤣🤣🤣🤣👉 Bravo Sierra. Never happened rube.

[@jackjohnsen8506]

My Father was a Naval officer on a US Navy troop transport called the USS Dorothea L Dicks. The ship was in north Africa, picking up German Prisoners of war, and they were all naked as they went trough their personal articles. One German soldier, stood before my Dad, buck naked, and saluting and clicking his heels together and pointing at one sailor, and gesturing. My Dad asked the sailor what he did, and the sailor denied taking something, my Dad said give it back right now, and the sailor gave an Iron cross, back to the German, and The German, saluted my dad, and thanked Him... If anyone in Germany has heard this story, and were a relative of that German, My Dad is now dead, and his name was Ray A Johnsen My Dad said he was very impressed with The professionalism of the Africa Corp....

[@robinmorris5416]

My best friend I grew up with, his mother grew up in Nuri burg germany. She told me for the last 2 years of the war, all her family had to eat were turnips. Also, while out walking home with her friends, an American p51 saw them, and dived at them, but luckily for some reason he didn't fire at them, only scared them half to death. She said she can still remember seeing the pilots face, and he was smiling at them. Anyway, my buddies father, who was a staff sargent during the war, somehow met, and fell in love with her, married her and brought her over to the states. She worked her whole life and was a model citizen. I loved that lady, as she was like a 2nd mother to me and now all I have are their memories. My friend, his mom, and dad are now all gone. But I still love, and miss them terribly.

[@73THUNDERDOME73]

Thank for sharing this! Don’t ever let those memories go

[@robinmorris5416]

@@73THUNDERDOME73 yeah, she was an awesome lady, a hard worker, and a great example of a 2nd mom. Luckily, she wasn't ever radicalized in the nazi party. Her family participated in what they had to for the regime, but they secretly were praying for the u.s. and britain to come in and liberate the citizens. She told me, most families didn't practice pure naziism, only what they were forced to endure. She was 18 at the end of the war, and that's when my buddies dad, found her amongst the rubble of nuremberg and brought her home to Georgia. Thanks for the comment.

[@robinmorris5416]

@@user-oj7hu4lc8v it's a typo dude, the "n" that's supposed to be there didn't print, & I'm to lazy to edit. Btw, I actually misspelled it, the word and town is Nuremberg, now hopefully this will satisfy your "german" curiosity of the geography of your country. Thanks for asking!

[@jimmyraythomason1]

A lady I knew back in the 1960s was a native born Japanese who married a U.S. Navyman. She was a young girl at the end of the war and said they had to glean what they could from the rice fields for what little food they had. She said that many times they were strafed by their own fighter planes and had to dive into ditches the avoid being killed.

[@captainpinky8307]

@@jimmyraythomason1 why were Japanese civilians being strafed by the Japanese air force for???

[@chrisw2119]

I met many (more than ten) Ex prisoners from Germany who stayed in America after the war ,They became Good American citizens,Many of them had no home in Germany left.They started a new life here in the U.S.

[@3John-Bishop]

Every time we have a war we always end up with the refugees

[@TDL-xg5nn]

None of them wanted to go back if they were going to be in the Russian zone.

[@adscri]

Trump supporters no doubt.

[@raysalter2270]

@@adscri TRUMP 2020 LOVE FROM a German POW

[@jorgebravo415]

Helt riktig.

[@hunterglass1840]

My mother was a resident in Ruston, La. during this time. She said that her neighbor worked at the camp and they said that the POWs were well behaved and courteous. She said there was an apparent issue when a group tried to start or take over the camp with a Nazi Party push. This was apparently unwelcomed and was squashed by the other inmates. This was the first time she learned all Germans were not Nazis.

[@tracyo6553]

Cool story! I bet your Mom has more stories that we don’t read about in history books. Hope you get to record all of them.

[@ReneStover]

@@tracyo6553 There is much you won't read about in the history books!

[@MrHoefnix]

@Clorox Bleach We will not be intimidated by Black lives matter, Antifa and gender-neutral toilets.

[@jamessilberschlag1705]

@Clorox Bleach Nazis aren't left wingers, dolt. Our conservatives and evangelicals are closest to the mindset of the Nazis - loyalty to the president, not to the Constitution and body of laws.

[@joshmartin1938]

@@jamessilberschlag1705 Listen up nitwit. Nazis took wealth, power and guns away. Please do some reading / research.

[@unclemikeb]

Near Rockford, IL, there was a camp with Germans and Italians. After about six months one of the Italian guys became a trustee such that he was allowed to accompany guards to town on errands to get needed supplies. He was stunned by how modern things were. He could not believe that every house had phones and electricity. The grocery stores made his eyes pop open. When the war ended, he protested being sent back to Italy, he wanted to stay. But per the terms of geneva convention he HAD to go back. It only took a few years for him to save up money for a boat trip and he came back to Rockford, got work, by then his English was quite good. He ended up working at the plant with me.

[@mynamedoesntmatter8652]

Italy was floundering in fascism and war and Mussolini, until they seized control over their country enough to get rid of that bad dictator. Those people didn’t stand a chance until after the war when they rebuilt, caught a breath and caught up with the world a bit.

[@georgeh.7238]

My dad a WWII vet, mentioned one time when he was being transported through Louisiana at a train depot a bunch of German POWs (probably from Africa) were passing by and he said he has never seen more fit, handsome, and tan soldiers in his life until he saw them.

[@paulazemeckis7835]

Yummy!!!

[@benbasinger7547]

The Afrika Corps were good soldiers and were very well led. My Dad when he came back from the South Pacific after being wounded was in the MPs ,guarded and transported some POWs at Camp Blanding in Florida . The local farmers used these POWs as farm labor and especially liked the Afrika corp because most were acclimated to the heat and humidity of Florida.

[@poetcomic1]

Afrika Korps were respected by their enemies and like the sailors in 'Das Boot' submarines, they didn't think much of Hitler.

[@sassycat6487]

Those Germans were very admired while in America. I've read stories about how they constantly were having to fire women working in the camps because they were getting frisky with the boys. I also read teenage girls were climbing the fences of the camps to get to them 😹

[@jamesjohannes1442]

My father, who was fluent in German, was one of the first American guards at Camp Ruston. Much of what he told me about that experience is captured in this film. For many years he corresponded with one of the prisoners.

[@hubertkaiser8581]

Gefangenschaft in den USA schweissst zusammen...nur in Russland nicht.... Warum wohl?

[@alfnoakes392]

My grandmother in North Nottinghamshire had a German PoW allotted to her to help her grow food (she lived on the edge of town and had a large garden). He was a volunteer and was delivered by a truck in the morning (with other PoWs being taken to other workplaces) and picked up in the evening. He came back to visit in the late 60s, he had become a Pastor and seemed a really decent chap. He said he had promised his God that if he survived the War he would serve Him ... he had been a Despatch Rider, which he described as basically providing target practice for snipers.

