Where can I find ww2 POW records?
Archives Division
Records of prisoners of war (POWs) were compiled by each country and are now held centrally by the Archives Division and Research Service of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Switzerland. Because of their personal nature, these records are not available to the general public.
Where were the POW camps in Germany?
The Red Army arrived a day later. Roughly 94,000 Americans were held as prisoners of war in the European Theater and 7,717 of them spent time in Stalag Luft I on the Baltic sea in the German city of Barth, 105 miles northwest of Berlin.
How many POWs were there in ww2?
120,000 Americans
More than 120,000 Americans were held prisoner by the enemy during World War II.
What happened to British prisoners of war in ww2?
More than 170,000 British prisoners of war (POWs) were taken by German and Italian forces during the Second World War. Most were captured in a string of defeats in France, North Africa and the Balkans between 1940 and 1942. They were held in a network of POW camps stretching from Nazi-occupied Poland to Italy.
What happened to American POWs in Germany?
In the European theater, 93,941 Americans were held as prisoners of war (POWs). However, American POWs interned by Germany’s ally, Japan, were protected by no such restraints; of the 27,465 Americans captured in the Pacific, 11,107 would not return home, a death rate of over 40%.
How were POWs treated in Germany?
Although Allied prisoners of war complained of the scarcity of food within German POW camps, they were treated comparatively well. Hiding behind the (legally invalid) pretext that the Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva Convention, the Germans treated Soviet prisoners with appalling brutality and neglect.
Where did the POWs go after World War 2?
Many survivors were later sent to Egypt and camps in the US and elsewhere. By the winter of 1947, it was estimated that 4,160,000 German POWs were still held in ‘work camps’ outside Germany: 750,000 in France, 30,000 in Italy, 460,000 in Britain, 14,000 in Belgium (at one point, 48,000),…
What was the death rate of American POWs in Europe?
However, American POWs interned by Germany’s ally, Japan, were protected by no such restraints; of the 27,465 Americans captured in the Pacific, 11,107 would not return home, a death rate of over 40%. Ultimately, wartime circumstances and the leanings of individual camp leaders dictated the fates of those held captive in Europe.
How many American prisoners of war were held in Europe?
In the European theater, 93,941 Americans were held as prisoners of war (POWs). These “Kriegies,” short for Kriegsgefangener (German for POW) counted the days until liberation and created dream worlds for themselves inside the camps.
How many people died in American POW camps?
It is estimated that 700,000 to a million men may have died within the period they spent incarcerated in American and French camps alone from 1945 to 1948.