World War I, German Prisonersand Civilian Internees in
Between 1914 and 1920 several thousand German and Austro-Hungarian civilians and military personnel were interned in various camps both in Latin and North America. The internment of enemy aliens was by no means unusual—Britain, France, and Germany also took this measure in the early days of the war.
In the United States between 8,500 and 10,000 non-naturalized German civilians (8 percent of all male German aliens) were interned. Prisoners of war from the European battlefields were not brought to America, even if they were captured by the U.S. Army. Through August 1918 German soldiers were handed over to the French. From then until the end of the war in November, U.S. troops themselves commanded ten large prisoner-of-war camps in France.In the United States non-naturalized male persons of German or Austro-Hungarian birth were regarded as “enemy aliens.” The patriotic enthusiasm of the Germans in the United States provoked suspicion and led the U.S. administration to the conclusion that they maintained their loyalty to the German Empire and were to be regarded as a potential danger to the country’s security. Moreover, non-natu- ralized Germans had to face anti-German hysteria, which lacked substantial evidence and was thus vastly exaggerated. Real cases of sabotage and espionage remained isolated and rare events, yet all Germans became the objects of public suspicion and an administrative system of control. Several organizations like the Military Intelligence, the Office of Naval Intelligence, and the American Protective League participated in the supervision of civilian Germans. With its “Alien Enemy Regulation” of April 6, 1917, the U.S. government established precautionary measures against potential acts of sabotage. Enemy aliens were prohibited to approach sensitive spots such as military camps, arsenals, and airports. The German-language press in the United States was censored, and the proclamation formed the legal basis for interning enemy aliens.
Regulation No. 12 stated: “An alien enemy whom there may be reasonable cause to believe to be aiding or about to aid the enemy,... will be subject to summary arrest... and to confinement in such penitentiary, prison, jail, military camp, or other place of detention as may be directed by the President.”Selective internment of Germans in the United States—particularly reserve officers of the imperial German army and navy—started in April 1917. In the beginning, non-naturalized male Germans in the United States were interned in local jails and at Ellis Island, while fifteen German women were regarded as serious enough security risks to merit internment. By October 1917 about 900 people had been arrested. Pursuant to a second supplemental regulation, the Proclamation of November 16, 1917, restrictions on the freedom of movement of enemy aliens were extended to areas such as wharves and railroads. Enemy aliens were also forbidden to fly airplanes and balloons, or to possess weapons and ammunition. In addition they were also required to register at places fixed by the attorney general. In addition to non-naturalized Germans who had been living in the United States, there was another group that filled the internment camps: German sailors of both naval and merchant vessels that had been kept in the harbors by the U.S. government or who were captured during maritime combat. Civilian internees and sailors were interned in the War Department’s camps. Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, was the largest and stretched over 24 acres. Here the first group of 53 civilian internees arrived in July 1917, while later on up to 1,500 civilians were interned in Oglethorpe’s three camp sections. Camp A was called the “millionaires camp” due to its wealthy inhabitants, who enjoyed something like a luxurious lifestyle. Fort Douglas, Utah, encompassed 6 acres and housed over 1,500 internees, mostly civilians and German marine staff. Fort McPherson, Georgia, contained about 1,300 marines.
About 2,000 sailors from civilian vessels were interned at Hot Springs, North Carolina, where the Labor Department had rented the Mountain Park Hotel to house them. In June 1918 the War Department took over responsibility for this site, too.The prisoners and internees in U.S. camps enjoyed relatively fair treatment, with leisure facilities like theaters and sports grounds. However, the lack of useful occupation and the restricted routine of camp life proved detrimental to the mental health of the inmates. Many of them suffered from “barbed-wire disease,” also known as neurasthenia. Internees became more and more inactive, suspicious, aggressive, and depressed. Despite adequate food and shelter, friction between the camp authorities and the internees arose. While the navy sailors were accepted as prisoners of war according to the Hague Convention of 1907, the civilian internees by the U.S. authorities were regarded as spies and did not fall under the regulations of the Hague Convention with regard to soldiers. Disciplinary problems manifested as acts of resistance, refusal to perform any work— other than the civilians the marine staff could compel to work—and attempts to escape. Finally, naval prisoners were transferred from Fort Douglas to Fort McPherson to avoid conflicts with their civilian compatriots. Arrests of enemy aliens continued until February 1919. The camp system was dissolved in spring 1920, when the Versailles Treaty was put into force. Between 40 and 50 percent of the former internees were repatriated to Germany, while another 40 to 50 percent stayed in the United States (Powell 1989, 33).
Similar camps for the internment of civilian enemy aliens, sailors, and marines existed throughout the Western Hemisphere; for example, in Chile (Island of Quiriquina). The Canadian government between 1914 and 1920 interned some 8,000 enemy aliens, mostly Ukrainians, but also Germans and Austro-Hungarians. It erected camps at twenty-four locations (for example, at Amherst and Nova Scotia and in the national parks at Banff, Jasper, Yoho, and Mount Revelstoke).
Rainer Poppinghege
See also Canada, Germans in (during World Wars I and II); Committee on Public Information; Espionage and Sedition Act; Newspaper Press, German Language in the United States
References and Further Reading
Glidden, William B. “Internment Camps in America, 1917—1920.” Military Affairs XXXVII (December 1973): 137—141.
Nagler, Jorg. “Victims of the Home Front: Enemy Aliens in the United States during World War I.” In Minorities in Wartime. The Experience of National and Racial Groupings in Europe, North America and Australia during the Two World Wars. Ed. Panikos Panayi. Providence, RI, Oxford, UK: Berg, 1993, pp. 191—215.
Powell, Allan Kent. Splinters of a Nation: German Prisoners of War in Utah. Salt Lake City: University of Utah, 1989.
Speed, Richard B. Prisoners, Diplomats, and the Great War: A Study in the Diplomacy of Captivity. New York: Greenwood, 1990.