Axis Diplomats in American Custody
The Housing of Enemy Representatives and Their Exchange for American Counterparts, 1941–1945
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About the Book
After Pearl Harbor, German, Italian and Japanese diplomats, along with their staffs and families, were relocated to two lavish but isolated resorts in Appalachia, where the State Department insisted they be treated as distinguished guests. As the war progressed, other Axis envoys were similarly detained. (The Japanese ambassador to Germany was captured by U.S. soldiers in Europe and held in a small hotel in rural Pennsylvania, while the War Department argued for treating him as a war criminal and the local population decried his luxurious accommodations.)
Informants were recruited, attempts at espionage and escape were foiled, diplomats complained and squabbled endlessly, babies were born and townspeople made threats, while newspapers published outlandish exposés of wild parties.
Based on government documents, the recollections of detainees and hotel staff and contemporary newspaper accounts, this book is the first to focus on the day-to-day lives of the nearly 1,000 detainees during their six-month confinement.
About the Author(s)
Bibliographic Details
Landon Alfriend Dunn and Timothy J. Ryan
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 208
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2016
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6486-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2539-3
Imprint: McFarland
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Preface 1
Introduction 6
One—The Hotels Are Selected 17
Two—The Round-Up 28
Three—Daily Routine 41
Four—Musical Chairs 54
Five—Negotiations for Exchange 66
Six—Be Careful What You Wish For 80
Seven—The Actual Exchange 95
Eight—End Games 107
Nine—Vichy French at the Hotel Hershey 121
Ten—Diplomats Captured in North Africa During the War 131
Eleven—Japanese Captured in Europe Near the End of the War 144
Conclusion 153
Chapter Notes 157
Bibliography 177
Index 199
