SS report on conduct of British POWs in Germany

Discussion in 'Prisoners of War' started by PsyWar.Org, Jan 13, 2013.

  1. PsyWar.Org

    PsyWar.Org Archive monkey

    Taken from Appendix B of the MI9 Historical Report, an unintentionally-amusing but genuine SS report on the conduct of British Prisoners of War in Germany.




    APPENDIX "B"



    SS Report on Questions of Internal Security (12 August, 1943)


    This report concerns British prisoners in the Reich and the impression they make on the German people. According to numerous reports from various parts of the Reich, the presence in agriculture and industry of British prisoners raises a series of problems, which may become serious if they are neglected. We learn from many sources that the outward bearing of the British is not failing to make an impression on the local population. A report from Central Germany, for instance, states:-
    "Although a large proportion of British prisoners in Germany come from ordinary working classes, a large number of them speak impeccable and fluent German. Their attitude is self-possessed and, indeed, often borders on arrogance. Their bearing and their whole behaviours are doubtless intended as effective propaganda."
    From Klagenfurt, too, we hear: "Of all the prisoners of war in this district, the British are the most respected and discussed by the local population. The reason for this lies in the smart appearance of individuals, as well as the smartness of organised units of British prisoners. The British are always decently dressed, their uniforms are always in faultless condition, they are shaved, clean and well fed. Their attitude is extraordinarily self-possessed, one could almost say arrogant and overbearing. This, combined with the good impression they give of their nation, influences the German people in a way that should not be under-estimated... When they march in formation, they frequently look better than our own German replacement units. You can see that the uniform they wear is of much better material than the German uniform."
    The general attitude of British prisoners to the Reich is absolutely hostile. They make fun of Germany, German institutions and leaders on all possible occasions. In Bayreuth, for instance, two British prisoners called themselves "Churchill" and "Roosevelt". As a foil they picked on a German worker who stuttered and called him "Hitler" as a joke. Some other British prisoners were singing a rude song to the tune of "Deutschland uber Alles" as they passed two high German officials in uniform. When one of these officials said "That's going a little too far, my friends", one of the prisoners who understood German called back "We're not your friends, we're British."
    The challenging and aggressive attitude of the British prisoners towards the German population is often manifested. A short time ago some forty British prisoners were sent to an industrial town to be split up among six different factories. They arrived at the station with masses of heavy luggage, and ostentatiously carrying large packets of food, corned beef and other things which were very short in Germany at that time. They immediately requisitioned two hand carts, loaded on their luggage, and gave two schoolboys some chocolate to push the carts. The German sentry took no action whatever. On arrival at their camp, they again hailed some German boys, who carried their luggage into the camp for them.
    In the factory, the German foreman energetically opposed the efforts of the British spokesman to dictate certain terms about working hours and conditions. The German made it clear that he had had years experience in running French and Polish prisoner of war camps. To this the Englishman replied, "Well, let me tell you that we're British - not French, Polish or even Russian."
    "And we're Germans, not Indians, negroes or any other sort of Colonials," retorted the foreman, "and we give the orders here."
    Two other small incidents show the arrogance of the British prisoner. In a factory kitchen, where meals were cooked for the prisoners, an Englishman "demanded" that the Führer's portrait be removed.
    In Villach, a German worker took away a copy of the "Völkischer Beobachter" from an Englishman, who said "I don't keep it for reading, as it's nothing but a tissue of lies - I need it for something altogether different." The crowning insult was the disfigurement of a portrait of the Führer in a station waiting room by a British prisoner who drew rude pictures over it.
    The manner in which the British behave to the population leaves no doubt of their confidence in victory. They take every opportunity to show that Germany will lose the war, and that they will soon be masters in Germany. This assurance of victory and self possession does not fail to impress the people, who think they see in the these qualities the symbol of British strength.
    The British usually take very little notice of the Germans and look straight through them. Many Germans have remarked that their own women, and in particular some of their allies could profit by studying the attitude adopted by the British towards their enemies. Sexual relations, for instance, between British prisoners and German women are very rare. This is probably due to the fact that the British have a strongly developed sense of national pride, which prevents them from consorting with women of an enemy nation. A striking example of British national pride and attitude towards the Axis was seen the other day. Some Italian soldiers on a passing convoy threw some cigarettes to some British prisoners, who turned their backs on the Italians and left the cigarettes lying on the ground.


