Culture.Mil - Internment Camp

Written by Jenifer Chrisman on February 21, 2017.

“...about half echo the thoughts of one man who advised: ‘Put them in Death Valley, chuck in a side of beef, and let them starve to death.’”

– Brigadier General Francis E. Howard, then Director, Prisoner of War Division

Foreign prisoner-of-war internment camps have been recorded in the United States at least as far back as the Spanish-American War (1898) when sixteen Spanish prisoners, captured in Cuba, were held at Fort McPherson. These camps served to hold both enemy prisoners and aliens viewed as suspect by the federal government.

During World War I there were four main camps across the United States: Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia; Fort McPherson, Georgia; Fort Douglas, Utah; and Hot Springs, North Carolina. Although the war ended in 1918 some detainees had to wait as long as April of 1920 to be freed or deported.

World War II saw a major upswing in foreign POWs, with more than 400,000 Germans, Italians and Japanese interned. It was the first substantial internment on American soil.

In August of 1942 Britain, unable to meet the 1929 Geneva Convention’s housing and food requirements due to the overflowing 273,000 POWs (the United States only had 65), convinced the U.S. to begin taking some of their prisoners. The influx was so heavy that Prime Minister Winston Churchill shared the Queen Mary with several thousand POWs on his way to Washington in mid-1943.

Faced with an unprecedented inflow of POWs and completely unprepared, the Prisoner of War Division launched a program in September of 1942. They converted parts of existing installations, restored Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps camps, appropriated enemy alien internment camps and built new facilities, all of which had to adhere to strict specifications. These included lodging sizes, meals and if POWs were temporarily housed in tents their guards had to be as well.

Along with adaption of the sites, the nearby communities had to be prepared for the arrival of these enemy prisoners. While a few towns campaigned to have such camps built in their general vicinity, as they would bring in considerable revenue and labor, most opposed the camps as they had family fighting overseas. This frustration and resentment, especially at the perception the POWs were treated too well, occasionally spilled over to the Soldiers who served as their guards. The resulting yelling, cursing, accusations and sometimes physical violence was, as First Lieutenant William A. Ward said, “an unnerving experience” for those GIs who experienced it.

Despite community resentment and bad press, the Army stood firm. They not only wished to set an example in the hopes captive American servicemen would be treated well, they believed battlefield surrenders were larger in numbers. It also discouraged escape attempts. According to Army records, less than one percent (only 2,222) of foreign POWs being held in the United States tried to escape.

Of a more serious nature, in 1944, hardcore Nazis, a small minority of less than 20 percent, were belatedly separated in an attempt to end ongoing violence. This came after scores of prompted suicides and at least seven murders at the hands of these die-hards due to suspected American cooperation or anti-Nazi views.

Officials, in violation of the Geneva Convention, also launched the Intellectual Diversion Program to indoctrinate POWs through the use of classes, materials and films on democracy, along with some receiving lessons in reading English and American history. This indoctrination also included films and photos of Nazi atrocities.

More effectively, and approved by the Geneva Convention if guidelines were followed, officials introduced the POWs to the American way of life through work programs that allowed them to earn money. The POWs labored in various industries, including foundries and open mine pits, food-processing plants and timber. To augment agricultural manpower they also worked the fields, including cotton, tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, sugar cane and corn. By the end of the war seven percent of commissioned officers, 45 percent of non-commissioned officers and 96 percent of enlisted men were participating in the labor program.

Spread across 46 states, more than 900 facilities were in operation by the end of the of World War II.

Georgia World War II POW Camps:

Benning (Fort Henry L.) – Columbus, Muscogee and Chattahoochee Counties
- Base camp
- Benning Regional Hospital
Finney (John M. T.) General Hospital – Thomasville, Thomas County
Gordon (Camp John B.) – Augusta, Richmond County (base camp)
Lawson General Hospital – Atlanta, Fulton County
Oglethorpe (Fort) – Catoosa County, GA
- Base camp
- Branch camp – Battey (Robert) General Hospital, Rome, Floyd County, GA
Oliver General Hospital –Augusta, Richmond County
Stewart (Camp) – near Hinesville, Liberty County
- Base camp
- Stewart (Camp) Regional Hospital
Wheeler (Camp) – Macon, Bibb County (base camp)

Enemy Alien Internment Camps:

Oglethorpe (Fort) – Catloosa County (German internment camp during summer 1942)
Screven (Fort) INS Detention Facility (German, Italian)

Cemeteries:

Prisoner of War Cemetery – Camp Gordon (now Fort Gordon)
Fort Benning Post Cemetery – Fort Benning

What was then Camp Gordon had satellite camps, some as far reaching as Florida and North Carolina, before the camp system was streamlined. These satellites could hold anywhere from 250 to 750 POWs and their prisoners labored in agriculture, including cotton, tomatoes and peanuts, and various industries, including lumber and pulpwood.

Prior to separating the hardcore Nazis, a kangaroo trial (kangaroo court – a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted) was held at Camp Gordon in 1944. A POW, who was believed to have passed information to the Americans, was secretly convicted and strangled. In 1945 the United States government tried and executed his two murderers.

By the end of 1946, most of the POW repatriating and shut down of the camps was complete. Those serving sentences in U.S. penal institutions were the exception. Many communities were left with a gaping void, not only from the departing Army soldiers, but also their foreign POW prisoners, who in some cases were now friends.

For more information about foreign POW camps in the United States, “Prisoner of War Camps Across America” by Kathy Kirkpatrick is available at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble in digital format.

Sources:

Notes: The above list of Prisoner of War Camps, Italian Service Unit Camps, and Prisoner of War Hospitals is based on weekly reports located on NARA microfilm #66-538 (population lists June 1942-June 1946). Additional locations based on newspapers, interviews, and other NARA records (at College Park and Regional Archives). A more complete list can be found at https://www.gentracer.org.

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