madison blanchard staff writer
During World War II, thousands of American and German soldiers were held as prisoners of war (POWs). American POWs held in Germany, Italy and Japan endured much harsher treatment than German POWs held in the United States.
More than 90,000 American POWs were held in Germany, while about 450,000 Axis prisoners — German, Italian and Japanese — were held in the United States during World War II, according to official military statistics.
The 1929 Geneva Convention established regulations to ensure safety and equal treatment for prisoners held in any location. The regulations ensured that POWs were treated humanely, allowed to communicate with their families and protected from harsh punishment or discipline.
“My father was one of three men from Raceland who were held in Stalag, which was a German prison camp,” says John Robichaux, whose father was an American soldier captured in Germany. “He [his father] said they were not treated too poorly, but they would often have to stand in the freezing cold for hours on end and food was in short supply, so they would eat meat and didn’t know what it was — could have been horse or donkey meat, but they were starving so it didn’t matter.”
The rough conditions faced by American POWs in Germany were typically not due to a disregard for the Geneva Convention regulations, as the Germans respected this regard. American POWs were treated worse due to a lack of supplies and necessities that were available to Axis POWs held in the United States.
The location of captivity played a significant role in how POWs were treated, according to the article “How were prisoners of war treated in WW2?” by Civil War. In the later years of the war, POWs suffered food shortages, overcrowding and deteriorating infrastructure. POWs in rural Germany or the United States were more likely to receive adequate housing and food supplies than those captured in other areas.
“America had a better record of treating POWs than any other country, and Japan had the worst,” says Paul Wilson, head of the history department at Nicholls State University. “The death rate of American POWs in Germany was around 1-2 percent, while in Japan it was nearly 30-40 percent.”
"America had a better record of treating POWs than any other country, and Japan had the worst. The death rate of American POWs in Germany was around 1-2 percent, while in Japan it was nearly 30-40 percent."
