German POWs on the WW2 Home Front

One brief story from my family history goes something like this: My great-grandma saw German prisoners of war working hard in the fields, picking tomatoes for the local canning company in 1945, so she walked over and treated them to lemonade and chocolate cake.

That’s all I know of the story, but isn’t it a doozy? When I first heard it, I was stunned. How could she do something so kind for German POWs? Didn’t she realize what was happening over in Europe? Didn’t she know of Germany’s atrocious crimes?

The answer is, of course, yes. She knew all that, and still, for a variety of reasons, she looked at the POWs and saw fellow human beings, then treated them accordingly. She personified “loving your enemy.”

Learning of this story sparked my imagination. I needed answers. How could a tough country woman like my great grandmother have the audacity to serve refreshments to German prisoners? Why were there German POWs in America in the first place? These questions led to research upon research and more than one lightbulb moment for me. After asking “what if?” more times than I can count, my novel, A Mess of Dreams was born.

It’s sad how some pieces of American history get lost and forgotten. Many Americans have no idea that there were around 500 POW camps built across America between 1942 and1945, housing 400,000+ mostly-German prisoners. I had no idea this was such a big part of our home front history before I dove into researching!

The reason America became the prime housing ground for all these prisoners was simply a matter of space. America has an abundance of wide open land and resources, while the U.K. quickly ran out of room to house prisoners of war.

And so, as American ships regularly carried thousands of our troops overseas to join the fight, those same ships would return home filled with prisoners.

Prisoners were assessed, and the ardent Hitler Nazis were weeded out and sent to higher security prisons out west, while those deemed “regular” German soldiers were delivered to POW camps where they were put to work. Prisoners of war helped fill the void of the great labor shortage America was experiencing.

The POWs worked in farms, factories, or wherever labor was critically needed. At first glance, one might think this was a terrible, dangerous idea, but in reality, most of the prisoners proved helpful and trustworthy. America treated POWs well, similarly to its own soldiers as outlined in the Geneva Convention, and many had never been so well taken care of in their lives.

Many German POWs realized from their firsthand experience in America that the U.S. was not the terrible place their leaders had led them to believe. They were eating well, paid minimally for their work (I was surprised to learn they were paid at all), had recreation opportunities, and even had the option to take college level courses in relevant subjects like American History and English.

You can imagine the mixed reaction from American citizens watching it all unfold. Certainly many feared the prisoners—and why not? After all, citizens listened to the radio and read the newspapers. They knew what these men were capable of. How could the American government have the nerve to allow them recreational and educational opportunities? What was this world coming to?

But some embraced the labor help the POWs offered. Farms whose farmhands had shipped out were stuck between a rock and a hard place. How could they run a farm without workers after so many young men joined up and left the country? When POWs entered the picture, suddenly farmers had a new option and were able to keep their farms running. All thanks to the ingenious idea from Uncle Sam to fill the labor void with prisoners!

Yes, perspectives were certainly mixed.

Prisoners assimilated into smalltown communities better than many would have expected. They worked hard and were largely grateful to be in the safety of America rather than back in Europe fighting for their lives—many of them were, at least. Of course there were occasional escape attempts or acts of violence, but isn’t that to be expected? Overall, those instances were few.

One overarching goal of the American government was to demonstrate the strengths of democracy and win the men over so the soldiers could ultimately return home and rebuild Germany on a healthier foundation.

Many German POWs during WW2 were simply soldiers. Men. Human beings. Not all of them supported Hitler or his Nazi ideals. Yes, some did ascribe to those terrible, evil ideas, but they are the ones who were carted off to higher security prisons so the rest of them—the much more trustworthy soldiers—could carry on, keep their heads down, and lead peaceful, productive lives during their time on American soil.

In A Mess of Dreams, Lorene takes a page from my great-grandmother’s playbook and delivers refreshments to the field where the prisoners of war worked in the hot sun. But don’t think it’s without thought to the thousands of American troops fighting these same German soldiers overseas. Life was certainly complicated on the home front.

Researching the ins and outs of German prisoners in America during World War 2 was such an intriguing journey for me. Believe it or not, I wasn’t a fan of history while I was in school. I failed to see its relevancy. Now, as an adult watching the world unfold, it’s easy to see how relevant history actually is. And years back when I jumped into writing The Middlefork Series, history suddenly became fascinating.

Much of what I learned of German POWs on American soil was fun for me to incorporate into my novel. In doing this, I hope I was able to salvage even a little bit of this nearly-forgotten chapter of home front history.

Let me know in the comments… Did you know POWs were housed in the US during World War 2? Did anything in this post surprise you?