Nazi Activity
Prisoner identification numbers were assigned to captured soldiers as the U.S. government processed them. The prefix indicated the location of capture. For example, "81" signified North Africa, "31" signified Western Europe, and "6W" signified the Sixth Military District in the United States.1 This system is important to understanding the demographics of POWs assigned to each of the camps. The men who served in Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps were captured in 1943 and still believed that Germany’s victory was inevitable. They were also considered the most thoroughly indoctrinated Nazis in the German Army.2 The first group of prisoners to arrive at Camp Crossville belonged to this category, which shaped the atmosphere of the camp for later arrivals.3
At Fort Custer, the Nazi activity was largely nonviolent and protected by the 1929 Geneva Convention. In April 1944, the prisoners held a concert in celebration of Adolf Hitler’s fifty-fifth birthday.4 Later that year, POW Arthur Aissen died of natural causes and his casket was draped with a red flag emblazoned with a black swastika.5 While the flag represented a prominent display of allegiance to the Nazi Party, this was a common occurrence because America’s interpretation of the Geneva Convention allowed prisoners to decide on the funeral details, including the flag.6 Therefore, the Nazi POWs at Fort Custer were very influential.
On the other hand, prisoners at Camp Crossville were more aggressive and manifested their allegiance to the Nazi Party. Portraits of leadership, including Adolf Hitler and "Desert Fox" Erwin Rommel, were prominently displayed.7 The middle of the camp compound was decorated with a swastika made with contrasting gravel colors.8 Camp Crossville POWs also produced a newspaper, Die Bruecke (‘The Bridge’) and the content, from articles to puzzles, was filled with overt Nazi ideology.9
Among the POWs at Camp Crossville were “Werewolves,” Nazis who pledged to continue fighting the war via guerilla terrorism. Once discovered, these prisoners were transferred to another camp.10
1 Arnold Krammer, Nazi Prisoners of War in America (New York: Stein and Day, 1979), 4.
2 Arnold P. Krammer, “German Prisoners of War in the United States,” Military Affairs (April 1976): 70; Krammer, Nazi Prisoners of War in America,149.
3 Jesse Burt, “Camp Crossville: Barbed Wire in the Oaks,” Tennessean (Nashville), April 14, 1968, Newspapers.com.
4 William R. Lowe, “Working for Eighty Cents a Day: German Prisoners of War in Michigan, 1943-1946” (Master of Arts in History, Eastern Michigan University, 1995), Eastern Michigan University Bruce T Halle Library, 22.
5 “Military Funeral Held for Nazi War Prisoner,” Battle Creek Enquirer, October 2, 1944, Newspapers.com; “Do You REMEMBER?,” News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, MI), June 24, 1969, Newspapers.com.
6 Krammer, Nazi Prisoners of War in America, 72.
7 George Zepp, “POWs filled labor gap in Midstate during war,” Tennessean (Nashville), January 19, 2005, Newspapers.com.
8 Burt, “Camp Crossville: Barbed Wire in the Oaks.”
9 Antonio Thompson, Men in German Uniform: POWs in American during World War II (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2010), 111.
10 Randolph Tucker, “Captives Realize Fatherland is Whipped; Many Luxuries Once Enjoyed Removed,” Tennessean (Nashville), May 6, 1945, Newspapers.com.