What History Books Won’t Tell You About The Controversial Prison Camps the Allies Ran in Germany After WWII

Photo Credit: Galerie Bilderwelt / Getty Images
Photo Credit: Galerie Bilderwelt / Getty Images

Throughout World War II, prisoners of war (POWs) were often detained in camps. The Geneva Convention set forth the regulations for their treatment. Nevertheless, in camps located in Allied-occupied Germany, POWs were intentionally classified in a way that allowed the Allies to bypass these rules.

These camps, known as the Rheinwiesenlager and officially referred to as Prisoner of War Temporary Enclosures (PWTE), are not often mentioned.

Allied success in Europe following the D-Day landings

Prisoners of war (POWs) standing around tents and mounds of dirt at the Sinzig prison camp
Sinzig prison camp, May 1945. (Photo Credit: US Army / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

Following the success of D-Day, the Allied forces moved through occupied territories and advanced into Germany. Despite encountering pockets of resistance from enemy troops, many soldiers surrendered, making the Allies responsible for their care.

Initially, the custody of prisoners was divided between the British and American forces. However, by early 1945, the British refused to accept more into their existing camps. As a result, the responsibility fell entirely to the Americans, who faced the challenging task of accommodating the growing number of German POWs as the Allied advance continued.

To address this issue, the US Army established the Rheinwiesenlager, a network of prison camps spread across Allied-occupied Germany. These camps started operations in April 1945, and their importance grew after Germany’s surrender the following month, as they played an important role in preventing possible uprisings against the Allied occupation.

Layout of the Rheinwiesenlager

Map showing the locations of the Rheinwiesenlager camps throughout Allied-occupied Germany
Rheinwiesenlager locations throughout Allied-occupied Germany following the Second World War. (Photo Credit: Maximilian Dörrbecker / Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.5)

The Rheinwiesenlager was established on West German soil under Allied control. Positioned on agricultural land near railway tracks, these sites were enclosed by barbed wire fences. The area was divided into smaller sections, each intended to hold 5,000-10,000 people. Despite this design, many camps became severely overcrowded, accommodating over 100,000 prisoners, with estimates suggesting a total population between one and 1.9 million.

Detainees at the Rheinwiesenlager were primarily ordinary soldiers of the Wehrmacht, while higher-ranking German officials, SS members, and other prominent figures were relocated elsewhere.

There were no shelters for living quarters

U.S. soldier taking watch over a prisoner enclosure.
A U.S. soldier takes part in keeping guard over thousands of German soldiers captured in the Ruhr area. (Photo Credits: Unknown Author / US Army / MEDICAL DEPARTMENT, UNITED STATES ARMY PREVENTIVE MEDICINE IN WORLD WAR II; OFFICE OF THE SURGEON GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, WASHINGTON, D.C. (1969) / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain).

Much of the camp’s internal organization was managed by the prisoners themselves, who handled tasks like labor, medical care, and food preparation. Oversight of the compounds often fell to fellow inmates, who were offered additional rations to maintain order and ensure compliance within the perimeter of barbed wire.

While the camps included facilities for kitchens, medical care, and administration, these were not used as living quarters. Instead, most detainees were forced to make do with makeshift shelters by digging into the ground.

Disarmed Enemy Forces (DEFs)

Female prisoners of war (POWs) standing near a barbed wire fence at a Rheinwiesenlager camp
Female Rheinwiesenlagercamp, May 1945. (Photo Credit: Department of the Army, Office of the Chief Signal Officer – Signal Corps Photographs of American Military Activity / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

The harsh conditions faced by these prisoners, made clear by their improvised outdoor shelters, highlighted the severe treatment inflicted upon them by their captors. This mistreatment was allowed due to their designation as Disarmed Enemy Forces (DEFs) rather than prisoners of war (POWs).

Prior to the establishment of the Rheinwiesenlager, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower introduced this new classification, effectively stripping DEFs of the protections granted to POWs by the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929). The American forces defended this decision by arguing that these individuals belonged to a state that no longer existed, thus justifying various forms of mistreatment.

Was the inhumane treatment intentional? 

Aerial view of US-run German POW camp.
One of the largest concentrations of German prisoners, over 160,000 men, packed into an area in Germany, under control of U.S. Army. (Photo Credits: Camp for German prisoners of war. Unidentified location in Germany / U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NAID) 292564 / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain).

Under this classification, authorities could “legally” block Red Cross visits and withhold humanitarian aid. The Geneva Convention was specifically designed to prevent the abuse of POWs, but without its protections, DEFs were exposed to mistreatment with little accountability for their captors.

These events have led many to view the actions of Eisenhower and those in charge of the Rheinwiesenlager as intentional acts of inhumane treatment.

Rheinwiesenlager conditions

German prisoners of war (POWs) sitting in craters at the Sinzig prison camp
Sinzig prison camp, 1945. (Photo Credit: PhotoQuest / Getty Images) 

Overall, the conditions in the Rheinwiesenlager were horrific.

Historian Stephen Ambrose investigated many claims made about the camps, and concluded, “Men were beaten, denied water, forced to live in open camps without shelter, given inadequate food rations and inadequate medical care. Their mail was withheld. In some cases prisoners made a ‘soup’ of water and grass in order to deal with their hunger.”

Begging for more food wasn’t an option either, as those prisoners were often shot as “escapees,” should they have gotten near the barbed wire fences. Reports also claim locals would be shot if they tried to provide aid to the POWs.

Legacy of the Rheinwiesenlager

Female prisoners of war (POWs) standing together outside at a Rheinwiesenlager prison camp
German nurses being kept as prisoners of war (POWs) at the Rheinwiesenlager, June 1945. (Photo Credit: Galerie Bilderwelt / Getty Images)

Given the living conditions of the Disarmed Enemy Forces, it’s no wonder the death toll was high. However, because they weren’t officially known as prisoners of war, few records were kept. Instead, many Germans would simply go missing from roll call, never to be seen again.

Due to the lack of records, death estimates vary, depending on who you ask. The official statistics from the US Army state that around 3,000 people died while in the Rheinwiesenlager. German estimates, however, provide a figure of 4,537.

James Bacque, the author of Other Losses: An Investigation Into the Mass Deaths of German Prisoners at the Hands of the French and Americans After World War II, alleges the number is between 100,000 and one million. However, his claims have been discredited by his peers.

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Regardless of the overall death toll, the treatment of DEFs has been heavily criticized, despite it going largely unnoticed in more recent years. Many have pointed out that the Americans violated a host of international laws on the treatment of prisoners, even though they weren’t classified as POWs, particularly in their feeding – or lack thereof.

Rosemary Giles

Rosemary Giles is a history content writer with Hive Media. She received both her bachelor of arts degree in history, and her master of arts degree in history from Western University. Her research focused on military, environmental, and Canadian history with a specific focus on the Second World War. As a student, she worked in a variety of research positions, including as an archivist. She also worked as a teaching assistant in the History Department.

Since completing her degrees, she has decided to take a step back from academia to focus her career on writing and sharing history in a more accessible way. With a passion for historical learning and historical education, her writing interests include social history, and war history, especially researching obscure facts about the Second World War. In her spare time, Rosemary enjoys spending time with her partner, her cats, and her horse, or sitting down to read a good book.

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