madison blanchard staff writer
The war was over in 1945, but for thousands of German POWs, the journey home was put on hold. Instead of going home, they helped rebuild the countries their army had torn apart.
Under the terms of the Geneva Convention, POWs were not allowed to stay in captivity as they were to be sent home. However, many POWs were held for months or even years after World War II, continuing to work despite the war’s end. About one percent of German POWs remained in the United States, and a larger percentage returned later due to poor employment prospects in post-war Germany, according to an article from HistoryNet.
“Many of them [German POWs] wanted to come back to America,” says Kurt Stiegler, an assistant professor of history at Nicholls State University. According to German estimates, 5,000 Germans did come back to America. When they did an exit poll of the German POWs, 74% of them had favorable opinions about America.”
“Many of them [German POWs] wanted to come back to America . . . 74% of them had favorable opinions about America.””
Although German POWs could not remain in the United States after the war because of diplomatic issues, many wanted to return and took the necessary steps to re-enter the country and become citizens.
In the early 1990s, nearly 47 years after World War II ended, the Thibodaux Daily Comet published an article featuring former German POW Gerhard Hoelling’s return visit to Camp Thibodaux. Hoelling, a retired electrician from Bremen, Germany, remembered Louisiana as a very interesting place, with its snakes, cane fields and lenient American soldiers.
In this newspaper clipping, reporter Suzy Fleming quoted Hoelling as saying,“I came here with my daughter only to see one small Thibodaux, I was about six weeks in camps (in France) captured by Americans. Then to Great Britain only four days, then from Liverpool we needed nine days to come by ship to New York.”
While being captured brought uncertainty and fear for prisoners of war held in the United States, the experience turned into one of opportunity and work for many. Some stayed in Germany after repatriation, while others chose to return to the United States and start a new life.
