While I was supposed to be working on my English presentation, I couldn't help noticing the book on the side of the table. It was called "Shot from the Sky: American POWs in Switzerland. I ended up reading section of the book, which included testimonies from American veterans. Whilst one claims that conditions for the soldiers were very bad, the other states that his plane was shot down. In addition, the book calls this one of Switzerland's dark secrets, at a time when, ironically, the Geneva conventions didn't apply to neutral countries.
Whilst I didn't continue reading this particular book, I decided to research the subject deeper. I found out that there were three internment camps for POWs. It is believed by many people, or at least the history teachers and swiss people with whom I talked about this, that the soldiers would reside in hotels or apartments. In reality, that was only for those who demonstrated very good behaviour. Those who were deemed capable of escaping were placed in these camps. Funny enough, the "neutral" country did not host a single soldier of Germany or any other country allied to the Nazis, but thousands of allied soldiers. As a matter of fact, Nazi planes were allowed to land and refuel.
The conditions in the detention facilities were very poor, with the accommodates being cottages in which many people would altogether sleep on hay. Guards would sometimes mistreat an d often beat up the allied soldiers. Finding out all of this couldn't stop e thinking: How did I not know all this until now?
Whilst I didn't continue reading this particular book, I decided to research the subject deeper. I found out that there were three internment camps for POWs. It is believed by many people, or at least the history teachers and swiss people with whom I talked about this, that the soldiers would reside in hotels or apartments. In reality, that was only for those who demonstrated very good behaviour. Those who were deemed capable of escaping were placed in these camps. Funny enough, the "neutral" country did not host a single soldier of Germany or any other country allied to the Nazis, but thousands of allied soldiers. As a matter of fact, Nazi planes were allowed to land and refuel.
The conditions in the detention facilities were very poor, with the accommodates being cottages in which many people would altogether sleep on hay. Guards would sometimes mistreat an d often beat up the allied soldiers. Finding out all of this couldn't stop e thinking: How did I not know all this until now?
