P.O.W. Camp 78 Zuffenhausen, Germany

P.O.W Camp 78, Zuffenhausen, Germany, may be the first book written about conditions in a prisoner of war camp managed and controlled by the United States Army following the end of World War II (WW II). Books have been written about the German P.O.W. camps and the conditions and treatment by the Germans of their prisoners during the war. The American P.O.W. camps were managed and operated in dramatic contrast. Who would believe that some of the prisoners in the American camps preferred to remain in the camps as prisoners rather than accepting their freedom? But, that in fact did occur in 1945-1946. The book describes the author's military experiences from his induction as a draftee into the United States Army in May, 1945; his travels and assignment to the 633rd Medical Clearing Company located in Ludwigsburg, Germany, plus his duties as the American in charge of the hospital in P.O.W. Camp 78. The book details the living conditions of the prisoners in Camp 78, the author's interface with the Camp's German hospital staff and particularly the doctors. The special mission, organization and personnel of the 633rd Medical Clearing Company are also addressed. The allied Armies had hundreds of thousands of war prisoners at the end of the hostilities in May, 1945. The Americans shared the problems of housing, logistics, and the denazification of the prisoners with its major WW II allies, the Russians, British, and French. The Americans established numerous prisoner of war camps throughout its assigned military Zone of Occupation in Germany. Many of these camps were located in the Stuttgart area of Germany. In the spring of 1945, the 633rd Medical Clearing Company, with its Headquarters in Ludwigsburg, was assigned the responsibility for the oversight of the medical aspects within several P.O.W. camps in the Stuttgart area. This was a dramatic change in its war time mission. As a result, the Company experienced a radical change in the type of its personnel requirements. The