Following is the list of 19 prisoner-of-war camps set up in Allied-occupied Germany at the End of World War II in Europe to hold the Nazi German prisoners of war captured across Northwestern Europe by the Allies of World War II. Officially named Prisoner of War Temporary Enclosures (PWTE), they held between one and two million Nazi German military personnel from April until September 1945.
Prisoners held in the Allied camps were designated Disarmed Enemy Forces, not the Prisoners of War. This specific designation was introduced in March 1943 by SHAEF commander in chief Dwight D. Eisenhower in order to conform with the logistics of the Geneva Convention.[1][2][3]
Camps of the U.S. Army
editThe Rheinwiesenlager camps are listed from north to south. Most of them were located near villages on the western side of the river Rhine.[1]
| Town | Federal state | Period | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Büderich | North Rhine-Westphalia | April - June 1945 | |
| Rheinberg | North Rhine-Westphalia | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Wickrathberg | North Rhine-Westphalia | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Remagen | Rhineland-Palatinate | April - June 1945 | |
| Sinzig | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | women's section |
| Siershahn | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Andernach | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Diez | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Urmitz | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Koblenz | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Heidesheim | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Winzenheim / Bretzenheim | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | camp for Waffen SS, later French transit camp - 1948 |
| Hechtsheim | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Biebelsheim | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Bad Kreuznach | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Dietersheim | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Ludwigshafen | Rhineland-Palatinate | April/June - September 1945 | |
| Böhl-Iggelheim | Rhineland-Palatinate | April - June 1945 | April/June - September 1945 |
| Heilbronn | Baden-Württemberg | April/June - September 1945 |
References
edit- ^ a b International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in WW II, "German prisoners of war in Allied hands."
- ^ Ambrose, Stephen E. (24 February 1991). "Ike and the Disappearing Atrocities". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
- ^ Stanhope Bayne-Jones, "Enemy Prisoners of War."