In the show “Masters of the Air” they show the American POW’s getting mail in the POW camp. Were both sides really civil enough to allow mail to be transferred to prisoners?
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A lot of the mail was delivered through the International Red Cross or other neutral organizations that had operations in both Axis and Allied countries
Geneva Convention 3180 Article 71(1) concerns correspondence to and from prisoners of war. It imposes an obligation on the Detaining Power to allow prisoners of war to send and receive letters and cards, addresses possible limits on the number of such letters and cards and regulates how they are to be transmitted.
This is so crazy, I just said this to my wife the other night while watching Masters of Air (which we love and saw part of it being filmed while on vacation in London) and looked up the international laws baked into “captured soldiers” which is a fascinating and horrifying concept when you hear the pilots ask if we “lost anyone” meaning did they die or did Germans get them? Either way, it was like they were dead either way. But there’s a beautiful humanitarian law brought into this dreadful situation for POWs that they have hope restored that their loved ones are still thinking and writing to them when they themselves could think they’re a lost cause.
The British had captured large numbers of Luftwaffe crews during the Blitz and other places. The Germans had captured large numbers of British troops in North Africa and later many bomber crews. Both sides understood that the treatment of the POWs they held would reflect on how their own people would be treated.
So generally, both the Western Powers amd Germany treated the other’s prisoners according to the Geneva Convention. Allied prisoners in German hands were often short of rations and many times relied on Red Cross packages to get enough. This was partly a reflection on the conditions in Germany at the time, but was the main complaint against the Germans. Air crews were held in camps run by the Luftwaffe, and often had better conditions.
Now, bear in mind this only applied to US, British & Commonwealth, and others like Dutch and Norwegian prisoners. Soviet prisoners were used as slave labor and often starved.
The two main intermediaries were Sweden and Switzerland. As neutral countries, they could pass mail either way.
Besides mail, prisoners often received care packages through the Red Cross. These might contain food, playing cards, blankets, cigarettes, or games. Some packages sent by the British and later Americans contained carefully hidden maps, currency, and compasses.
Does this mean that people at the base in England know cleven and egan are alive?
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