Reply #3: Humane treatment of German POWs is credited in part to ending the war

[KansDem]

As I recalled, there was a concerted effort to treat German POWs humanely, banking on the idea that their letters home to Germany describing this treatment would help turn Germans against the war. It seemed to work:

That there were few problems may be due to the humane treatment they received from Horn, Peterson and Lieutenant Blair.

After the war many prisoners wrote letters (now in the NWMHC Archives) thanking the Horns and Petersons for their kind treatment. Several requested aid packages or assistance in getting to America. One remembered Peterson sending flowers and fruit to sick prisoners at Moorhead's St. Ansgar Hospital, two trips to a movie theater and "Bier and cigarettes" on Saturdays. The later were forbidden by Army regulations as was a memorable trip mentioned by another prisoner to Moorhead’s Magic Aquarium Bar.

http://www.info.co.clay.mn.us/History/pow.htm

Also:

The honorable and legal treatment of enemy prisoners also pays practical dividends. Experience shows that events in wartime have an interactive character: ill treatment of captives by one side is often reciprocated. In addition, a reputation for humane treatment of enemy surrenders induces more surrenders: and we get more reliable information from cooperative surrenders than from dissatisfied and alienated victims of abuse.

http://www.psu.edu/ur/oped/cimbalanovember142005.html

Also:

By contrast, POW facilities held by Allied nations like the USA, UK and Canada usually complied strictly to the Geneva Conventions, which sometimes created conditions POWs found were more comfortable than their own side's barracks. This approach was decided on the idea that having POWs well treated meant a ready supply of healthy and cooperative laborers for farmwork and the like, as allowed by the Geneva Conventions, which eased personnel shortages. There were also the benefits of a lower chance of having to deal with escapes or prisoner disruption. In addition, as word spread among the enemy about the conditions of Allied POW camps, it encouraged surrenders which helped further Allied military goals efficiently. Furthermore, it may have raised morale among the Allied personnel when the usefulness of this approach was accepted by reinforcing the idea that this humane treatment of prisoners showed that their side was morally superior to the enemy.

http://www.tvwiki.tv/wiki/Prisoner_of_war

Once the fanatics (ie, SS) were weeded out (and sent to one camp in Oklahoma, if I recall correctly), German POWs received many privileges and humane treatment. For example, they were permitted to operate small stores with basic creature comforts (including wine and beer, if I recall correctly). And they were permitted to work on farms (in the midwest). Since many German POWs came from farms in Germany, this was welcomed work.

The letters home to Germany told relatives of the humane treatment received in American POW camps. This led to many Germans changing their views on the war.

If we had treated German POWs then like we do Iraqis now, then the end of the war might have taken much longer as many Germans wouldn't want to face the kinds of violence and sadism displayed by BushCo's "War on Terror" today. It would have been a fight to "the last man." Sound like Iraq?