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1944 – Franz Kettner, a private in the German army and a prisoner of war at Camp Hearne in Texas, is killed by a Nazi kangaroo court.
Internment camps for German prisoners of war were dominated by Nazi enforcers, who killed as many as 150 of their fellow prisoners during World War II. Only seven were officially considered murder.
Kettner’s wrists were slashed so that his death would be recorded as a suicide. Even the smallest infraction could put German prisoners at risk. Those who talked to guards, spoke English, or refused to parrot the Nazi line were often beaten or killed. American camp officials generally looked the other way because they appreciated the discipline and order that the Nazis provided in the camps.
Prisoners who were not ethnically German and had been conscripted into service were particularly in danger from their fellow prisoners. In the later part of 1943, a rash of murders were committed at camps all across America. When Corporal Johann Kunze was beaten to death in an Oklahoma camp for allegedly providing Americans with information, five Nazi sergeants were charged with his murder. They were hanged in 1945 and became the first foreign prisoners of war to meet that fate in the United States.
Hans Geller, a prisoner in Arkansas, was killed by his fellow soldiers despite a stellar war record as a paratrooper for the German army. His only mistake was his fluency in English.
Eventually, American officials began separating the Nazis from the anti-Nazi Germans, and three camps were set aside for those who opposed Hitler. Despite Nazi threats that those who opposed them would be in bad shape when the war was over, anti-Nazi prisoners were often put in positions of power by Americans when they were repatriated. The Nazis, on the other hand, were widely scorned after Hitler’s defeat.
http://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/january-11/
Internment camps for German prisoners of war were dominated by Nazi enforcers, who killed as many as 150 of their fellow prisoners during World War II. Only seven were officially considered murder.
Kettner’s wrists were slashed so that his death would be recorded as a suicide. Even the smallest infraction could put German prisoners at risk. Those who talked to guards, spoke English, or refused to parrot the Nazi line were often beaten or killed. American camp officials generally looked the other way because they appreciated the discipline and order that the Nazis provided in the camps.
Prisoners who were not ethnically German and had been conscripted into service were particularly in danger from their fellow prisoners. In the later part of 1943, a rash of murders were committed at camps all across America. When Corporal Johann Kunze was beaten to death in an Oklahoma camp for allegedly providing Americans with information, five Nazi sergeants were charged with his murder. They were hanged in 1945 and became the first foreign prisoners of war to meet that fate in the United States.
Hans Geller, a prisoner in Arkansas, was killed by his fellow soldiers despite a stellar war record as a paratrooper for the German army. His only mistake was his fluency in English.
Eventually, American officials began separating the Nazis from the anti-Nazi Germans, and three camps were set aside for those who opposed Hitler. Despite Nazi threats that those who opposed them would be in bad shape when the war was over, anti-Nazi prisoners were often put in positions of power by Americans when they were repatriated. The Nazis, on the other hand, were widely scorned after Hitler’s defeat.
http://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/january-11/
Military History
WWII World War Two
POW/MIA
Posted >1 y ago
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1SG (Join to see), there's a bad German general buried at Fort McClellan, AL. Generalmajor Hans Schuberth. Thanks for the enlightening look back in time.
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