What Happened to the 425,000 German Prisoners Held in America?

In June 1943, a train pulled into a small Alabama town, and a thousand enemy soldiers stepped off singing. They were the first of a flood. By the end of the war, around 425,000 Axis prisoners were held on American soil, in hundreds of camps across 46 states. Some ate better than their families back home. Some picked cotton beside farmers whose sons were fighting in Europe. But inside the wire, men were beaten and killed by their own comrades for saying the war was lost. Others tunneled out and ran for Mexico, and one escaped and stayed hidden for 40 years. When the war ended, many still didn't go home. Instead they were shipped to Britain and France to work for years more. This is how German prisoners of war survived captivity in the United States, from the Afrika Korps surrender in Tunisia to the Papago Park escape, the "Fritz Ritz" myth, and the men who came back to America as immigrants. If this story stayed with you, subscribe for more survival stories from history, and tell us in the comments which story you want us to cover next. #WW2 #WorldWar2 #POW #WW2History #GermanPOWs #HistoryDocumentary #SurvivalHistory #AfrikaKorps