Worries

POW's and what they feared.
How will be the future?

12 million people were expelled from the areas of the eastern empire. That ethnic purge was called population transfer by the Allies. The Morgenthau plan wasn't unknown in the US POW camps either of course and they feared to become a slave. An uncertain future for the prisoners. A colors scale was introduced: black, gray and white. "White" indicated the Anti Nazis, "gray" were mitläufer (just going along with it) and "black" Nazis. The re-education of a Nazi to a democrat wasn't simple at all. The prisoners had to work in America and after a hard working day it was hard to follow and understand the courses held in English.

After the VE (Victory Europe) the food gets very bad. Some people claim, that the Americans treated the German prisoners after the VE much worse because they had not to fear for their own men in German captivity any more. Others claim, that the opinion about the German soldier changed, after pictures of concentration camps went around the world and therefore the treatment of the German deteriorated. Anyway, the rations were reduced and the prisoners got robbed. Honor awards were most popular souvenirs. The identification papers of the NCO's where taken away and they couldn't prove their rank and had to work contrary to the Geneva convention (the American government estimates the profit which made with the work of the Germans at more than 180 million dollars). Due to reasons like that the trust of the prisoners in the justice of the free democracy was not increasing. But the re-education continued with several methods because the US war department saw in the presence of about 370.000 German prisoners of war in the USA a "opportunity like never before to develop a germ cell of democratic thinking and respect under the Germans for America". A prisoner reports about the re-education in camp Rupert, Idaho: "after the end of the war, every Sunday real and alleged professors came to us, to convince in discussions of the glory of America and the undoubtedly present value of democracy ". A prisoner from Drew Field, Florida: "I remember that once, the American teacher has gone away furiously because the distinguished national socialists of the camp had driven him speechless and with no argument left due to the race problem in America".