A decision was finally made to ship the POWs back as soon as possible. Between 1945 and 1948 the War Department staggered the return of prisoners, with the majority sent back to Europe during 1946. The speediness of their return was also motivated by President Truman’s strategy, during a burgeoning Cold War, to strengthen ties with France and Britain, who desperately needed cheap POW labor to rebuild their bombed-out countries.12 But that wasn’t a smooth transition either.

Coordinating with the French and British was challenging, as both countries wanted to keep the POWs in captivity for as long as possible, in what sometimes turned out to be questionable and inhumane conditions, before finally releasing them. Article 75 of the Geneva Convention also stated, “Prisoners of war who are subject to criminal proceedings for a crime or offence at common law may, however, be detained until the end of the proceedings, and, if need be, until the expiration of the sentence. The same applies to prisoners convicted for a crime or offence at common law.” With the loose wording, the French or Brits could accurately claim the destruction of their countries by the Nazis was both a crime and an offense, which meant their prolonged detainment of prisoners was not a violation.13

The American military government in Germany also preferred that the POWs be dispersed to other countries for the rebuilding efforts before returning home. In Germany there were food and fuel shortages, ravaged cities, and occupying forces. There was a real fear that POWs, upon returning home, would become disillusioned and resentful, starting uprisings and hindering efforts to establish peace. The War Department decided that some POWs would work in labor battalions in England and France, usually for six months but sometimes longer, and others would be repatriated directly to Germany—it was sheer luck which assignment a particular prisoner was given.14

For the journey back to Europe, POWs were given a barracks bag filled with blankets, a first-aid kit, and eating utensils. The government issued them checks, usually worth $50, or for POWs who had saved up more money from their work, a few hundred dollars. The prisoners took trains from their camps to the army’s largest port of embarkation, which was at Camp Shanks, in Rockland County, New York. There they boarded vessels that usually carried three thousand prisoners across the Atlantic on a trip that lasted nine to ten days.15

Most vessels docked at Southampton, England, or Le Havre, France, off the English Channel. France held the German POWs the longest, possibly out of a combination of revenge and a genuine need for labor given the massive devastation the Nazis inflicted on the country during the war. Of the 700,000 German POWs France received from the combined European and American units, the French still had 440,000 under its authority in April 1947, almost two years after the war ended. And another 10,000 were still there in 1948.16