Hitler's Soldiers in the Sunshine State: German POWs in Florida

The Florida History and Culture Series

by Robert D. Billinger

 "By turning diversity into the central notion of this study, Billinger brings a novel approach to research on German POWs. The focus on a particular camp [Camp Blanding] and the careful attention that is given to detail and individual life stories present us with a multifaceted and intriguing picture of the German POW experience in the United States."--Philipp Gassert, German Historical Institute


In the first book-length treatment of the German prisoner of war experience in Florida during World War II, Robert D. Billinger, Jr., tells the story of the 10,000 men who were "guests" of Uncle Sam in a tropical paradise that for some became a tropical hell.
 Having been captured while serving on U-boats off the Carolinas, with the Afrika Korps in Tunisia, with the paratroops in Italy, or with labor battalions in France, the POWs were among the 378,000 Germans held as prisoners in 45 states.
Except for the servicemen who guarded them, the civilian pulp-cutters, citrus growers, and sugarcane foremen who worked them, and the FBI and local police who tracked the escapees among them, most people were--and still are--unaware of the German POWs who inhabited the 27 camps that dotted the Sunshine State. Billinger describes the experiences of the Germans and their captors as both sides came to the realization that, while the Germans’ worst enemies were often their own comrades-in-arms, wartime enemies might also become life-long friends.
Concentrating especially on the story of Camp Blanding in North Florida, Billinger based his research on both American and German archives. His account mixes rare photos with interviews with former prisoners; reports by the International Red Cross, the YMCA, and the U.S. military; and local newspaper articles.
This book will be of great value to scholars and historians, as well as all readers with an interest in World War II. Those with an interest in Florida history will also find much to admire in this engaging account of a barely known wartime episode.

Robert D. Billinger Jr., Ruth Horton Davis Professor of History at Wingate University, is the author of Nazi POWs in the Tar Heel State.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Aspasia]

I am a native Floridian and I had never heard of German POW camps in Florida. My mom used to work with a lady whose father was rumored to have washed up on shore from a U-boat. Overall, this was an interesting read on a little-known fact of Florida and World War II history.

[Jenny Karraker]

This was a very interesting book to read about the German POW's who were sent from England to America in the later years of WW2. Being published by University Press, it is a more scholarly work and presents mostly facts without much embellishment or depth about these prisoners. The author does state that American authorities tried to keep a low profile about the camps and not much was written about them except when prisoners escaped, and these articles were often buried in the newspapers, so as not to draw too much attention to them and arouse fear among the civilian population. These camps for the prisoners were built near army bases, the main ones being around Jacksonville and out in the Panhandle; and the prisoners had jobs that assisted the US economy such as picking citrus in Leesburg and cutting sugarcane down by Lake Okeechobee. I can't imagine working in the heat and sleeping in either tents or rough houses before the age of air-conditioning. The author asserts that often trouble arose in the camps because of the divisions among the German soldiers themselves. The elite Afrika Corps, many taken prisoner when Rommel's troops surrendered in May of 1943, saw themselves as superior to those prisoners captured in Italy and France and kept aloof. Most of these Afrika Corps were very supportive of the Nazi cause, unlike other soldiers who were drafted from many of the countries Hitler invaded, and ostracized and treated the newer prisoners harshly, many of whom were critical of Hitler or hinted that the Germans might be losing the war. Like many stories you read about close contact between enemy troops, it was interesting to see how both Germans and Americans came to appreciate each other and their differences. The American farmers liked employing these German workers, because they were very diligent and got their jobs done much more quickly and efficiently than the Negro workers who usually worked in the fields. In one situation, the Germans discovered that they could finish their work faster and have more time off if they rotated their breaks with someone always working. The farmer complained that they shouldn't be given the time off that their own schedule allowed them, but the army commander of the camp supported letting them have some leisure time since they got the work done in a timely fashion. It was interesting at one point that the German prisoners went on strike and refused to work because their cigarette shipment was delayed. No wonder the surrounding Americans complained about their superior treatment when the Americans themselves were feeling the pinch from rationing and limited supplies of food, extras, etc. I didn't realize that the Geneva Convention had been signed recently (and most Americans were unfamiliar with its terms and dictates) and that the Americans were hoping that their fair treatment of these prisoners would encourage the Germans to do the same with the American POW's. However, toward the end of the war when prison camps in Europe were liberated, Americans were appalled at the conditions of their prisoners who had survived these camps and retaliated by cutting back on food and privileges for the Germans still imprisoned in America. However, the American farmers and business people discovered that their prisoners could not work as heartily or strongly on such a limited diet, so reinstated the meals. The author tells stories about several escapes, Gerhard Ankham being one who was known as the escape king! It was interesting that after the war, he was sent back to the Russian sector of Berlin, and seeing the writing on the wall, escaped from there to live in the free side. It was interesting that after the war, not all the prisoners returned immediately to Germany. Roughly 2/3 of the prisoners from the US were first sent to England and France, where they were forced to rebuild the cities that had been destroyed during the war. Many didn't return to Germany until 1948, 3 years after the end of hostilities. The author stated that the Germans loved catching and killing the Florida snakes, making souvenir belts out of their skins, prized possessions when they returned to their homeland. In describing the difficult job of cutting sugarcane under the blazing Florida sun with few breaks and little recreation back at their camps, the author described that the greatest danger was to the snakes, for the German soldiers lined the edges of the fields as they were burning the sugarcane and captured the snakes as they fled the fires. As I talked to my father who flew a plane in WW2 over Germany and France in 1944-1945, he told me about a local POW camp there in Virginia where a very chic furniture store is now located. Many of the camps were dismantled, and especially with the cuts in military spending and many bases having been closed over the years, most of these camps are no longer in existence. It would be interesting to see if there are plaques or other signs showing where these places existed around the state. It would be interesting to see the graves which were relocated to Fort Benning, Georgia. Being more distanced from this war and not having friends or family who died there, my interest is more intellectual and I don't feel the same emotions or anguish that my parent's generation still feels toward Germany.