Nazi POWs in the Tar Heel State

More than 10,000 German prisoners of war were interned in eighteen camps in North Carolina during World War II. Yet apart from the guards, civilian workers, and FBI and local police who tracked escapees, most people were--and remain--unaware of their presence. Utilizing interviews with former prisoners and their guards, Red Cross and U.S. military reports, German-language camp newspapers, local print media, letters, memoirs, and other archival sources, Robert Billinger is the first to chronicle in detail the German POW experience in North Carolina during WWII. Billinger captures the perceptions of sixty years ago, and demonstrates how the stereotype that all Germans were Nazis evolved over time. The book is dedicated to the insights gained by many POWs, guards, and civilians: that wartime enemies could become life-long friends.

"No one tells the story of German POWs in America better than Robert Billinger. From its meticulous detailing of the prisoners' daily existence to its description of their positive contacts with surrounding civilians, Nazi POWs in the Tar Heel State does much to explain how former enemies could become firm friends and allies."--Lewis Carlson, author of Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free: The Memoirs of a World War II Tuskegee Airman and POW "Well written and sprinkled with highly interesting anecdotes, Billinger examines all aspects of the POW program in North Carolina during World War II, from the arrival of the first prisoners to the work program, escapes, reeducation, repatriation, and--an aspect often ignored by other authors--the transfer of many POWs to Great Britain, France, and Belgium after the war."--Matthias Reiss, author of "The Blacks Were Our Friends": German Prisoners of War in American Society, 19421946 More than 10,000 German prisoners of war were interned in eighteen camps in North Carolina during World War II. Yet apart from the guards, civilian workers, and FBI and local police who tracked escapees, most people were--and remain--unaware of their presence. Utilizing interviews with former prisoners and their guards, Red Cross and U.S. military reports, German-language camp newspapers, local print media, letters, memoirs, and other archival sources, Robert Billinger is the first to chronicle in detail the German POW experience in North Carolina during WWII. Billinger captures the perceptions of sixty years ago, and demonstrates how the stereotype that all Germans were Nazis evolved over time. The book is dedicated to the insights gained by many POWs, guards, and civilians: that wartime enemies could become life-long friends. Robert D. Billinger Jr., Ruth Horton Davis Professor of History at Wingate University, is the author of Hitler's Soldiers in the Sunshine State: German POWs in Florida.