Were there concentration camps in Switzerland?
Wauwilermoos was an internment camp and prisoner-of-war penal camp in Switzerland during World War II. It was situated in the municipalities of Wauwil and Egolzwil in the Canton of Lucerne (Luzern).
Where were German POWS kept in WWII?
From 1942 through 1945, more than 400,000 Axis prisoners were shipped to the United States and detained in camps in rural areas across the country. Some 500 POW facilities were built, mainly in the South and Southwest but also in the Great Plains and Midwest.
Did Switzerland shoot down allied planes?
The Swiss Air Force shot down both Allied and Axis aircraft over the course of the Second World War. The reason was plain and simple :- these aircraft had violated Switzerland’s airspace and had entered illegally into the country so they had to be stopped.
Did German soldiers escape to Switzerland?
After World War II, many German soldiers escaped to, and through, Switzerland. Swiss authorities responded in different ways: some of these fugitives were deported, while others were interned.
What was Switzerland doing during WWII?
During World War I and World War II, Switzerland maintained armed neutrality, and was not invaded by its neighbors, in part because of its topography, much of which is mountainous.
Did Switzerland benefit from ww2?
World War II – Swiss neutrality and Nazi gold
Pieth says that Switzerland benefited from its neutrality during World War II by purchasing vast amounts of gold from Allied and Axis powers. It exchanged the precious metal for Swiss francs, the only free convertible currency at the time outside the American dollar.
Where did the US keep Japanese POWs?
Repatriation of some Japanese POWs was delayed by Allied authorities. Until late 1946, the United States retained almost 70,000 POWs to dismantle military facilities in the Philippines, Okinawa, central Pacific, and Hawaii.
Why did the Japanese treat POWs so badly?
The reasons for the Japanese behaving as they did were complex. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) indoctrinated its soldiers to believe that surrender was dishonourable. POWs were therefore thought to be unworthy of respect. The IJA also relied on physical punishment to discipline its own troops.
Did American soldiers shoot German prisoners?
According to eyewitness accounts, an estimated 80 German prisoners of war were massacred by their American captors; the prisoners were assembled in a field and shot with machine guns.
| Chenogne Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Deaths | 80 Wehrmacht soldiers |
| Perpetrators | 11th Armored Division (US Army) |
Can Switzerland be invaded?
The answer: nowhere. “You can go to any Swiss city and you can see the place as it has developed organically because there’s never been an invasion. You benefit from neutrality visually because all the past is there.”
When was the last time Switzerland was invaded?
Around the year 1500, Swiss mercenaries were the most sought after and feared troops in Europe. 1815 was the last time Switzerland had invaded another state, namely France, two weeks after the Battle of Waterloo! The Swiss army had last fought in 1847, during the Sonderbund, a short civil war.
How much money did Switzerland make during ww2?
Swiss officials have maintained that wartime Switzerland dealt evenhandedly with the Third Reich and the Allies. According to Mr. Cerutti, however, Switzerland’s wartime arms sales amounted to some 900 million francs between 1940 and 1944, when the trade was halted under pressure from the Allies.
Did Marines take gold teeth?
Teeth, ears and other such body parts were also taken and were occasionally modified, such as by writing on them or fashioning them into utilities or other artifacts. Eugene Sledge relates a few instances of fellow marines extracting gold teeth from the Japanese, including one from an enemy soldier who was still alive.
How did the Japanese treat female prisoners of war?
They organized shifts and began care for other prisoners who were captured, but despite the different roles their Japanese captors treated them equally badly. All these women had to constantly fight off starvation and disease, with an average weight loss being about 30% of their body weight.
How many German soldiers were captured in ww2?
Approximately three million German prisoners of war were captured by the Soviet Union during World War II, most of them during the great advances of the Red Army in the last year of the war.
German estimates.
| Year | Quarter | Number of German POWs |
|---|---|---|
| IV | 560,000 | |
| 1945 | I | 1,100,000 |
| II | 2,000,000 | |
| III | 1,900,000 |
What did Germany do with Russian prisoners?
