Allied PoWs of Jewish/Slav descent

[Berichter]

I read in a book called The Raid on Hammelburg that Capt Baum had torn off his dogtags that listed his religion so that if captured, he wouldn't be sent to a concentration camp. This inspires a question: Were Jewish and Slav descended prisoners from the Western Allies put into concentration camps or were they put into the PoW camps?

Cordially,

Berichter

[David Thompson]

Berichter -- I haven't heard of Slavic-American POWs being singled out for mistreatment; but on the subject of Jewish-American POWs, these threads may be of interest to you:

US PBS special on Berga -- US Jewish POWs
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=23431

Berga POW camp documentary
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=23334

[Lipton]

This is from http://www.axpow.org/zitofrank.htm . An excerpt from a story of G.I. that was captured in Hürtgenwald:

About twenty men from Frank’s platoon were captured and taken to the rear, to a large building that looked like a dormitory, for interrogation. Frank was separated from the rest of his platoon and the Germans kept insisting that he was a Jew. Frank continually told them that he was of Italian descent. They asked him to speak in Italian and Frank spoke in a slang Sicilian accent which he had learned to speak as a child and they finally let him rejoin the others.

[Orok]

I am not an expert on this subject, but I can say I have known a few WWII veterans here who were (yes they are all dead unfortunately) Slav American and POWs in German hands during the war. They were Poles and one Russian, all with recognizable Slavic last names. But it seems they've never been singled out because of this.

Anyway, there were quite a few high-ranking Germans serving the Third Reich who were of recognizable Slavic extract, men like von dem Bach-Zelewski (Polish), Globocnik (Slovene), Rendulic (Croat), Skorzeny (Galician Polish), etc.. perhaps also Manstein (ne Lewinski, Polish?). Also Guderian was half Armenian, I don't know if the Armenians, who are not even a European people, were considered Aryan at all in Nazi racial theory.

Best Regards!

[Andy H]

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=52950

From the above thread:-

Hi

The British before D-Day gave 'British' names to all the Jews in order to help them in case they were captured. They were also given various regiments so that it would appear as if the Jewish Brigade were from different regiments. I have always puzzled over the different accents that could not possibly match the British names and Regiments. I bet it took a lot of explaining to a German officer.

Jacky

Andy H

[Dan]

It is safe to say that there may have been exceptions, but generally American POWs were all treated the same. And in some cases, as with Blacks, they were treated more evenly than while still in the US army.

[alf]

At least one British Officer was sent to Auschwitz

At Oswiecim .prisoner No 85512 was an English doctor Sperber, who had been taken from a torpedoed British ship, where he had been serving as doctor with officers rank, and had at first been placed in an officer-prisoners’camp for British, but on December 19. 1942 was transferred to Oswiecim.

http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/gcpol9.htm#Prisoners

[Witch-King of Angmar]

Also Guderian was half Armenian, I don't know if the Armenians, who are not even a European people, were considered Aryan at all in Nazi racial theory.

Armenians are Indo-European/Aryan. Georgians aren't.

~The Witch-King of Angmar

[David Thompson]

From the JuNSV Dachau Trials (US Army courts in Germany 1945-1948) page at http://www1.jur.uva.nl/junsv/JuNSVEng/D ... asesfr.htm :

File Number: US013
Review Date: 450420
Case Number: 6-56 (US vs. Curt Bruns)
Crime Category: War Crimes
Accused:
Bruns, Curt - Death Sentence
Court: Military Commission at Duren, Germany 450407
Country where the crime had been committed: Germany
Crime Location: Bleialf
Crime Date: 441220
Victim: POW’s
Nationality: American
Office: Wehrmacht, 2nd Battalion, 293rd Regiment, 18th Volks- Gendarmerie Division
Subject of the proceeding: The accused, commander of the 2nd Battalion, ordered the shooting of two American soldiers, who were singled out from among a group of several hundreds of American POW's on a forced march to a camp in Bleialf. The victims were selected allegedly because they were of Jewish origins. Prior to the execution, the accused made the statement that "Jews have no right to live in Germany"

[Artur Szulc]

After september 1939 tens of tousands of Polish prisoners of War were sent to German Oflags and Stalags.
In the camps they were treated accordingly to international law. After some time polish officers of jewish descent were taken from these POW-camps and sent to concentrations camps.

[Penn44]

After september 1939 tens of tousands of Polish prisoners of War were sent to German Oflags and Stalags.
In the camps they were treated accordingly to international law. After some time polish officers of jewish descent were taken from these POW-camps and sent to concentrations camps.

Were they sent directly from the Oflags to concentration camps, or were they released from the Oflags as part of "demobilization," went home to Ghettos, and were eventually deported to concentration or death camps from there?

What is your source?

Penn44

.

[Artur Szulc]

Penn44,

Sorry, I got it wrong.

On the eve of the war there were 3.5 million Jews in Poland. One
in ten Polish citizens was Jewish. In March and August of 1939,
some 150,000 Polish Jews were drafted. This constituted nearly 18
percent of the military forces.

Polish military historians noted that the Jews suffered heavy losses.
Meirtchak lists 1189 persons, but there were many more names, no
doubt.

Tens of thousands became POWs. Some of these were first sent to
stalags in East Prussia and then released. But two or three years
later, they were arrested with their families and sent to Treblinka,
Belzec, and Auschwitz to be killed. Some of the POW's were
incarcerated in a camp in Lublin where they were put to death.
The Jewish POW's, who ended up in Germany, were killed with
the exception of 200 in the Oflag VIB.

From a rewiew of: Benjamin Meirtchak (Beniamin Majerczak) "Zydzi - zolnierze Wojsk
Polskich polegli na frontach II wojny swiatowej", Dom Wydawniczy
Bellona, Warszawa 2001 r.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eejh/message/4653

[henryk]

See:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=87056
The Fate of Polish-Jewish POW.

[paratatruc]

The father of a man I know and who is still alive was taken prisoner in 1939,released soon after, joined his family
in Lodz , and was gassed in Auschwitz in 1944.

[Peter H]

British POWS at Auschwitz?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... unker.html

Historians have uncovered a list of the names of 17 British soldiers in an Auschwitz bunker.

The details, which were found during routine preservation work at the concentration camp, has puzzled researchers who have no clue how it came to be there.

Experts are divided over the list with some claiming the names belong to former Jewish prisoners of war who were sent to die at the camp

Others say they could have belonged to a British SS Division(sic) that fought alongside the Nazis in World War II...