German Captors, Jewish POWs: Segregation of American and British Jewish POWs in German Captivity in the Second World War

Abstract

The radicalization of Germany’s antisemitic policies that eventually led to the murder of six million Jews, went on in parallel to the radicalization of its POW policies. And yet, while Soviet Jewish POWs were murdered, and French, Polish, and Yugoslavian Jewish POWs were mostly segregated from their non-Jewish comrades, American and British Jewish POWs were rarely segregated in POW camps. This article suggests that a combination of different reasons during different stages of the war—such as the German fear of reprisals, protests of POWs against the segregations, and self-preservation of the German POW chain of command—helped make American and British Jewish POWs the most protected Jews in Nazi Europe.