[@isaiahvillarreal4512]

Great story. I was a dispatch rider ( motorcycle courier) in LOS ANGELES for 37 yrs. Only time I got shot at was during the LA RIOTS of 92. Got hit in the knee by a 22. Hurt like hell.

[@darrickmalloy6909]

Man will never turn down some good ole slave labor.😞

[@EthanDyTioco]

@@darrickmalloy6909 what, you'd rather this guy get shot in the war? manual labor in a country an ocean away from fighting wasn't so bad for a lot of them.

[@MisterApol]

@@darrickmalloy6909 Workers were paid. They were not slaves.

[@billwilson-es5yn]

​@@darrickmalloy6909 Made them work like Hebrew slaves, too.

[@thomaslastname3500]

I grew up in Ruston, later joining the U.S. Army as an interrogator for 25 years. I'm now teaching Soldiers about detention facility operations, interrogations, enrollmes, etc. I had no idea the history that town held and am deeply appreciative of my uncle Dale for finding this.

[@thomaslastname3500]

@CharlyRomeo2009 35M Human Intelligence Collector to be exact

[@jamesb.9155]

I met a friends father in his 90's who spent the war years from 1940, interned at one of the Canadian PW camps. He was a U-Boat officer captured in the English Channel. The camp commander sponsored his return to Canada with his wife where they later became American citizens. His children and even some grandchildren can speak German because he asked that German be spoken daily at the dinner table! It was a very interesting meeting and conversation with that gentleman.

[@donalddumas6987]

There was a few POW camps in Northern Ontario Canada. Lowther Ontario was one of them. My Grandfather supervised POW's on logging crews. Many learned to play French Canadian fiddle tunes and brought some of the French Canadian culture back with them. Likewise some French Canadians musicians learned to play polkas and other European music.

[@unclemikeb]

A guy from work told me of an uncles farm that got German pow to help with chores. In time they became friends with the pow and helped them write letters home. The Germans told them life even at the pow camp was better than life had been in the military. The men were glad to have a good life since they had a good deal of freedom when they went to the farms. Some of them even migrated to the US and wrote letters to the farm owners letting them know they were grateful for how they were treated. That's success.

[@darrickmalloy6909]

Wow! But I get it. But propaganda has no to do with it. People like who they like.😞

[@latsnojokelee6434]

There’s a video about the POW camp in Minnesota and it’s very similar to this where the Germans had plays and skits they put on, worked in the fields for the locals, and a lot of them went back to Germany and then brought their wives back and immigrated back to the US. US.

[@deanronson6331]

@@darrickmalloy6909 It's pretty obvious who is under the thrall of propaganda.

[@darrickmalloy6909]

@@deanronson6331 did you drink the cleanser? Just try it what do you have to loose? Lol 😂 drink up my friends. Please

[@deanronson6331]

@@darrickmalloy6909 It's also obvious that you, as a true-blue trumpoid, imbibed some Lysol when the orange bozo suggested that you should.

[@veteransfortrump8916]

Being from Pennsylvania many POWs housed here, settled here and became Americans. Enemies in War, Brothers in Peace.

[@YeOldeTowneCryer]

In the 1940's if t hey had any interaction with locals they would have heard some German words being used as many Germans settled in the PA prior to 1940.

[@martentrudeau6948]

The Pennsylvania Dutch, that settled in PA, were basically Germans. Pennsylvania and Germans are like peas and carrots, they go together.

[@thebeatnumber]

While black comrades in arms were treated like 3rd class citizens.

[@kennethprice8710]

Well,that makes sense there is a Germantown,Pennsylvania afterall.

[@daltonlocklear3399]

@@thebeatnumber don't forget about the native Americans, some of us are still around uk

[@Biloxiblues77]

My Grandfather was a POW in the US. I don't know exactly where, I think some where in the southwest, but to his dying day he repeated that if he had known all the shit he had to endure with his wife, my grandmother, he would have stayed in America! My guess is he really liked it there!!! On his behalf I would like to thank the US for the hospitality he received.

[@SloMo2723]

In 1975 I got to spend Christmas with a German man who was captured by the Americans and was sent to a Texas POW camp. The stories he told me was amazing! One of the most memorable I've experienced.

[@dennischallinor8497]

When I lived in Calgary a neighbour of mine was a POW at Seebee AB and he said they hadn't eaten that well in 10 yrs. He eventually worked for a farmer who hired him back after his repatriation. A good man!!!

[@kateeilers574]

Chatted with an Austrian who was a POW in Kansas. He remembered his internment fondly because one of their tasks was to pick apples for the local farmers. As time went on they were allowed to go into town for the dances. As he spoke it was apparent he went away and was probably dancing with a robust Kansas girl.

[@darrickmalloy6909]

Yeah. I hear they were treated better than African Americans.

[@darrickmalloy6909]

Ah the good ole days

[@tdirtyatl]

@@darrickmalloy6909 They were.

[@sassycat6487]

@@darrickmalloy6909 they were! And it's interesting reading about how Black Americans were treated better sometimes by the Germans than Americans. I saw a story recently about a German POW married a Black lady who was working at the camp. I also was reading a story about someone who was liberated by Americans in a concentration camp and he woke up in the Army hospital and saw a Black soldier and a German woman together if you know what I'm saying.

[@catherinelw9365]

@@sassycat6487 And yet many black servicemen were tortured and executed by the Nazis. So your story is irrelevant. A German woman with a black soldier, not the same thing.

[@mechengineer4894]

Didn't have time to watch this vid, but there's quite a few heartwarming details of German POW's held in the US. Quite a few had the liberty to leave the camp unescorted to help out farms in the area and became very good friends. Most notable was when one of the farmer's wives just had a baby and a German POW all distraught because he also became a father just before he was captured and sent to the US. So he got the POW working on the farm with the new family member to ask if it was OK to let him hold their baby just for a few minutes. So the wife handed him their baby and he started sobbing like a little schoolgirl which caused everyone else in the room to start sobbing like little schoolgirls. Apparently, this happened quite often with the POWs.

[@jimfillingim1523]

I had an uncle ...a veteran of the Kriegsmarine who was captured and sent to a camp in Texas. After the war he married and lived in Florida.

[@philzolth4710]

My uncle was in the kriegsmarine and was at camp gruber oklahoma as a pow he went back to Germany, my dad was a boy soldier in the kreigsmarine and came to Australia 🇦🇺

[@a.w.wehmeier3970]

Sounds like possibly camp.fannin. which is outside of Tyler texas.

