Rheinwiesenlager
| Rheinwiesenlager | |
|---|---|
| Rhine meadow camps | |
| Part of Prisoner of War Temporary Enclosures (PWTE) | |
| West Germany | |
|
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| Site information | |
| Controlled by | U.S. Army Wehrmachtordnungstruppe |
| Site history | |
| Built by | U.S. Army |
| In use | April 1945 – September 1945 |
| Events | 1,000,000 ~ 1,900,000 prisoners 3,000 ~ 10,000 deaths |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants |
 Disarmed Enemy Forces
|
The Rheinwiesenlager (Rhine meadow camps), were a group of 19 camps built in the Allied-occupied part of Germany by the U.S. Army to hold captured German soldiers at the close of the Second World War. Officially named Prisoner of War Temporary Enclosures (PWTE), they held between one and almost two million surrendered Wehrmacht personnel from April until September 1945. Prisoners held in the camps were designated Disarmed Enemy Forces not POWs. The decision had been taken in March 1943 by SHAEF commander in chief Dwight D. Eisenhower because of the logistical problems adhering to the Geneva Convention. By not classing the hundreds of thousand of captured troops as POWs, the problems associated with accommodating so many prisoners of war according to international treaties governing their treatment was negated.
Most estimates of German deaths in these camps range from 3,000 to 10,000. Many of these died from starvation, dehydration and exposure to the weather elements because no structures were built inside the prison compounds.
By early 1945 half of almost all German soldiers taken prisoner in the West were held by U.S. forces, while the other half were taken by the British. But in late March 1945 as Allied forces struck into the heart of Germany after crossing the Rhine at Remagen, the number of German prisoners being processed caused the British to stop accepting any more prisoners in their camps. This forced the U.S. Army to take immediate action and establish the Rheinwiesenlager in the western part of Germany.
The creation of the camps was made easier because prisoners would be deemed as Disarmed Enemy Forces (DEFs), a decision that had been taken in March 1943 by Eisenhower. Furthermore, all captured soldiers would no longer have the rights of prisoners of war guaranteed by the Geneva Convention because they belonged to a State that ceased to exist.
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Wikipedia