American Prisoners of War in German Death, Concentration, and Slave Labor Camps: Germany's Lethal Policy in the Second World War

365 Pages·2004·19.74 MB·English

by  Daniel B. Drooz

AMERICA; PRISONERS OF NAR
IN GE ' AN DEATH, CONCENTRATION,
AND SLAV: LABOR CAMPS
Germanys Lethal Policy in the Second World War
Daniel B. Drooz
Studies in American History
Volume 51
The Edwin Mellen Press
Lewiston*Queenston*Lampeter
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Drooz, Daniel B.
American prisoners of war in German death, concentration, and slave labor camps :
Germany's lethal policy in the Second World War / Daniel B. Drooz.
p. cm. -- (Studies in American history ; 51)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7734-6657-6 (hc)
1. World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, German. 2. Prisoners of war--United
States. 3. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps—Germany. 4. Concentration
camp inmates--Germany. 5. Concentration camp inmates—United States. 6. World War,
1939-1945--Conscript labor--Germany. 7. World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities--Germany.
I. Title. II. Studies in American history (Edwin Mellen Press) ; 51.
D805.G3D765 2004
940.541243'092273—dc22
2003059917
This is volume 51 in the continuing series
Studies in American History
Volume 51 ISBN 0-7734-6657-6
SAH Series ISBN 0-88946-099-X
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright (cid:9) 2004 Daniel B. Drooz
All rights reserved. For information contact
(cid:9)
The Edwin Melle(cid:9)n Press The Edwin Mellen Press
Box 450 (cid:9) Box 67
Lewiston, New York Queenston, Ontario
(cid:9)
USA 14092-0450 CANADA LOS ILO
The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd.
Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales
UNITED KINGDOM SA48 8LT
Printed in the United States of America
Dedication
I would like to thank John Malarkey, Stephen Zatuchni and Patricia
Wadley for their continuing concern and help throughout the writing process. I
also offer my special thanks to Andrei and Angela Drooz and Marjorie Bell-
Chambers for their guidance and assistance.
Milo Gibbon and William Smith, reference librarians at Wilmington
College get special mention for the unstinting help they gave. The archivists at
NARA were of invaluable assistance. It could not have been done without the
assistance of Clydie Morgan and everyone at American Ex-POWs.
Arthur Kinnis deserves special mention for his help and for allowing me to
use information he and others gathered about their own experience in
Buchenwald, 168 Jump in to Hell
To the 16 men who survived the camps and shared their experiences with
me, I hope I have done justice to your memories and the memory of those who
did not make it from then until this day.
CONTENTS
Glossary
Preface(cid:9) iv
Introduction
Chapter One(cid:9) Truth Reported Ignored and Lost (cid:9) 1
Chapter Two(cid:9) German Policy(cid:9) 7
Chapter Three(cid:9) Interviews(cid:9) 17
Bagioni(cid:9) 20
Bowen and Hasten(cid:9) 23
Daub(cid:9) 28
Fellman(cid:9) 33
Swaek(cid:9) 38
Acevedo(cid:9) 41
Powell(cid:9) 46
Milne(cid:9) 51
Landis(cid:9) 53
Lamar (cid:9) 55
Coulson(cid:9) 56
Don Jurgs(cid:9) 60
Letter detailing Stalag IX-A (NC0s)(cid:9) 61
Gerald Walters(cid:9) 62
Stevens(cid:9) 66
Mitchell(cid:9) 71
Mitchell Documents(cid:9) 75
Chapter Four (cid:9) German Record in Treaty/Law(cid:9) 81
Chapter Five(cid:9) German Security Services(cid:9) 83
Chapter Six(cid:9) German POW Laws(cid:9) 85
Chapter Seven(cid:9) German Commissar Order (cid:9) 89
Chapter Eight The Commando Order 93
Chapter Nine Enforcing Policy POW in Germany 97
DUCAL and Nacht und Nebel
Chapter Ten Kugel Order 101
Chapter Eleven Air Terrorist Lynch Justice 107
Chapter Twelve POW Diet 111
Chapter Thirteen Murder With Intent 113
Primary Reference Materials
(cid:9)
Appendix A List of POW Camps 125
Maps of POW Camps
(cid:9)
Appendix B List of Concentration Camps and Sub camps 131
Maps of Concentration and Slave Labor Camps
(cid:9)
Appendix C 1929 Geneva Accord on POWs 173
(cid:9)
Appendix D Original Draft Gag Order 197
Fellman signed Gag Order
Report to the 79th Congress
Report of Parliament
(cid:9)
Appendix E German Regulations on POWs 225
(cid:9)
Appendix F Commando Order 229
(cid:9)
Appendix G Nacht und Nebel 231
(cid:9)
Appendix H Air Terrorist / Lynch Justice 253
