Officers were not required to work under the Geneva Convention of 1929 and were paid a monthly stipend according to rank. Captains, for instance, were paid $38.50 per month by the US. However, as was the case with American officers, the cost of food was deducted from the monthly pay of the officers held as prisoners. (American captains held as POWs by the Germans were paid 96 Reichsmarks a month which was comparable with no deductions for food.) If officers worked supervising enlisted men, and many officers did, they were paid extra.
Large camps had their own large auditoriums and the men performed plays and musicals. The Commandant and his wife along with the other officers and their spouses were traditionally invited to opening nights. Once again, I'm not kidding.
Most camps had a crafts room where men worked models, carved various items, painted pictures of all sorts including portraits of Hitler. Each camp had its own library stocked with periodicals, newspapers, and books. Many of the books and other amenities were supplied by the Lutheran Church and the Red Cross. Of special note, all camps subscribed to the New York Times because the nightly Wehrmacht communique was printed in the Times along with the communiques of the other belligerent powers.
[Images courtesy of Alabama Heritage, published by the University of Alabama.]
Charles McCain is a lifelong student of World War Two. He grew up in South Carolina and is a graduate of Tulane University. An Honorable German is his first novel. After surviving a bout with cancer 2 1/2 years ago, Mr. McCain is at work on several writing projects. He lives in Washington, DC.
