1 In addition, 50,570 Italian and 2,828 Japanese prisoners of war were held in the United States on February 15,1945.

2 47 Statutes at Large,pp. 2021-2066 and 2074-2101 (Treaty Series Nos. 846 and 847); this Journal, Vol. 27 (1933), Supplement, pp. 43-86. In line with the current usage of the War Department these conventions are referred to in this article as the “Geneva Convention” and the “Red Cross Convention,” respectively. Attention is called to the fact that publicists have often applied the term Geneva Convention to what the Army calls the Red Cross Convention.

3 Oppenheim, L., International Law,London, 1940 (6th ed., by Lauterpacht, H.), Vol. II, p. 293 Google Scholar; Flory, William E. S., Prisoners of War: A Study in the Development of International Law,Washington, 1942, p. 23.Google Scholar

4 Flynn, Eleanor C., “The Geneva Convention on Treatment of Prisoners of War,” in George Washington Law Review,Vol. II (1943), pp. 505-506.Google Scholar

5 8 U.S. Stat. 84,96(1785).

6 See Oppenheim, work cited, pp. 291-94, for a brief story of the changing conditions prisoners of war from antiquity to our time. Flory, work cited, pp. 7-15, details the changing concepts of international law applying to prisoners of war during the same period.

7 Flory, work cited, p. 18.

8 Since its early days it has been headed by Mr. Bernard Gufler, a Foreign Service Officer who, until 1941, was stationed at the American Embassy in Berlin where he was in charge of the inspection of the prisoner of war camps for British soldiers in Germany while the United States served as a protecting Power. For the background and the various aspects of the work of the Internees Section, see Graham H. Stuart, “Special War Problems Division,” in Department of State Bulletin,Vol. XI, No. 264 (July 16,1944), pp. 63-74. As Consultant in the Division of Research and Publication of the State Department, Dr. Stuart wrote a detailed history and analysis of the work of the Special War Problems Division which constitutes the basis for the above mentioned article and others under the same heading in the Department of State Bulletinof July 2 and 30 and August 6 and 20, 1944.

9 R. R. Wilson, “Recent Developments in the Treatment of Civilian Alien Enemies,” in this Journal, Vol. 38 (1944), pp. 397-406.

10 See Stuart, work cited, pp. 66-67,74. The Spanish and Swedish Legations, respectively, are concerned with the interests of the Japanese prisoners and internees in the United States (Sweden in the Hawaiian Islands where there are no Spanish consular offices). Sweden also acts as the protecting Power for Finnish internees of whom there are very few.—Representatives of the Vatican are allowed to enter prisoner of war camps for spiritual purposes.

11 The Swiss representatives may interview prisoners without witnesses; in accordance with the Geneva Prisoners of War Convention, Art. 86.

12 In Germany representatives of the protecting Power are accompanied on their camp visits by German Army officers.

13 Stuart, work cited, p. 67. Some camp visits are made by Section officers in the company of American Army officers rather than of the Swiss representatives. Details not contained in Dr. Stuart's article as well as all comments are based upon the writer's experience in the Internees Section and on his trips to numerous prisoner of war camps.

14 Stuart, work cited, pp. 67-70.

15 Stuart, work cited, pp. 67-70; also his “War Prisoners and Internees in the United States,” in American Foreign Service Journal,Vol. XXI, No. 10 (October, 1944), pp. 531, 568. The Section officers visiting camps include a retired United States Minister and former Inspecting Consul General and a Foreign Service Officer, Class II (prior to his assignment to the staff of the European Advisory Commission).

16 As the German Army provides only one chaplain for each division, as against between one and three for an American regiment, the number of captured chaplains is extremely small. Germany does not exempt ministers and priests from the draft but uses them, ordinarily as sanitary personnel; some, however, are captured as front-line fighters.

