The fifteen Murder, retribution, and the forgotten story of Nazi POWs in America

Geroux (The Ghost Ships of Archangel, 2019) chronicles the experiences of prisoners of war in the U.S. and Europe during WWII. After the Axis defeat in North Africa, German soldiers from the Afrika Korps were placed in internment camps throughout the U.S. Geroux looks at the camp system and argues that the government failed to separate soldiers along ideological lines, which led to several murders of POWs by their own men. He explores the murders, trials, and aftermath. Meanwhile, the German government condemned several American POWs to force a prisoner exchange, and Geroux relates their experiences. He draws a stark contrast between the treatment of POWs in the U.S. and Europe and explores both the American and German governments' diplomatic maneuvering and the impact of the Geneva Convention. He closes by reflecting on the legacy and impact of the U.S. camps and the postwar lives of the U.S. POWs. A compelling exploration of the experiences of prisoners of war in WWII.

After the Allies' defeat of the Afrika Corp in May 1943, "there was nowhere else to put the Germans but in America," writes journalist Geroux (The Ghost Ships of Archangel) in this exhilarating history. Over a hundred thousand Germans were interned in newly built American camps, but camp authorities didn't attempt to separate Nazi from anti-Nazi soldiers, or to de-Nazify true believers (in fact, camp commanders were prone to rewarding the Nazi POWs over the anti-Nazi ones because they appreciated the Nazis' obedience and efficiency). In addition, U.S. military officials underestimated Gestapo infiltration, which was so extensive that POWs' expression of anti-Nazi views would lead to persecution of their families back home. Eventually, a string of murders of anti-Nazi POWs led the U.S. to take the threat seriously (including by instituting a de-Nazification program spearheaded by Eleanor Roosevelt). The murderers were caught, tried, and executed, prompting accusations of Geneva Convention violations from German diplomats (the accused had been taken on "wild, blindfolded rides" and made to wear "onion-filled gas masks," Geroux writes). The State Department refused a prisoner exchange; in retribution, the Nazis sentenced 15 American POWs to death. Reversing course, the U.S. tried to negotiate an exchange after all, and Geroux's already impressively multipronged narrative pivots with alacrity to describing the torture the condemned American POWs endured before their nick-of-time rescue by the Red Army. It's a riveting, whirlwind look at a little-known episode of WWII. (Mar.)

When Germans were imprisoned in America. Nearly 400,000 German POWs spent WWII in America. Journalist Geroux delivers an expert, unsettling story of this little-known aspect of the war. Author ofThe Mathews Men: Seven Brothers and the War Against Hitler's U-boats, Geroux adds that the POWs were better fed and housed than their families in Germany; many yearned to remain in the U.S. after the war. Senior German officers set the tone in every camp. A minority were fanatic Nazis, certain that Germany would win the war, despising flabby, undisciplined Americans, and determined to enforce fierce loyalty to the Fuhrer. Most POWs went along, but there were always a few who expressed unflattering opinions on Hitler or made themselves obnoxious to their companions. Warnings or beatings were the usual response, but Geroux recounts several cases where guards found prisoners beaten to death or strangled in clumsy attempts to fake their suicides. Suspects underwent investigations and trials, and 15 of those convicted received the death penalty. Following the Geneva Convention, the Germans were informed of it. Geroux then describes conditions of over 70,000 American POWs in Axis camps, focusing on a group tried for trivial offenses such as disobeying guards and sentenced to death in an effort to force a prisoner exchange. Using Swiss diplomats as intermediaries, the Roosevelt administration began negotiations, but these extended into 1945, when the Nazi regime was crumbling and messages were delayed and sometimes lost. In the end, no American was executed; in July 1945, two months after Germany's surrender, the U.S. hanged 14 of the condemned Germans. There is no lesson, but readers will have no doubt that America, despite its warts--many German defendants were badly roughed up, but on the other hand, the POWs were often treated better than Black American soldiers--deserved to win. Good, unfamiliar World War II history. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.