[@joecastillo7638]

@@a.w.wehmeier3970 I was in the Air Force and went through added training at Camp Bullis outside of San Antonio. There were wooden barracks there and we were told that they were used for holding German POWs. Not sure if that was true.

[@vivians9392]

@@a.w.wehmeier3970 Or, maybe Huntsville, TX?

[@Lucyinthskyy]

@@vivians9392 there was a camp in Hearne, TX as well

[@christianbrother4724]

What a great film. My parents were children in Louisiana during World War II. I had always heard that my Grandfather was a guard at one of the German POW camps. I am not sure which one. My mother always said that he would bring home many arts, crafts and handmade items that the German prisioners would make. Thanks for this film.

[@JeromeGardiner]

My father was taken prisoner during the battle of the bulge. He was a POW for 6 months, and escaped as the war was coming to an end. He weighed 86 pounds when he was taken to an Army hospital. The guards, he said were all starving as well. It was the coldest winter in history and constant allied bombing of the marshaling yards had stopped the rail systems completely, Food on the farms rotted on the farms while men and women starved. During it all, the guards were friendly and professional. His stay at Stahlag 13B was as good as it could be, When Red Cross Care Packages came in for the prisoners, they were shared with the guards as well. The Red Cross with our care packages coming in from home kept many a man alive during Feb, 1945. They lived on cabbage soup. The treatment of US prisoners has a great deal to do with the treatment of German POWs in the states. Every Nazi in the beginning were German, but not all Germans were Nazi's.

[@mynamedoesntmatter8652]

I’m very that found your comment. I’m thankful your father survived that ordeal; none of us can ever understand what that generation went through during the war, regardless where they were. My father served in Italy where he was wounded twice, almost fatally the second time. He spent a year total in hospital. I have a lot pictures of him in those first years after he was discharged, some in his uniform. I have his dress jacket. I’m a small woman and it fits me. My father was about six feet tall, not a small man. God bless you and your family ~~~~~ IMO your comment should be pinned, and it definitely should be read by everyone.

[@anthonyfoutch3152]

If they couldn't get food from the farms i wonder how they got the red cross packages there?

[@JeromeGardiner]

@@anthonyfoutch3152 Red Cross had the advantage of markings and mutual agreement which allowed them access, (limited of course) to the camps. German Red Cross members would pick up the packages and move them inside Germany.

[@outrageousalan7780]

Texas held 50,000 German POWs in WW2. Several of them had such great experiences during their incarceration in the Lone Star State that after the war, they were repatriated to Germany then turned around and returned to their new adopted state. I have met several of them. Wonderful people.

[@ClancyWoodard-yw6tg]

Yes That is very true where we go hunting at in East Texas is the site of camp Lufkin

[@chas6648]

My dad was a camp guard for German POW's in the western US. He said they were a industrious bunch. They were constantly making stuff out of scraps. Some would make Coo-Coo clocks out of scrap wood to sell to the locals and guards.

[@ButterBallTheOpossum]

Thats super cool. I wonder if any of those clocks survived and exist today? It would be cool to see.

[@EddieLeal]

@@ButterBallTheOpossum Google it and see what pops up. You never know.

[@supernova5107]

Where do you think the term German engineering comes from?🤔

[@supernova5107]

@angela williams are you offended because I'm trying to throw a little humor in the topic?

[@crosisofborg5524]

The proper spelling is cuckoo clock

[@samkohen4589]

Famous story here. There was this Black sailor when his ship was in port was unable to find a place where he could eat. He suddenly found the place there in Louisiana where the German POWs had their eating hall, so he decided to have a meal there. Within seconds of entering the place he was suddenly arrested by an MP for trying to eat in a place reserved for whites only. I guess there were no Black German POWs

[@j.b.4340]

That story can't be true Mister KOHEN.

[@softailspringer9915]

@@j.b.4340 It certainly could have been true. Don’t you read any history?

[@64mustangfan]

This is a warm story about decency and humanity, what binds us rather than what separates us. I am of German decent, but interestingly discovered that one of my ancestors died at the battle of Gettysburg, 119th NY Infantry.

[@agwbcfjc2]

During the war of 1861, Lincoln was running out of soldiers. Many northern men did not want to die in that conflict. So Lincoln offered land to European men (If they survived.) who would come to this country to fight. I wonder if your ancestor was one of those men who responded to the offer. BTW, many Irishmen came here in response to that proposition as well.

[@timothydavidcurp]

Many of the Germans who came over to the US prior to the Civil War were political refugees from the failed effort to create a more free Germany in 1848 (they wanted a more unified but also democratizing reality in various German spaces - since I realize "Germany" was not yet a political reality at that time). Most of them became fierce supporters of the Union (they looked at slavery and the Southern planters as being too much like the aristocracy who had driven them from their homes/dashed their hopes of a more democratic Germany).

[@agwbcfjc2]

​@@timothydavidcurp Those early German immigrants of 1848 probably went on to fall prey to the propagandistic lies that the "civil" war was a civil war and that the war was fought over slavery. America is still paying for that lie. Lincoln's War was fought over whether or not the United sates would be led by a confederation of states joined by mutual agreement or a country led by a CENTRAL AUTHORITY. Lincoln and the central authoritarians won. Look at how the government has insinuated itself into every facet of our daily lives. The government controls how much water is used in your toilet! I know this is hard for you to read; and it may be too late in America's history to get back onto the right track, as laid down by our founding fathers; but still I owe a debt to the truth to try to speak that truth to my fellow countryman.

[@vivians9392]

I remember (vaguely)driving past the POW camp at about age 3, located at Huntsville, TX. We saw prisoners out playing baseball, and my Dad would drive slowly to observe them. He had a fascination seeing them up close and would probably have liked to converse with some of them, since his parents had come to America as immigrant teens, before WWI. He was fluent in German and was a great mechanic, later owning his own Body Works/Mechanics shop in Texas. I used to be mesmerized when he and his large family would get together at family reunions, all speaking Deutsch! He was 6'3", had blond hair and turquoise blue eyes, with looks similar to Gary Cooper. I was so thankful he was born an American!!

[@darrickmalloy6909]

I hear they were treated better than the African Americans. Ah the good ole days

[@heli-crewhgs5285]

You should not have been driving aged three! 👶🏻 🚗

[@JP2GiannaT]

Tex Duetch! My Oma grew up speaking it too. :) She didn't pass it on to her kids though, sad to say.

[@Ashton351]

​@@darrickmalloy6909 I hear the African Americans were treated better.

[@tomservo5347]

My German mom's cousin was sent to Huntsville, Texas POW camp where he developed a love for Pepsi-Cola, and the kind ranch family he worked for.