17 The provisions of the Convention are amplified by War Department regulations.

18 For instance, as the result of the bombing of German cities.

19 Some German prisoners declare that the letters “PW” stand for “pensionriete Wekrmacht.”

20 However, the Afrikakorps includes the 999th Division which consisted of inmates ofconcentration camps, with a sprinkling of criminal convicts added in an attempt to discredit the members of the division. It was commanded by “reliable” officers and non-commissioned officers.

21 Among them Colonel General (a four-star general) Jürgen von Arnim, German Commander- in-Chief in Tunisia; The New York Times,July 11, 1944.

22 Major MacKnight, Maxwell S. (of the Prisoner of War Division, Office of the Provost Marshal General), “The Employment of Prisoners of War in the United States,” in International Labour Review,Vol. 50, No. 1 (July, 1944), p. 49.Google Scholar

23 The control of the camp is somewhat diffused. Personnel Division, War Department, General Staff, is charged with the determination of broad, basic plans and policies concerning prisoners. In accordance with them, the Commanding General, Army Service Forces, is charged with all matters pertaining to enemy prisoners in continental United States including their custody, control, utilization, location, care, treatment, repatriation, and security. Included among these responsibilities are: a. Supervision and execution of War Department policies to make effective the provisions of the Geneva Convention. b. The discharge of the War Department's responsibility in the supervision and administration of arrangements between belligerent powers with reference to prisoners. c. The supervision and administration of all matters affecting prisoners arising under arrangements or dealings with neutral powers or agencies, including the Central Agency for Information in neutral countries, and the protecting Powers. d. Formulating the necessary rules and regulations relative to the War Department's responsibility in the control of prisoners. e. Coordination of policies and procedures concerning prisoners with other Federal agencies. f. Establishment and operation of the Prisoner of War Information Bureau and the Enemy Alien Information Bureau. The Provost Marshal General functions as the staff agency of the Commanding General, Army Service Forces, and carries out his responsibility in matters pertaining to prisoners. Under the supervision of the Commanding General, Army Service Forces, the Commanding General of each service command is responsible for all matters pertaining to prisoners within the geographic limits of his service command. Post commanders under the jurisdiction of the service commander are responsible for the utilization and employment of prisoners, for the maintenance, operation, administration, management of the prisoner of war camp, and for the control and treatment of the prisoners in his care. Each camp commander, in turn, under the jurisdiction of the post commander, if any, and the service commander, commands the prisoner of war camp and is responsible for its maintenance, operation, and so on. See also MacKnight, work cited, p. 49.

24 The newer camps usually have only one wire fence.

25 MacKnight, p. 50.

26 Same, pp. 50-51.

27 Same.

28 MacKnight, p. 52.

29 Same.

30 The International Y.M.C.A. acts as the central agency in this work; the gifts may actually have originated with other organizations, such as the National CathoUc Welfare Conference.

31 The interpreter situation is rendered difficult by the fact that the native language of many men captured in German uniforms is anything but German. The languages of practically all countries occupied by the Wehrmacht are found in prisoner of war camps, including Russian and Arabic. See also (unsigned) “Prisoners of War. Non-Germans Want to Go Back and Fight,” Military Police Training Bulletin, Vol. Ill, No. 1 (January, 1945), p. 37

32 See MacKnight, p. 55, for further details.

33 For instance, physicians employed in the medical care of their fellow prisoners receive this pay in addition to their allowance as officers.

34 See MacKnight, pp. 63-64, for further details.

35 See MacKnight, pp. 59-61; also, same, pp. 57-59, for types of work performed and extent of utilization of prisoner labor.

36 See also Articles 46-67.

37 The general public appears to have a grossly exaggerated idea of the Nazi-criminal aspects of camp life; there have been a total of only 2 murders and not over 10 severe beatings due to political reasons.

38 Brigadier General Blackshear M. Bryan, Jr., a graduate of West Point, is the Assistant Provost Marshal General in charge of the custody of all prisoners of war; Lt. Colonel M. C. Bernays is in the office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, GI, War Department General Staff.