Against All Odds: the Story of Elinor Powel and Frederick Albert
Copyright© 2025 by Megumi Kashuahara
Chapter 5: Two Americas
The situation grew more absurd with each passing day.
German POWs were allowed to eat in dining rooms at train stations. Elinor, an American officer, was directed to the “Colored Only” facilities—often little more than shacks out back.
Some of the German prisoners were shocked by American racism. Having never encountered black Americans before, many were surprised to discover that Nazi propaganda about racial superiority wasn’t unique to Germany—it had its own thriving version right here in the land of the free.
A few of the German POWs, recognizing the shared experience of discrimination, formed unexpected bonds with black soldiers and workers. Others, the hardcore Nazis, treated the black nurses with open contempt, using slurs, refusing their care, making their jobs as difficult as possible.
One prisoner threw the n-word at Elinor while she was checking his bandages. The white American officers did nothing. After all, he was white—and in their eyes, that made him more socially significant than any black officer, even one wearing the uniform of the United States Army.
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