[@vivians9392]

Huntsville is the one I remember as a 3 yr old. I live in Houston, and we would pass there on road trips. They seemed to like baseball.

[@barryguyer8174]

Cool

[@frankmontez6853]

hmmm there's a regular DOC prison there . I wonder if they made it from this ?

[@tomservo5347]

As Tocqueville stated 200 years ago, 'America is great because it's people are good.' You can bet the German POW's were immensely relieved when they found out they were going to the US for internment. POW's on trains remembered being greeted in German by people on the platform of German descent.

[@SBS_Auto]

I live a few miles south in montgomery. Necer heard of this till now. Had no idea they kept pow's in the us

[@jeffersonspace]

Dad served in WWII playing upright bass for the Air Transport Command based in Miami Beach. Before enlisting he was a student of Louisiana Tech. After the war he returned to finish his Bachelors in Music degree. While he was there he made friends with a man named Johnny Parrot. Mr. Parrot became the Mayor of Ruston during the 60's, and 70's. I visited there back in 71 on the way to California. Interesting video. Beautiful country. Thanks, and bless.

[@dawnandy7777]

My husband's father was born in 1924 in Austria. His mother was an orphan and raped in her 30s. My FIL was raised in poverty and social stigma. He used to say that his father didn't even give him the dirt under his fingernails. He was drafted into the German army. He was wounded and captured by Americans in 1943. While in camp, he claimed he never lived as well. The POWs wore hand-me-down American uniforms and ate the same rations as American soldiers. He learned how to speak English, which helped him immigrate to Canada in the early 1950s. His WWII experience was vastly better than that of my Polish family. Which included Nazi work camps, Soviet gulags, etc. Not to mention not being able to immigrate to Canada from Soviet occupied Poland after the war. My FIL knew he won the lottery by being captured by Americans.

[@supernova5107]

Thanks for sharing. It's nice to hear a happy ending in so much pain and misery that war always has to offer.

[@dawnandy7777]

@Wally Reyes Germans after WWII recognized what the American corporatists were doing. In the 1970s they put laws in place to control their corrupt corporations. As a result, their current social democracy has a better capitalism than America does. E.g., They didn't de-industrialize when Reagan empowered China. This is a bipartisan corruption in America. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codetermination_in_Germany

[@wisconsinfarmer4742]

there are many great stories in the comments. This one brought a tear.

[@dawnandy7777]

@@wisconsinfarmer4742 They are all deceased now, hopefully at peace. Because both sides of my husband's and my family were deeply damaged psychologically. I weep for the victims of today's wars.

[@billm777]

I lived in Germany during the 80's and speak German due to US Army training. I was living in Munich and dating a girl from Hamelin, the town with the Pied Piper. Her father came down to visit her and I met him at lunch. I brought up that I had recently visited a sister in Washington state. The guy said, "Oh Washington! I have been there." I then asked - "Great! We you on vacation?" At that moment his face turned red as he slammed his fist on the table and shouted angrily - "I was a prisoner of war!" I glanced at my girlfriend who gave me a pained look while motioning - "Do not go there." I quickly changed the subject. He apparently didn't have any fond memories of his stay in the US as a POW. I wish I could have explored that subject.

[@n4120p]

just chill out and open another bottle of whatever ....

[@Lucyinthskyy]

He should’ve been happy that the Russians didn’t catch him

[@kickit59]

@@Lucyinthskyy Most of the German POW's didn't survive the Russian experience!

[@robertnielsen2461]

I noticed a huge smile on the faces of some German prisoners after they were captured.Can you blame them.

[@user-nq4sc4tg2r]

Jack pot

[@bobbycapitaine3199]

@@user-nq4sc4tg2r nn n

[@xxdomoxxkunxx]

Going from heat so hot your shoes melt or cold so bad your skin falls off to drinking coke cola and eating legit Louisiana BBQ sounds pretty good

[@Redpillpat]

Well they are happy it wasn’t the Russians.

[@TheThatoneguy12121]

@@Redpillpat Exactly. A lot of German fighters surrendered and landed on US airfields knowing their fate was in a lot better hands with them than the Russians.

[@gspaulsson]

El Alamein is in Egypt, not Tunisia. Trivia aside, making it known that PoWs were well treated surely encouraged many soldiers to surrender- especially near the end of the war, when whole units went west to surrender to the Americans rather than the Soviets.

[@salimyilmaz9342]

That’s only the half truth. A lot of the Germans pov suffered in the Rheinwiesenlager. They didn’t get food and the international Red Cross wasn’t allowed to enter the camp. Maybe it was an act of revenge from the allies for what the Germans did with the Jews. Also these Soldiers weren’t recognized as POW, rather the western allies recognized them as disarmed enemy forces, so they didn’t fall under the laws of the Geneva convention. So they could used the Germans for forced labour and dangerous jobs like minesweeping for instance. All in all you could say that the Germans were threaded best by the British, than the Americans and very bad by the french and worst by the soviets. It is also true that German pows in the us Canada and England were much better treated than the Germans in France and Germany. Maybe because the allies did this because they saw the atrocities what their Germans did there in the concentration camps.

[@AndyBeck1970]

Unless there is another El Alamein in Tunisia, it is in Egypt. Even in 1942. It was the Tunisia campaign, though.

[@maddyg3208]

@LUIS VELEZ Yes El Alamein definetely was, and still is, in Egypt. But now it's also in Melbourne, Australia, where the suburb of Alamein is named after the location of the big victory.

[@maddyg3208]

@@AndyBeck1970 The El Alamein battle was before the Tunisian campaign

[@salimyilmaz9342]

LUIS VELEZ nah thats to easy explained. For example in the Baltic countries they really loved Germans, also in western Ukraine, Hungary, Croatia and White Russia the hated the communists so much that a lot them really loved their Germans, also there were historical bounds because a lot of these countries had historical bounds with the Astro-Hungarian Empire and the German Kaiserreich. A lot of these Countries had first positiv feelings towards the Germans later this changed partly because of German Atrocities against civilians, but not in every Country. The most negativ Feelings towards Germans are from Polish and Czech people, because of the cruel German occupation politics against them and the forced Germanization. The funfact is that especially the region of western Poland (the part in 1945) eastern Germany and western Bohemia (Czech Republic) aren’t homogeneous like whole Europe), they are Slavic-Germanic mixed. You find today a lot traces of this. A lot of Slavic city or villiage names (even Berlin is a Slavic cities) and a lot of Germanised Slavic surnames in Germany and also a lot of Slavic surnames and citynames in Bohemia and Poland which had a German origin. Back to topic. Also an open secret is that a lot of the polish people signed after the defeat the German Volksliste, that means if the had an German ancestor the were catigorized as Germans, so they didn’t had to suffer under the occupation that hard like other fellow poles. That also means that these Poles had to serve in the Wehrmacht. In Czechia they had very similar laws so also a small amount of Czechs fight more or less voluntary in the Wehrmacht. Also there were ethnicities which are originally were more Slavic but cultural or religious they felt more close to the Germans, like the kashubians , silesians and masurians. Most of them were forced to leave Poland, eastern Prussia and Bohemia after the War, because they were recognised as Germans and Nazi collaborators but a small amount of them stayed their. So there was a common test after the war in Poland for these people or other polish citizens with more German blood then polish in their venes. They had to say the Lords Prayer in polish so the are allowed to stay in Poland.