(cid:9)
Appendix I Affidavits: Crimes Against POWs 279
(cid:9)
Appendix J Liberation of US POWs in Dachau 303
Post Action Report and Letter Home 309
Appendix K(cid:9) German Order to Slaughter all POWs 317
Selected Bibliography 324
Index 330
GLOSSARY
Abwehr Military Intelligence under Canaris
Allies Those countries fighting against the Axis powers.
Britain, France, USA, Canada, USSR etc.
Amt Mil Army intelligence organization that succeeded the Abwehr
Appell Roll call— also used as punishment in concentration/labor
camps
Axis Alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan.
DIKAL Acronym: Not to be transferred or removed. Hold in place
while a death warrant is issued
Gestapo Geheime Staatspolizei - the German Secret State Police.
(cid:9)
IMT International Military Tribunal.
(cid:9)
IRC International Red Cross.
(cid:9)
Kriegsmarine German Navy.
11
Kripo(cid:9) Kriminalpolizei-German criminal police dept.
Kugel Erlass(cid:9) Bullet Order, a death warrant.
Luftwaffe(cid:9) German Air Force.
Nacht und Nebel(cid:9) Night and Fog— "Disappear someone and all record of
them."
NCA(cid:9) Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression.
OFLAG(cid:9) Offizier-Lager German POW camp for officers.
OKH(cid:9) Oberkommando des Heeres - High Command-Land Forces.
OKL(cid:9) Oberkommando der Luftwaffe - High Command Air Force.
OKM(cid:9) Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine —High Command Navy
OKW(cid:9) Oberkommando der Wehrmacht - High Command -
Armed Forces- usurped the powers of the OKH in.
1941
RSHA Reichssicherheitshauptamt - Reich Security Main
Office, coordinated all intelligence and operations
of KRIPO, GESTAPO and civil police.
SD Sicherheitsdienst - Security Department - The Nazi
Party security service, intelligence gathering and
counter-espionage of the RSHA.
SOE(cid:9) Special Operations Executive — British organization
responsible for partisan operations and deep penetration.
111
(cid:9)
SS Schutzstaffel - Protection Units–The principal elite
organization of the Nazi party. It consisted of the
Allgemeine (General) SS and Waffen (Armed) SS, that
formed military divisions as part of the Army
STALAG(cid:9) Soldiers Camp- POW camp for sergeants and lower
STALAG LUFT(cid:9) Luftwaffe run POW camp for captured Allied Aircrew.
Kommando(cid:9) For the Germans this meant a labor detail- "Arbeit
Kommando."
Commando--(cid:9) For the British it meant an elite independently
operating combat unit.
KommandoBefehl Commando Order—Order by Hitler and signed by Jodi and
Keitel to kill British Commandos, Special Operations
Executives (SOEs), American Office of Strategic Services
members (OSS) and Paratroops, more than seven miles
beyond their own lines, without quarter.
iv
Preface
The history of World War II has been explored and written about by many people.
Some wrote about personal experiences, some chronicled the history of groups,
some explored the consequences of actions taken during or after the war. There
are, however, areas that have been ignored and the story of the Allied Prisoners in
Buchenwald, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and other death, concentration and slave
labor camps such as Berga is one of the stories that has not, until now, been
written.
Dr. Drooz' work explores a little known part of prisoner of war history; the
experiences of US prisoners of war who were placed in the death camps. Their
story is not only a story of horror and betrayal but also a story of courage and
perseverance. It is a story that transcends most histories of European prisoner of
war camps and can only be rivaled in horrors by the experiences of some of the
men who were prisoners of the Japanese.
But the men who were the prisoners of the Japanese were at least accorded the
decency of being recognized as men who went through unspeakable horrors. Not
so the men who were in German death camps. The US government denied, at the
time, and still does today, that there were ever US prisoners in Nazi death,
concentration and slave labor camps
What made Berga so horrid, more horrible that the run of the mill German prison
camp? It was a concentration camp It would be easy to describe Berga as a prison
camp for American Jewish prisoners, but the truth is two thirds of the American
POWs enslaved in Berga were non-Jews.