German POWs Were Treated Better than African American Soldiers
German POWs in the United States were often treated according to the standards set by the Geneva Convention. In some cases, they received better treatment than African American soldiers, including better living conditions, food, and recreational opportunities.
1 million Black American soldiers served during World War II.
During World War II, almost a half million POWs were interned in the United States, where they forged sympathetic relationships with Black American soldiers. source
There were almost a half million German and Italian prisoners of war interned in the United States during World War II. “The claim that these defeated ‘white’ members of the Axis had more rights and privileges in the United States than black soldiers in American uniforms was a powerful one.” source
POWs who worked as waiters in mess halls were likewise not permitted to serve Black soldiers.
Axis prisoners allowed in “whites-only” facilities in the South especially rankled Black soldiers and the larger Black community across the country.
It was common during World War II for the U.S. Army to treat German Prisoners of War better than Black American soldiers.
A POW camp in Texas segregated a section of the latrine for Negro soldiers, the other being used by the German prisoners and the white soldiers.
At least two camps in Mississippi treated POWs to “white” latrines and water fountains as well.
A base in South Carolina, German POWs could go into the ‘White’ side of the post exchange cafeteria where blacks could not.
Camp Gordon Johnston, in the Florida Panhandle, Black servicemen reported that they were assigned to “dispose of the human waste of the whole camp,” including that of the POWs.
The white officers, meanwhile, responded that “colored BOYS are not allowed to detail or work prisoners of war."
A black soldier in Florida reported a similar hierarchy on base.
“The Nazis arrogantly walked around free and scoffed at us.”
Black soldiers packed a coach section. To the German POWs, in a more spacious compartment with their white guards. "They were laughing and looking up there at us, standing on top of each other practically.”
"The Germans could laugh at columns of our troops walking separately from the white soldiers."
Vermell Jackson, who worked at the all-Black USO in Hattiesburg, Miss., during the war, says she remembers hearing soldiers talk about German POWs receiving better treatment. source
This particular brand of discrimination, however—the preferential treatment of imprisoned Nazi combatants—was especially offensive to many Black troops.