How did Germany treat POWs?

Asked by: Dr. Daryl Jaskolski  |  Last update: November 4, 2022
Score: 4.3/5 (64 votes)

Large numbers of the Russian prisoners ended up in special sections of German POW camps

POW camps
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Prisoner-of-war_camp
. Held by the Nazis to be racially and politically inferior, they were starved and brutalised. The appalling suffering of these POWs was witnessed by British and Commonwealth prisoners held in separate compounds.

How did Germany treat POWs in ww1?

Starting in 1915, the German authorities put in place a system of camps, nearly three hundred in all, and did not hesitate to resort to denutrition, punishments and psychological mobbing; incarceration was also combined with methodical exploitation of the prisoners.

How were German POWs treated after ww2?

After World War II, German prisoners were taken back to Europe as part of a reparations agreement. They were forced into harsh labor camps. Many prisoners did make it home in 18 to 24 months, Lazarus said. But Russian camps were among the most brutal, and some of their German POWs didn't return home until 1953.

How did Germans treat American POWs in ww2?

Although Allied prisoners of war complained of the scarcity of food within German POW camps, they were treated comparatively well. For example, ordinary soldiers who were made to work were compensated, and officers were exempt from work requirements.

How were POWs treated in ww2?

Prisoners were routinely beaten, starved and abused and forced to work in mines and war-related factories in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions. Of the 27,000 Americans taken prisoner by the Japanese, a shocking 40 percent died in captivity, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.

Captured Soviet Female Soldiers - How Did the Germans Treat Them?

38 related questions found

Who treated POWs the best in ww2?

7 Answers. Show activity on this post. If you are asking about people who were prisoners of the Germans, then British and Americans did the best, although this was certainly no joyride.

Did the Japanese eat POWs in ww2?

The Chichijima incident (also known as the Ogasawara incident) occurred in late 1944. Japanese soldiers killed eight American airmen on Chichi Jima, in the Bonin Islands, and cannibalized four of the airmen.

What did German soldiers call American soldiers?

Ami – German slang for an American soldier.

What did Germany do to American POWs?

During World War II, the Germans held American POWs in a system of nearly 100 camps spread throughout German-occupied territory. Major camps, as well as camps mentioned throughout the exhibit, are indicated on this map.

What did German soldiers think of American soldiers ww2?

At least initially, Germans regarded British and American soldiers (especially Americans) as somewhat amateurish, although their opinion of American, British, and Empire troops grew as the war progressed. German certainly saw shortcomings in the ways the Allied used infantry.

How did Germans feel about ww2?

According to German-language Stern magazine, Bloomberg News reported, 42% of Germans felt their country has made amends with its past, with 42% of west Germans and 41% of east Germans expressing their desire to move on from atrocities committed by the Nazis — down from a respective 48% and 39% from the same survey in ...

What did Soviets do to German prisoners?

Approximately three million German prisoners of war were captured by the Soviet Union during World War II, most of them during the great advances of the Red Army in the last year of the war. The POWs were employed as forced labor in the Soviet wartime economy and post-war reconstruction.

Why did the prisoner choose the bread?

He chose the bread because of fear of the unknown. Too afraid to take the risk.

What happened to prisoners in WWII?

Forced to carry out slave labour on a starvation diet and in a hostile environment, many died of malnutrition or disease. Sadistic punishments were handed out for the most minor breach of camp rules. Most prisoners of war (POWs) existed on a very poor diet of rice and vegetables, which led to severe malnutrition.

What did Canada do to German POWs in ww1?

Canada operated prison camps for interned civilians during the First and Second World Wars, and for 34,000 combatant German prisoners of war (POWs) during the Second World War. The POW camps at Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, Alberta, were the largest in North America.

Why were Japanese so brutal to POWs?

The reasons for the Japanese behaving as they did were complex. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) indoctrinated its soldiers to believe that surrender was dishonourable. POWs were therefore thought to be unworthy of respect. The IJA also relied on physical punishment to discipline its own troops.

What was life like in a German POW camp?

Prisoners were usually housed in one-storey wooden barracks which contained bunk beds (two or three high) and a charcoal burning stove in the middle of the room. Prisoners were generally given two meals a day – thin soup and black bread. Needless to say hunger was a feature of most prisoners' lives.

What did the British call the German soldiers?

British troops tended to call German soldiers Fritz or Fritzie (a German pet form of Friedrich) or Jerry (short for German, but also modelled on the English name).

What country killed the most German soldiers in World War 2?

Russians also point to the fact that Soviet forces killed more German soldiers than their Western counterparts, accounting for 76 percent of Germany's military dead.

What do the Germans call the English?

An equivalent of the word "Engländer", which is the German noun for "Englishman". The term was also used extensively during the period of British rule in India and is still used in the Indian subcontinent.

Did Japanese crucify soldiers?

In the 1570s during the Period of the Warring States, Japanese soldier Torii Suneemon was crucified for treason. In the 1860s, Sokichi, a 25-year-old servant, was crucified for killing the son of his master, his arms and legs spread on a cross and displayed to the world in a haunting, long-lasting photograph.

Why did Japanese soldiers eat people?

Some, their supply lines cut off, were genuinely hungry. But in other cases, officers ordered troops to eat human flesh to give them a "feeling of victory," Tanaka said.

Did crocodiles eat Japanese soldiers?

The battle is known for claims that many Japanese soldiers were killed by crocodiles in the mangrove swamps of Ramree. Some editions of the Guinness Book of World Records have attributed the highest number of fatalities in a crocodile attack to the battle; zoologists and military historians have debunked this.