[@josharmour1549]

I grew up in Reynolds, Pennsylvania. Site of Camp Reynolds where German POW's were held. Years later my cousin and I joined the Air Force Security Police in which my cousin was stationed in Germany. While there, he met a man who was a POW in Camp Reynolds. He said as German POW's, they were treated better than African American soldiers. Got to eat in the dining facilities, while the African American soldiers had to eat around the back of the kitchen. Crazy!..

[@gokaren420]

Why am I not surprised....

[@jleeharris4743]

True. There was a camp near Roswell new Mexico that was called orchard park.evey thing you just said is true.. the only thing left is the foundations.

[@scotscotty8075]

I had the honor of meeting Hans Goebeler, a crew member aboard the U505 when it was captured. He told me that he was the one who opened the seawater valves on the sub in an attempt to scuttle it. He was a PW and Camp Ruston.

[@jaynekranc8607]

The new U-505 exhibit in Chicago is amazing. I'm so glad they got it indoors. The weather was destroying it.

[@starfox198077]

My grandfather was a MP at the camp. He said he felt sorry for the prisoners because they were not allowed to write letters home to Germany. He also said an American G.I. Raped a local girl from the town next door. The police brought the American soldier back to the camp and the commander of the camp sentenced him to a firing squad. My grandfather guarded him while he dug his own grave. After he finished digging he was shot on the spot and thrown in.

[@CurmudgeonExtraordinaire]

Actually, Camp Ruston is not really located in what is considered "Ruston" these days. It is between Grambling (which is to the west of Ruston) and Simmsboro. At that time, rape was a capital offense.

[@gokaren420]

Omg

[@Stevenowski]

@@CurmudgeonExtraordinaire It still should be.

[@jamesdarcy3902]

As former radio host Ken Hamlin used to say " Good riddance to another load of human trash"

[@EddieLeal]

You know you ran a decent POW camp when you have people wanting to come back after the war to visit. 😉Unlike some places we would not like to mention.

[@Dbanj598]

Russland

[@stefandulisch6234]

Guantanamo?

[@georgesakellaropoulos8162]

Former POWs have visited Changi also. The fact that a prisoner of war was well treated doesn't mean they won't return, if only for some closure and to honor their dead friends.

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodcl4824]

@@stefandulisch6234 its cia operated what did you expect

[@MrThailik]

Nice to have a documentary without loud music blasting out in the background .

[@starckmad1779]

My Dad and Mom were stationed at camp Claiborne near present day Forest Hill. It was an extension of Camp Ruston. Dad, a Tech Sargent taught Italian POWS auto mechanics. Mom was Civil Service in the accounting office. I’ve listened to many stories about life in Louisiana! The Germans worked in the bakery. Oh...Mom loved the smell!

[@gw5309]

My Dad was an Army 1st Lt stationed in New Orleans in late 1945. He got to know the chef at the O club, who was a POW. He had been a chef at a exclusive hotel in Germany before the war. Dad would bring him cigars and he would save the best steaks for Dad.

[@mikesummers6880]

My uncle was a German Pow in Canada. He was fighting in Africa with Rommel and was captured at Al emayne I think he was glad to get out of the War after being in it for so long there's only so much a human can take stress etc he always said that the war was hell not like Hollywood portrayed it but a lot worse. After the war he ended up in England Leicestershire where he met and fell in love with a English girl and later married her ,he never returned to Germany as he lost everything his home was now part of Poland.

[@mattskustomkreations]

My great uncle had state-side service during the war guarding Italian POWs at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. He may have gotten the gig because he was from an Italian immigrant family himself and thus could communicate with the prisoners. They were very docile and left some beautiful artwork and handcrafts behind, including a chapel that they built and decorated with intricate woodwork.

[@silverstar4289]

Atterbury is still an active military installation .

[@sassycat6487]

I read that as they left handcuffs behind 😹

[@dancollins4755]

In 1972 I met a Stuka pilot in Eau Claire Wi. He had married a local girl and made Wisconsin his home after the war.

[@mikelawlor1533]

I would love to have heard his stories as the Stuka is my favourite war plane

[@motorrebell]

@Travis Bell Your Ass would been beaten :-)

[@justinusberger3933]

@Travis Bell You aren't man enough.

[@Chris-hd3yc]

@Travis Bell You sure about that? He was just a man, doing exactly what men across the world were doing. Fighting for their country. The simple fact that he ended up living in a country that was his enemy says alot. So you thinking you should and could beat his ass is quite comical on your part. Just sayin

[@forddockery689]

Interested in hearing a little more of the story if you can please that's fascinating

[@TexasBarnRats]

Growing up in Texas, I knew several men who were former German POWs. Similar story for all of them. Went back to Germany only to find everything destroyed and no family. They were sponsored by Americans they met while POWs. In my area, the POWs typically worked on area farms and got to know local families that way.

[@TonyFreeman-LocoTonyF]

My father, born 1931, used to tell me stories of seeing the German PWs at the camp in Opelika, Alabama, his home-town. I've personally seen the last remaining block building of it when I was a teenager in the 1970s. My father told me the Germans made knives of some sort in that building, as a camp industry. He didn't know what type. Someone should make a documentary about it, too.

[@johnwood551]

The Head of the Math Dept at my College in Texas was an ex PW from Germany. He said life was so much better in the camps than back in Germany he decided to stay here after the war . He became a U.S. Citizen and a math teacher . The people in the U.S. today that hate America have NO idea what Fascism REALLY is. Germany, Italy etc showed the world how NOT to Be.

[@raymondmuench3266]

I fear we might find out what real fascism is! How cavalier is the attire of some politicians to the Constitution they swore to uphold, protect, and defend.

[@PacoOtis]

We're back! Showing your excellent video to some friends! This is so very well done and so informative! Thanks so much for educating and sharing and the very best of luck!!

[@thejerseyj9422]

Very interesting documentary, but the dramatizations prove one thing. We've gotten pretty chubby since the 40's.

