In late 1955, an old German woman sank to her knees on a dusty airfield near Bonn, sobbing into Chancellor Adenauer's trousers.

In late 1955, an old German woman sank to her knees on a dusty airfield near Bonn, sobbing into Chancellor Adenauer's trousers. He'd just stepped off a plane from Moscow with fantastic news-they were finally getting back the last 10,000 German war prisoners after a decade-long ordeal.

When Germany surrendered in May 1945, approximately 11 million soldiers were taken as prisoners of war.

Your fate depended on who captured you.

The Soviets took about 3 million men to toil in rebuilding their ruined cities and towns. Private Helmut Jung was caught near Stalingrad and didn't see the front lines again for eight years of chopping firewood and digging coal in a subzero Siberian labor camp. He survived by eating sparse, watery cabbage soup and moldy bread. More than 1 million Russians died in transit or in cold, dank prison camps.

The Americans took 3 million prisoners of war and housed them in large "mud hole" camps along the Rhine River. There were no tents or even blankets-they fashioned "shacks" out of empty mess tins to protect themselves from the icy cold rain.

The French were ordered to perform menial tasks for their 1 million German prisoners.

But conditions were miserly at best. GIs were forced to disassemble coastal land mines with their bare hands until an international outcry forced authorities to stop.

Britain took a more lenient view toward their 400,000 captives.

They were put to work on farms, given good food, and even received civics lessons. It was a successful program-they even had 24,000 German soldiers who refused to return home when their release papers came because they fell in love with England and its countryside and its people. I’d appreciate an upvote if you find it helpful and informative.