Soviet prisoners of war were stripped of their supplies and clothing by poorly-equipped German troops when the cold weather set in; this resulted in death for the prisoners. Most of the camps for Soviet POWs were simply open areas fenced off with barbed wire and watchtowers with no inmate housing.
What happened to the Germans that surrendered?
After Germany’s surrender in May 1945, millions of German soldiers remained prisoners of war. In France, their internment lasted a particularly long time. But, for some former soldiers, it was a path to rehabilitation.
How many German soldiers froze to death in Russia in ww2?
The Massacre of Feodosia refers to the killing of 150–160 wounded members of the Wehrmacht by soldiers of the Red Army, between 29 December 1941 and 1 January 1942 in the harbor city of Feodosia on the Crimean peninsula.
Massacre of Feodosia.
| Feodosia Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Attack type | Mass murder |
| Deaths | 150–160 German POWs |
| Perpetrators | Red Army |
Why are German war Graves black?
A more practical analysis suggests that the dark colour of many of the crosses in German military cemeteries corresponds to the need to protect the original wooden crosses with tar-based paints.
What was the bloodiest battle in human history?
The Most Deadly Battle In History: Stalingrad
Running from August 23, 1942 to February 2, 1943, Stalingrad led to 633,000 battle deaths.
What would have happened if Germany won the Battle of Stalingrad?
The victory of Axis powers in Stalingrad would have prompted Turkey, according to the agreements, to enter the war with the USSR. In 1942, mobilization was carried out in Turkey, its armed forces reached a population of 1 million people.
What did Turkey do in ww2?
Turkey remained neutral until the final stages of World War II and tried to maintain an equal distance between both the Axis and the Allies until February 1945, when Turkey entered the war on the side of the Allies against Germany and Japan.
What is Stalingrad called now?
Volgograd
The Russian city once known as Stalingrad is to regain its old name during commemorations of the famous World War II battle on Saturday. It has been officially known as Volgograd since 1961, when it was renamed to remove its association with Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
How many German generals surrendered at Stalingrad?
Twenty-two generals
Twenty-two generals surrendered with him, and on February 2 the last of 91,000 frozen starving men (all that was left of the Sixth and Fourth armies) surrendered to the Soviets.
Are bodies still found in Stalingrad?
Since the 1980s, searchers have found more than 35,000 bodies, but only 1,500 have been identified. The remains of some of those identified are buried in a cemetery about 30 minutes from the city.
Are Stalingrad and Leningrad the same city?
It was Leningrad, not Stalingrad that was the Eastern Front’s real World War II humanitarian disaster. Nazi Germany sent hundreds of thousands of civilians to their deaths through starvation and hypothermia.
Why did they rename Stalingrad?
On April 10, 1925, the city was renamed Stalingrad, in honor of Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party. This was officially to recognize the city and Stalin’s role in its defense against the Whites between 1918 and 1920.
Is Leningrad still a city?
On 26 January 1924, shortly after the death of Vladimir Lenin, it was renamed to Leningrad (Russian: Ленинград, IPA: [lʲɪnʲɪnˈgrat]), meaning ‘Lenin’s City’. On 6 September 1991, the original name, Sankt-Peterburg, was returned by citywide referendum. Today, in English the city is known as Saint Petersburg.
What does GRAD mean in Russian?
Grad (Cyrillic: град) is an Old Slavic word meaning “town”, “city”, “castle” or “fortified settlement”. Initially present in all related languages as gord, it can still be found as grad, gradić, horod or gorod in many placenames today.
What country is Volgograd in?
Russia
Volgograd, formerly (until 1925) Tsaritsyn and (1925–61) Stalingrad, city and administrative centre of Volgogradoblast (region), southwestern Russia, on the Volga River.
Where was Leningrad?
Russia
Petersburg, Russian Sankt-Peterburg, formerly (1914–24) Petrograd and (1924–91) Leningrad, city and port, extreme northwestern Russia. A major historical and cultural centre and an important port, St. Petersburg lies about 400 miles (640 km) northwest of Moscow and only about 7° south of the Arctic Circle.