[@Carlos-nq7up]

Thank Junk food!

[@harrisonratcliffe322]

You got pretty chubby

[@davidjose9808]

Their chubbiness really made the reenactment laughable…I could not watch it.

[@georgiafrye2815]

It was said the British had the healthiest profile regarding rationing and eating more produce and very little meat.

[@shubhamdubey1732]

Americans are really nice Love from Indian brothers🇮🇳❤🇺🇲

[@hutch1111111]

Except these POWs, that had killed or tried to kill American soldiers had more rights than the Black citizens living in the area.

[@achord9204]

Yes, and we are so incredibly stupid at times. The hate is unbelievable. We were way too nice to nazi’s

[@davidjose9808]

I have some dear Indian-American friends. Gracious, courteous, hard-working and family oriented. A definite asset to American life are these lovely folks.

[@martinmoffitt4702]

Yeah, most definitely better to be captured by Allied forces...as opposed to the Russians...Grew up with a kid whose dad got grabbed by the Canadians ended up in the states, his twin brother ended up in Russian hands ..they never heard from him again... The fortune and or misfortune of war

[@gwine9087]

My step-father was a prison guard in Western Canada, during the war. He said they had no problems with the prisoners, mainly, because they had nowhere to go, if they escaped.

[@duaneoestreich2792]

My Father was born here in 1926.. My grandfather sent him back when he turned 18 speaking fluent German. Drove for Patton, German officer's. Couldn't believe how old school his German was... I was the 2nd born here. 1966.... 🇩🇪 🇺🇸

[@walboyfredo6025]

I recall the Tuskegee Airmen said that they were disgusted that the German POW were treated better then they were!

[@simonroh4958]

I heard about that from Hart's War.

[@gokaren420]

They're black and am not surprised at all

[@lucymanet3297]

That would definitely be infuriating....but it sounds like these German POW's were treated better than ANY U. S. citizen, sheez. Reminds me of one of the modern day prisons for white collar criminals. Glad POW's were treated humanely but needn't have gone overboard when Americans were at the same time being killed by Germans in Europe and elsewhere.

[@larrywheeler9917]

These POW Germans fit right in. Louisiana was Jim crow Dixie. Black American soldiers had to clean the tables after the Nazis ate.

[@nycsongman9758]

Yeah; I'm reading *all* of the misty-eyed remembrances here of "well-behaved", "courteous" and "smiling" *Nazi* POWs; *prisoners,* mind you, part of maniacal killing machine, and yet *they* were allowed to attend certain entertainment events, where, if an active-duty US Bl*ck *serviceman* had attempted to partake, he might risk getting his lights knocked out, or jail, *or both.*

[@tancreddehauteville764]

The POWs who ended up in the US/Canada were the lucky ones. The ones who were classified as 'disarmed enemy personnel' at the end of the war were not. They were left to rot in the Rheinwieser camps and many thousands died.

[@wittwittwer1043]

My Pappy was a 2nd Lt, part of the cadre forming the 164th Engineer Combat Battalion at Camp Swift, TX, when he wrote his wife a letter on Sept 14, 1943. Here is an excerpt: "There are a bunch of German Prisoners of war just across the street. They are really beautiful Physical specimens. There being worked like the devil to[o]. There is one German 1st Lt. in charge of the men, but guards are in charge of the Lt."

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

I knew a former German soldier from WW2. He came to the USA after the war and worked in a local hobby shop in Ohio after he retired. He was captured by the Brits in Denmark.(he had also fought on the eastern front.) Often, a customer would pick up a model of a T34 tank and ask he if he remembered these? Sadly, Ulrich passed away in the early 2000s.

[@Garthinyus]

My dad used to go watch the pows play soccer at a camp in a swampy area of SE Alabama close to the Florida line. He said that once a couple pows escaped and the guards didn't bother searching for them. He said that they showed up a couple days later covered in bug bites and leaches wanting back into the camp.

[@dereknordbye1408]

My goodness!!!! That former German POW STILL HAD THE BASEBALL THAT HE WAS TAUGHT TO THROW ALL THOSE YEARS LATER!!!!!!! Awesome tribute to a person's humane treatment of another!!!!

[@CatalinaThePirate]

👍 Very interesting vid, thanks for posting. 😏 The U-505 U-boat was eventually acquired by Chicago's Science and Industry museum, and was put on exhibit. You were able to walk through a part of it. I grew up in a suburb of Chicago, and if our school took us on a field trip to the S&I museum I always wanted to visit the U-505. Fascinating. 😊

[@CatalinaThePirate]

@Legion 57 Ha, I really loved going in that U-Boat. It truly stirred the imagination. I know my classmates thought I was crazy, but I didn't care. They could go through the interactive section of the museum and push buttons and turn cranks all day. I was happy to be able to visit the U-505. 😏 We were lucky... Chicago has some of the best museums. 😼

[@billkaldem1737]

I’ve been through it a couple of times. Very interesting

[@CatalinaThePirate]

@@billkaldem1737 😏 It's been years since I've been back to Chicago, and to be honest I only had about a half day to run around to some old stomping grounds before I had to get back. I spent my time at the Art Institute, visiting some 'old friends' (paintings, sculptures). My next thought was to go to the Field Museum of Natural History... It's a wonder I didn't think about the old U-505... I live near Los Angeles CA now, but I miss Chicago. L.A. is a base, for me, but Chicago has my heart. 💕

[@billkaldem1737]

@@CatalinaThePirate my parents were from Joliet. Got to the museum while visiting. I don’t believe I’ve ever been through the entire thing

[@timdodd979]

They moved the U-505 indoors now. Great Museum.

[@runninggirl2765]

My uncle was a POW in Germany. He weighed 185 pounds when captured and 115 when the war ended. His food was nearly rotten potatoes, bread and a thin soup most days. Although I enjoyed this video, it was hard to watch the German prisoners playing soccer, sleeping in clean barracks and eating good meals. Thank you for sharing this though. Very interesting.

[@BasementEngineer]

R.G.: I'm sure you are aware that you Americans and the Brits bombed everything that moved in Germany, including transport trucks and trains trying to bring supplies to the prisoner camps. So if your uncle came home alive, thank a German. That your uncle came home a walking skeleton, thank a Brit or your countrymen.

[@ropadres]

The U505 sits in Chicago - My dad helped capture it - Love that sub -

[@grammy965]

That's amazing !

[@cliff8669]

Read the story of that as a Teen. In the early 2000's I went to Chicago to see it. Amazed at how tight and cramped it was inside. I had the oddest feelings standing there and seeing in my minds eye the crew at work. My understanding is that it went to Chicago because that is where Admiral Gallery was from there.

