| The Enemy Among Us - POWs in missouri During World War II
(2003)
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| Front Cover |
Book Details |
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| Genre |
Non-Fiction |
| Subject |
Prisoners of war - Germany - History - 20th century; Prisoners of war - Italy - History - 20th century; World War, 1939-1945 - Missouri; World War, 1939-1945 - Prisoners and prisons, American |
| Publication Date |
September 2003 |
| Format |
Hardcover (9.4
x
7.1
mm)
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| Publisher |
Missouri History Museum |
| Extras |
Dust Jacket; Dust Jacket Cover |
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| Description |
| During World War II, more than fifteen thousand German and Italian soldiers came to Missouri. This was no invasionary force; rather these were prisoners of war, part of a flood of almost a half-million men captured and sent to the United States, held here until the end of the war.Life as a POW in the thirty camps scattered across Missouri was a surprisingly pleasant experience. The men ate well and were quartered under the same conditions as the Americans assigned to guard them, and the prisoners often enjoyed a great deal of freedom. The internees worked on local farms, often "guarded" only by a bored GI snoozing under a shade tree. They organized camp theater troupes, sports leagues, and orchestras, and some prisoners studied at the camp library for classes at the POW "university."For residents of the mostly small towns where these camps were located, the arrival of enemy POWs engendered a range of emotions - first fear and apprehension, then curiosity, and finally, in many cases, a feeling of fondness for the men they had come to know and like. |
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| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
D805.U5 .F44 2003 |
| Dewey |
940.54/7273/097 |
| ISBN |
9781883982492 |
| No. of Pages |
466 |
| First Edition |
No |
| Rare |
No |
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| Notes/Review |
This book is a comprehensive history of prisoner of war camps that were operated in Missouri during World War II. Every aspect of the camps is investigated, from their genesis (acquisition of land, construction, arrival of the first PWs) to their decommissioning in 1946 and everything in between. The book is rich with anecdotes of the prisoners, guards, and the Missourians they lived among.
It might have been nice for this volume to cover camps nationwide, but in the end I'm satisfied with the scope of the book. Sure, the individual stories would have been different and the places more widespread, but I have a hard time imagining that the book would have been more informative or instructive given simply a wider geographical view.
As of July 1, 1944, there were 353 camps in 39 states with 18 more camps under construction. These camps housed more than 142,000 Germans, 15,000 Italians, and 500 Japanese. This book concentrates on the Missouri camps - main camps and satellite work camps - and their German and Italian captives. No Japanese prisoners were interned in Missouri.
As I delve into some of the more obscure topics related to World War II, I'm more and more impressed with the scope and scale of the total effort. Here we're given some insight into what it took to house, clothe, and feed the prisoners as well as their contribution to the war effort.
Out of scope for this book is a comparison of the treatment of these POWs to Japanese Americans interned or to the lot of Blacks in the South (and, indeed, much of the country). This exercise is left to the enlightened reader. |
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