Axis POWs in America During WW 2
American Homefront Home to German and Italian Prisoners of War
During World War II, thousands of German and Italian prisoners of war were sent to camps in America.
While Americans waged a war overseas in Europe and the Pacific during World War II, the enemy came to stay right in their backyards. Reactions to the thousands of German and Italian prisoners of war were mixed on the American homefront. Some Americans were appalled at the thought of the enemy living not more than a few miles from them and worried about prison escapes. But others, knowing that the prisoners would help alleviate a severe labor shortage, grudgingly accepted the situation.
Since the war began in 1939, Great Britain had amassed a huge prison population, one that the tiny country could barely handle. By the fall of 1942, the United States finally agreed to help alleviate the situation and authorized the arrival of 50,000 Axis POWs from England. The Office of the Provost Marshall General organized the Prisoner of War Division and began the process of building POW camps throughout the United States.
Using abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps camps built during the Depression offered the best option for the POW camps. Fairgrounds, unused sections of military bases, auditoriums, and even tent cities were also considered. The Civilian Conservation Corps camps were perfect for housing POWs since they were built as barracks near rural work projects, were empty and available, and were located mainly in the American South and Southwest, far removed from the war industries of the Midwest and the Eastern seaboard.
But many camps were built from the ground up. The War Department drew up a basic plan for the construction and layout that all camps followed. Built of wood frame construction on concrete piers, the sidewalls and roof were covered with black battened tar paper. Each barrack was designed to hold twenty to twenty-five bunks and was heated with three coal-burning stoves. Camps usually included a hospital, chapel, showers with unlimited hot and cold running water, a post office, warehouse, and utility area. Many also included a bakery, library, a recreation area for sports, and a theater for variety shows and theater productions.
Unfortunately, the "luxury" of these accommodations did not escape the attention of the American public. Many locals started calling the camps the Fritz Ritz. The camps were certainly much better than anything Allied POW’s could expect to find.
In the spring of 1943, Hitler’s army in North Africa fell, and German and Italian POW’s started arriving in the United States. Before long, many Americans soon had the enemy living a few miles from their front door. While many would never see the POW’s, others would work side by side with them in the field or in the factory. For the POW’s thousands of miles away from home, life had suddenly taken an unexpected turn – and for many, it was for the better.