[@Dive-Bar-Casanova]

Can you imagine the Huevos it took to climb down in that sub to capture and save it?

[@cliff8669]

@@Dive-Bar-Casanova Lot bigger pair than some have today.

[@rongilbert4025]

We had a pow camp at the Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island Illinois. Some of my aunts would recall that while they were attending movies, pows would be brought in and seated in the theater with them. Thinking on how the Japanese treated pows I would have rather been interned here in the States, lol, as a German.

[@UricDawson]

My father was from a small town in Northern Louisiana born in 1937. He told me that he remembers playing ball with kids near a prison camp. He must have been 6 or 7 (black kid). He mentioned that the ball the kids were playing with accidentally went over the prison’s fence and one of the German prisoners threw the ball back over to the kids. Fast forward 13 years later and my father is drafted into the army and serving in Europe around 1955 as a communications specialist. He remembers having to cross the border into East Germany and seeing Soviet troops sitting on the walls staring at allied troops as they crossed. His contingent’s destination was always West Berlin to protect the freedom of West Berliners as part of the Allied/Soviet agreement to keep West Berlin Allied controlled. My father always said there was tension crossing over into East Germany because if war ever broke out that the Allied troops would have been sacrifices in his opinion. My father enjoyed his time in Europe and spoke of a German girlfriend. She introduced him to her father who was a Tailor and was a German solider during WWII. He said that her father was a friendly guy. This surprised me given that my father was black, but I eventually figured out that there were likely plenty of Germans that felt no choice but to cooperate when constricted/drafted during WWII or they likely had to face prison time and weren’t all necessarily believers in Nazism.

[@Steelhorsecowboy]

A Black fellow that I went to school with and a Black Lieutenant that I served with both married German girls. I've met many other mixed race German/American couples. Germans don't seem to be as racially polarized as would be assumed considering their history.

[@89128]

One of the stories I heard was a POW camp close to Phoenix had the city reroute a bus route to stop at the POW camp gate to let off POW escapees who wanted a 'night on the town'. Afterwards they would get on the bus and tell the driver "POW". They would be punished but said it was worth it.

[@subatomic3600]

4000 very lucky German men. I bet they all stayed after the war.

[@tomservo5347]

Most of them had to do a few years time as prisoners in England. (Some even unlucky enough to get transferred to 'Soviet care'.) My relative who was a POW said he was sent to some cold, wet castle in Scotland for nearly 2 years where many of them became sick. He finally made it back to West Germany around 1947.

[@crafter170]

I can imagine the Germans who travelled back over to the USA were perfect citizens. We drive through Europe on a regular basis and I can say Holland is kept nice and tidy .Belgium is a bit dog eared .Germany is well kept and so is Austria .I like Germany the best .They are polite drivers and they do things properly.

[@royparker7856]

There were some held in Ga also. Some worked on our farm. My grandfather told me stories of the prisoners, some of whom were university educated men who had been conscripted into the military. This year I found a letter from one of them to my grandfather written in 1947.

[@ivywilliams9427]

how intereating that they have kept good communication. thank you for sharing your story.

[@MrOhmikey]

post the letter.

[@charlesparker361]

I live not very faf from Ruston. There were smaller satellite camps nearby us.I was born in 46 so I don't remember them, but know many who do. One friend from Start, La knew a pow who came and worked on their farm . He stayed at their house often, and they liked him. He was not a Nazi, just a soldier.

[@christianpatriot7439]

The Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 not August 31. Also, Germany declared war on the U.S. in 1941, not 1940.

[@L1V2P9]

I can't see how the commentator could have erroneously stated that the Germans declared war against the US in 1940. It was after the "day of infamy" that war was declared between the US and Germany. Every school child was taught that Germany declared war against the US on December 11, 1941.

[@philgiglio7922]

@@L1V2P9...👍👏

[@hansgruber650]

Read about the Danzig corridor and the slaughtering of German civilians and maybe you might know why.

[@christianpatriot7439]

@@hansgruber650 The Krauts lost Danzig as a result of them starting and then losing World War I.

[@freddexta3363]

@@hansgruber650 Yes, my mother in law is from Danzig and managed to escape to the US sector after the war, and the complete truth about what happened in Poland has never been told, or at least it's not widely known. Lost in the fog of war, I guess.

[@davidhoffman1278]

The food issue is understandable. Army Quartermaster told to meet Geneva Convention standards for POWs He does so by providing similar rations that US Army troops would get at a stationary Army base in the UK. Some of those rations might include sugar and chocolate which were only available with ration vouchers in the USA. Similarly with other foods. It would have been an easy way to satisfy Red Cross inspectors and avoid accusations of not making an effort at feeding POWs properly. From what I have read the POWs had extensive vegetable gardens. These gardens allowed the creation of vegetable meals that the POWs were quite satisfied with. They didn't need meat dishes at every meal everyday. There was some fresh fruit also.

[@G-Mastah-Fash]

Pretty sure they weren't used to that in Germany either.

[@ytucharliesierra]

The cooks mentioned in this excellent documentary must have been naval cooks and traditionally these are of high standard.

[@davidhoffman1278]

@@ytucharliesierra , Navy chefs make the best cinnamon rolls and the best cinnamon apple pies in the DoD.

[@ytucharliesierra]

@@davidhoffman1278 They have to if they don't want to get keelhawled. Lol

[@PacoOtis]

Thanks for the video as we found it quite thought provoking.

[@KPearce57]

My Father was a Merchant Marine WWII , on return trips from Europe they would haul POWs back to the USA, he had a wrist watch that he traded cigarettes for, he never wore it but kept it his keep sakes .

[@sandspar]

German PoWs started a vineyard near the local camp in hopes of recreating the renowned wine of the Rhineland. Weather was too hot in the summer and too cold in winter, but it was a grand gesture at the time that I wish could have succeeded.

[@niccadoodles]

I had no idea this was happening in 2007. Thanks you.

[@alabamamothman2986]

There were German POWs here in Alabama. They were allowed to work in shops and farms. Many stayed in the US after the war. We have a German community just down the road.

[@movinginstereo40]

Interesting, back in 77, my mom and dad would take us out for a weekend picnic. We ended up one day outside of El Reno, Oklahoma at an area that was owned by OSU. It was agriculture extension if my memory is correct. They had a huge playground and just west of it a pretty good size cemetery that had a stone wall around it that was maybe three feet high. This cemetery had a divider stone wall within it running north to south. While walking on the stone wall and exploring my brother and I noticed the western divided side had unusual headstones. It turned out to be gravestones of German and Italian pow’s that passed away. They were also all officers, no enlisted men. Later on my dad found out it was a site of a WW2 POW camp. Strictly for officers only. I tried finding it a couple years back while traveling through Oklahoma but gave up on it as we didn’t have the time. I hadn’t been back to the area in couple decades as I joined the US Navy in 80 and my dad had transferred away having worked for the FAA around 84 timeframe.

