Question: Why was Texas selected as the detention site for more POWs than any other state during World War II?
Answer: Aside from having plenty of space, the state’s climate was thought to be most similar to that of North Africa, where over 150,000 German and Italian soldiers were taken prisoner after the surrender of Gen. Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps in April 1943. According to the Geneva Convention, POWs should be detained in a climate similar to that in which they were captured. By the end of the war, there were 78,982 enemy prisoners at 14 military installations and seven POW camps in Texas.