    BRITISH PRISONERS AND GERMAN INDUSTRY
    The majority of reports state that the output of British prisoners cannot compare with that of Germans. Production reports indicate, too, that the unwillingness of the British to work has a bad effect on other foreign workers, and leads to a general slowing up of production.
    Broadly speaking, the British do just enough work to avoid being penalised; their poor production is also partly due to the fact that the German guards do not carry out their duties with sufficient energy. This creates a certain bitterness among the German workers, who point out that the British are stronger than they, better fed, and have more staying power.
    A report from Gorlitz says "The output of British prisoners is very bad. It is about 50 percent lower than the output of the German worker, although the British are undoubtedly healthier." In a Grax factory, the "go-slow" policy of the British reached such a point that many of them were taken off work and sent back to their camps.
    Examples were quoted of prisoners simply walking away and refusing to work - or doing their work so badly that it constituted a danger.
    Thus, some prisoners working on a railway truck were sent away to their camp, for fear that the bad quality of their work would result in the derailment of trains.
    "Swinging the lead" is another means employed by the British to slow down production. It often happens that 50 percent of the prisoners are on the sick list at the same time.


    SOLIDARITY OF BRITISH WITH OTHER ALLIED PRISONERS
    It is reported that British prisoners of war have been showing of late marked solidarity with Russian, and in some cases French prisoners. The prisoners make signs to each other, and the British often give the Russians the Communist clenched fist salute. An official gave an account of two adjacent camps near his home which contained British and Russian prisoners respectively. At first the Russians used to file past the British camp in silence. After a time, the British used to gather together to watch the Russians go by, and bombard them with cigarettes.


    BRITISH LACK OF RESPECT FOR GERMAN OFFICIALS
    It is also worthy of note that, especially in agricultural work, the British frequently succeed in lodging complaints with their guards without consulting their employer. The guards themselves say that [the] British frequently complain about them, and that they have no chance to defend themselves. "It often happens", says a report from Gras, "that guards are arrested on the strength of a British complaint."
    A guard N.C.O. wrote: "It's no wonder the British get cheeky, as the officers listen to their complaints privately, and simply send the German soldiers out of the room. The only thing we don't have to do is to stand to attention in front of the goddam British. When that happens, I'll stick a bullet in my head."


    THE SUPERIOR QUALITY OF BRITISH RATIONS
    German opinion is influenced to no small extent by seeing the gifts of food sent to the British. Their parcels consist largely of articles which have for a long time been in short supply in Germany. The British realise the propaganda value of these gifts and take every opportunity of bragging about them. Such remarks as "Oh, that's nothing - England's full of stuff like this" often has the desired effect on the Germans. The prisoners receive from home ample supplies of chocolate, sausage, tinned meat, ham, etc., and in the work interval they consume them as ostentatiously as possible. The German worker looks on and draws his own conclusion. Considerable ill feeling arose among the German workers of the stone-breaking quarries at Holzkirch when they saw the good food the British had. "We're expected to do double shifts on bread and margarine" they said, "while the 'Herren Englander' are too idle for words, and think of nothing but guzzling." Eventually an order was brought out forbidding British prisoners to bring their food to work with them.
    The German authorities, too, make concessions to British prisoners; this the German workers simply cannot understand. Beer is often available in the prison camp canteens, while Germans cannot find beer even in the inns. In a camp near Dresden, a barrel of beer was emptied by the British to celebrate the conclusion of the African campaign. This made the German workers in the camp very angry; one of them wrote: "The Germans can just work till they bust, as long as the prisoners of war get all their little luxuries."


    BRITISH PRISONERS ON THE LAND
    British prisoners used for agricultural work are particularly arrogant to the local population. The situation is especially intolerable on farms where the prisoners are working for the farmer. Here the Englishman feels lord of the manor, is waited on hand and foot, accepts no orders, and does exactly as he likes. The prisoners are particularly well treated by the womenfolk, who believe the political prophesies of the British and think it clever to ingratiate themselves. It is quite clear that the farmers are afraid of their prisoners, and affected by their arrogance. In this connection the authorities have been requested to use British prisoners only in industrial plants or on farms where there is adequate male supervision.
    To sum up, the British tradition of behaving as Herrenvolk is kept up by the prisoners of war. Their presence in Germany is thoroughly demoralising, since their behaviour not only typifies a nation which is racially akin to ours, strong, and absolutely sure of victory - but also has given rise to discussions about the futility of a war between two nations of the same stock.
    [Source: TNA WO 208/3242, transcribed by Arcre - Archive Research]
     
    von Poop, Cpl Hadaway, AB64 and 8 others like this.
  2. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    On the whole, I'd say that report described some exemplary behaviour!
     
    BarbaraWT likes this.
  3. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Thanks, Lee. I thoroughly enjoyed reading that. Truth to tell, I was whistling 'Colonel Bogey' after the first paragraph.:)
     
  4. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Lee

    Thanks for a very interesting report from German sources but I am not at all surprised at what the POWs did to maintain their morale and lighten their existence.

    In hindsight, I thank my lucky stars that I was never taken prisoner.

    Ron
     
    Andrew Hackett likes this.
  5. 4jonboy

    4jonboy Daughter of a 56 Recce

    Lee
    Thank you for posting a very interesting report

    Lesley
     
  6. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Lee thank you for posting

    regards
    Clive
     
  7. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    Lack of respect for German officials...arrogance...joking about Hitler...making time with the German girls...oooh, I just love it.
     