[@edgarvalderrama1143]

I met an interesting P. W. that was sweeping the floor at Camp Campbell right after WWII. He claimed to be Finish and a nephew of Jan Sibelius. At the time a lot of them claimed they weren't German. I believe, though, that he was who he claimed to be. I was a classical music lover. (rare) We had great musical conversations and even managed to listen to music together.

[@manjelos]

After 1943 due lack of men every body could join german army. There was Letonian, Estonian, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Danish or even Bosnian, Serbian, Russian or French. In north Africa there was soldiers of Wehrmacht that was not really fit in Hitlers image of german soldier. Some of them was even black.

[@carythompson1711]

Coming down from the top of the Pyrenees, I saw a rough-hewn man, with a musical folder open in front of him. I asked him what he was doing in he covered it self-consciously. I was in his inner mind. He said he taught infants to sing. And the language that's best to teach infants to sing in is Finnish, it's not Scandinavian.. Indo-asian, semi tonal. I said my daughter-in-law is from reaching up that, Country, Rekella. He said no, it's a street in a town and pulled out a receipt he had; with that on it. He had been there. As I told the story to a member of Mensa who had share that partner desk with my father, he said his grandmother hit song into sleep with songs in Finnish.

[@alfavulcan4518]

Heard a story at a POW museum near Waco of a German pow who kept escaping. He was well known a local bar and was never hard to re-capture

[@garybauer124]

Growing up in WI. I was surprised to find out about all the German POW camps there. A lot of German emigrants there, towns people would go there for visits. They would even allow them to go unescorted in some cases to town for supplies. My father told me stories of him as a young boy seeing German POW’s weeding onion fields under the watchful eye of US MP’s armed with shotguns. They definitely had better treatment than our guys.

[@theluckyegg3613]

Google : Rheinwiesenlager

[@veggielady5571]

The POW's were treated better than the Black GI's and the townspeople I am sure of that!

[@markinternets2009]

@@veggielady5571 Bot

[@wisconsinfarmer4742]

in those days many of the locals were fluent speakers.

[@manuelbearley6711]

The chapel Matt's Kustom Kreations mentioned in his comment that Italian POW's built still exists at Camp Atterbery. It has been sealed off with plexiglass but is a beautiful example of their excellent craftsmanship.

[@canuck_gamer3359]

I would like to add that Canada also held PoW's in WWII and in fact, the two largest PoW camps in North America were in Canada (Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, Alberta.) And just as was the case for some Pow's who were held in the United States, many who were held in Canada stayed after the war was over. And btw, as far as that "reconstruction" was concerned, the first step in becoming a PoW was denazification and they would have been warned, if they used the Nazi salute, they would have been given a rifle butt in the gut lol.

[@glennbrymer4065]

Great video. Loved the ending. The info about the captured sub and Enigma code was news to me. Thank you.

[@EricPalmerBlog]

And you can visit the U-505 (Type IXC) in Chicago. 1941 an earlier variant of the U-505 a type IXB, the U-110 was captured. Not too long later in 1941, a Type VIIC was captured.

[@rogerd777]

At Camp Atterbury, Indiana which still exists as an active training post operated by the Indiana National Guard, there there was a large POW camp for German and Italian POWs. The Italians built a chapel where the prisoners sat outside on benches and the alter was inside. It was elaborately decorated by the POWs. It was restored in the 1990s and still stands today. It is the only remnant of the POW camp. Camp Atterbury was heavily used to train troops who were about to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan in last 20 years.

[@chrisjones9898]

Interesting bit of history we are rarely exposed to, but I could have done without the dramtizations and reenactments. They dilute the authenticity of the production

[@LibbyRal]

Especially since the 'soldiers' were at least 40 years too old and 100 lbs too large

[@deanrobbins7823]

Truth m8!

[@gregbradshaw8441]

Agreed...it was hokey to have modern day obese old guys pretending to be PoWs and their guards back then. The contrast to the real footage is too stark. The 'comedy' element fails epically.

[@mountainguyed67]

Chris Jones. Agreed.

[@keithsymington6068]

That's true of so many WWII period pieces. Even a lot of the "fighting scenes" were re-enactments. But better than nothing I guess.

[@kathyyoung1774]

This says so much good about the USA.

[@viceroyviceroy-wj7cf]

What does the treatment of African Americans and Japanese Americans during the same time period say about the USA?

[@Raycheetah]

@@viceroyviceroy-wj7cf It says that FDR was a rat for unlawfully interning Japanese-American citizens, much as some of today's Democrats want to do to their political opponents, and that black Americans had not yet achieved the degree of civil rights that they eventually did. ='[.]'=

[@johnnyreb3542]

@@Raycheetah - Thank you..

[@Duke_of_Prunes]

@@viceroyviceroy-wj7cf How do you suppose the Japanese treated their prisoners? Secondly, how do you suppose African Americans would treat whites, if whites were a 10% minority as black were in the 1940s?

[@unnecessaryapostrophe4047]

@@viceroyviceroy-wj7cf It says that there's always room for improvement. That doesn't make the good less good.

[@Patsy_Parisi]

Many POWs in Canadian camps used the honor system since there was no way any escapees could get anywhere far away in the Canadian Rockies.

[@112chapters3]

My grandfather had a terrible time in Germany at a pow camp. He ended up losing his leg, he fell from the guard tower.

[@saxmusicmail]

Some of the German POW's were sent out to be farm workers for the rice farmers in S. Louisiana. They were treated well, well fed, and had no place to escape to.

[@meteor2012able]

As a 15 yo kid, I met Italian POWs... pretty much free... many worked in grape Vinyard and wineries. They were very freindly, cheerful, and seemed to like America.

[@archlich4489]

You could give Italian POWs paint, tools and materials and they'd fix up and beautify their own camps. Japanese, not so much.

[@brucemacsr.6776]

Yeh, half their aunts and uncles were already here. Where would be be without all that great Italian food.

[@howardkerr8174]

@@archlich4489 Can you blame the Japanese for not being co-operative? In many cases they were dragged from their homes and businesses with little notice, their assets seized with almost no compensation, and many were U.S. citizens.

[@s.leemccauley7302]

@@howardkerr8174 e was talking about captured japanese soldiers. Two different groups.

[@chrille2409]

Very interesting report, was a pleasure to watch!

[@rikijett310]

Looks like this camp was a better life than many people are living now 80+ years later.