How did POWs get paid for the time they were captive? I'm particularly interested in American POWs, but also curious about other nationalities. I seem to recall that American POWs in German POW camps got something called Lagermarks (sp?) which they could spend in the camps and which also was considered their paycheck. The upshot was that they or their families didn't get their actual US military monthly paycheck for any of the time they were captive. This doesn't make sense to me. Anybody know how POWs got paid? Thanks, Paul
It was put "on the books" as were promotions and when they were released they received their back pay for the time in captivity along with any promotions.
"We played football and cricket, and had boxing tournaments. We also had the benefit of a very good three-piece orchestra, which consisted of a piano accordion, a trombone and a violin. The accordionist was an ex-professional. Same pay as the troops The instruments were obtained from the Italians with money from our POW pay. Under the Geneva Convention, they had to give us the same pay as their troops with a deduction for our accommodation. This amounted to only a few lire a day and was paid in camp paper tokens. These could be used to purchase whatever fresh fruit was available — usually black grapes, as we were situated in a wine-producing area." BBC - WW2 People's War - Anecdotes from Life as a POW Taken by the Italians
German POWS in Canada. "The quota system of work for POW labour appeared to be used extensively in pulpwood production. Simply stated, once the assigned amount of wood to be cut was reached the cutter was at his leisure. In most pulpwood agreements the daily cut limit was 3/4 of a cord per day. One day a week was granted a rest day, usually Sunday. The pay rate for POW work was standardized at 50 cents per day. Prisoners were credited earnings and used the credit to purchase items from the company store. Items the prisoners could purchase were restricted to food or ordinary articles which were not tightly rationed." Armstrong, ON - 2001 - German POW Camps - Township of Sioux Narrows
Axis POWs in the US. The fourth chapter of the War Department Technical Manual TM 19-500 dealt with the finances of the prisoners. Trust fund accounts of prisoners were maintained by the Treasury of the United States and under the direction of the Comptroller General. This fund was entitled "Trust Fund 218915--Deposits, Funds of Civilian Internees and Prisoners of War".[42] Money found in the possession of a prisoner and the balance of a prisoner s monthly allowance were credited to this trust fund. With the approval of the camp commander, a prisoner could withdraw from his account any amount not over the total amount to his credit. Enlisted personnel, however, could not take out more than thirty dollars per month to defray personal expenses. On the fifteenth of March, June, September, and December, each prisoner received a statement of the total amount of his deposit.[43] Prisoners of war were paid a monthly credit allowance from the date of capture, which had to be verified from a source other than the prisoner. If the date of capture was not known, the prisoner was credited from the date of embarkation to the United States. German and Italian officer prisoners of war received a monthly allowance according to their grade in their respective armies. This monthly allowance was twenty dollars for lieutenants, thirty dollars for captains, and forty dollars for majors and above.[44] I POWs In US During WWII
During WWII, POWs were put to work Camps dotted Minnesota By Mickey Tibbits, Special to The Free Press The Free Press Long before Guantanamo Bay, about 400,000 prisoners of war were held on American soil during World War II with 6,000 German and Italian POWs living and working in Minnesota. From area POW camps in southern Minnesota at Montgomery, New Ulm, Faribault, Owatonna, Fairmont, Wells, Hollandale and St. Charles the prisoners, usually without a guard, worked on farms, at canneries and for small businesses, earning 10 cents an hour. They replaced the American workers serving in the military. Prisoners were housed in the Fairmont 4-H building on the fairgrounds. After the local paper reported two local women sneaked under the camp fence to be with the prisoners, the commanding officer declared, “It just isn’t policy for anything in skirts. ... to come waggling feminine figures around here.” Such incidents angered local residents and soldiers fighting overseas. J.A. Marxhausen, a Courtland German-speaking pastor, asked local residents to treat the prisoners the same as they would want captured U.S. soldiers to be treated. Two family members from New Ulm, with a large German population, drove to the POW camp and took a prisoner they knew home with them. He stayed with the family overnight and attended church the next morning before returning to camp. The two were arrested and fined $300 each. Interestingly, their trial testimony stated that when they honked the car’s horn, several other prisoners came out thinking it was their ride. Plans to establish a Blue Earth POW camp were abandoned when labor from Mexico filled the void. A primitive Wells camp was set up to house first German, then Italian POWs to work in the town’s canning and poultry processing factories. At the war’s end many of the German prisoners sent back were forced to work in English and French coal mines for as long as two years before they were returned home. Other prisoners being repatriated asked to be released in areas of Germany held by the Allies and not in Russian sectors. About 5,000 former POW Germans later came back to the U.S. and became citizens. The Free Press, Mankato, MN - During WWII, POWs were put to work
In Britain, farms etc had to apply to their County War Agricultural Executive Committees for PoW labour, and pay the committee about 1 shilling per prisoner. The prisoners got about threepence each, but were usually paid in 'camp money' which was only redeemable back at their camp. Can't remember if the rate was hourly or daily.
