| Summary/Abstract |
This analysis focuses on the Canadian–American relationship during the Second World War. Between 1940 and 1946, both Allies held over 400,000 German prisoners of war [POWs] in hundreds of camps spread across their territory. The presence of these “Hitler’s soldiers” on the North American continent quickly became an issue of close collaboration between the two Powers. Exploring the complex intra-Allied negotiations and collaboration via the Canada–United States exchanges on German POWs, this exegesis challenges the general argument that as a middle Power, Canada found exclusion from Allied policy-making on POWs. Although differences existed between the two detention systems, Canadian and American policy-makers consistently viewed the war captivity as an intra-Allied object of concern. They exchanged security information, shared their experience, and organised visits in camps. This collaboration indicates that Ottawa played a pivotal role in German POW captivity.
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