    Andrew Hackett likes this.
  8. Deacs

    Deacs Well i am from Cumbria.

    Cheers for sharing this Lee.
     
  9. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    Here the Englishman feels lord of the manor, is waited on hand and foot, accepts no orders, and does exactly as he likes. :)

    Marvellous to read. Cheers for posting, Lee.
     
  10. PsyWar.Org

    PsyWar.Org Archive monkey

    I thought that would go down well :)

    Making a bloody nuisance of yourself was part of the MI9 training for conduct of POWs.
    Ron, did you ever get one of the Escape and Evasion lectures?

    More to come from the MI9 history...
     
  11. Callisto

    Callisto Twitter ye not

    Thank you for this.

    Cheering as it was to read about the SS frustration at the British 'arrogance' i couldn't help pondering on how many deaths this commendable attitude might have resulted in. i remember reading somewhere (it might actually have been on here) of the killing of a pow who'dd been working in a German factory and who'd admitted to sabotage.

    :poppy:
     
  12. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    Four Star thread!

    "We're not your friends, we're British."

    love it :D
     
  13. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Lee

    Ron, did you ever get one of the Escape and Evasion lectures?

    Regrettably no.

    Nobody ever told me anything except
    "Get outside on parade you miserable shower!" :)

    Ron
     
  14. rockape252

    rockape252 Senior Member

    Hi PsyWar.

    Excellent post.

    My late Father told me of when he was a POW at Stalag IX AH how the "Interogattionmiester" "Snoop" would loiter nearby or even try and get into conversation with prisoners so as to extract information.

    The Welsh POW's would suddenly switch into speaking their native language, and as the Snoop moved around various accents would suddenly appear, broad Scottish and Geordie as well which would make the Snoop dance with rage.

    The POWs took great delight in this :)

    My Father told me the Snoop was short in height and reminded them of a Weasel.


    Regards, Mick D.
     
    Jonathan Ball likes this.
  15. PsyWar.Org

    PsyWar.Org Archive monkey

    Ron, that's a shame, it would be interesting to get a first hand reaction on it.

    Thanks Mick D, very interesting. The MI9 report I posted a few days ago gives a mention to the checking up of stool pigeons via letter writing codes.

    Callisto, a fair point. These jolly japes and “goon-baiting” had potential of putting prisoners in serious peril. Although MI9 were alive to it. The history narrative I'm currently transcribing has a passing reference to MI9 actively seeking a relaxation of the policy on only giving name, rank and number for prisoners of the Japanese, as this resulted in more unpleasantness for them. Also there was a major fear in the closing months of the war in Europe that Germany might massacre POWs. Certain special operations were cancelled as a result, as it was felt they could give Germany a pretext to slaughter the prisoners.

    The same with foreign workers. There were plans to use them as a Trojan Horse but the limit to that was passive resistance and go-slows in order to keep possible reprisals to a minimum.
     
  16. Combover

    Combover Guest

    This is the part that caught my eye:

    "You can see that the uniform they wear is of much better material than the German uniform."

    That's turned a lot of 'learned opinions' on its head!
     
    Andrew Hackett likes this.
  17. Recce_Mitch

    Recce_Mitch Very Senior Member

    Very interesting, thanks for sharing

    Cheers
    Paul
     
  18. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Below I have posted the MI9 document I found at Kew whilst researching my father's escape from Stalag XXA. It makes an interesting read but I was suprised to discover that some of the senior Warrant Officers discouraged talk of escape and even betrayed escape plans to the Germans.

    My father, Sgt F Foster and his pal L/Cpl A Coulthard get a mention on the last page , as persistent escapers, for reaching the Swiss border. After that Coulthard made 8 more attempts before his sad death on the Forced march!

    XXA Escape History 1.jpg

    XXA Escape History 2.jpg

    View attachment 92588

    Steve
     
  19. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    "On a cold and blustery morning at IG Farben's Auschwitz plant in winter 1944, an
    argument erupted between a German supervisor and three British prisoners of war.
    In reply to the demand to attach cable on top of a slippery girder, the POWs adamantly refused, for want of proper equipment The scene attracted the unwelcome
    attention of a German Army sergeant. Unteroffizier Benno F. bellowed orders for
    Corporal Reynolds to climb the girder, but, convinced that the tirade was all bluff,
    Reynolds walked away in protest. The German NCO thereupon shot and killed him".

    http://www.csub.edu/~mbaker2/white.pdf
     
  20. Mike L

    Mike L Very Senior Member

    Lee, loved reading this thread.
    I will be meeting an ex-RNVR LCT skipper (and POW after Crete) in a couple of weeks time. I will print this and see what he has to say about it.
    Might also see you at TNA w/c Tuesday 29th Jan if you are there.
     

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