Editor in Chief Bill | 11 Aug 2021 12:12 p.m. PST |
Prisoners of War in Minnesota during World War Two often worked the lumber mills and the farms in the northern and central parts of the state… Sherburne History Center: link |
79thPA | 11 Aug 2021 12:27 p.m. PST |
Pretty common. Ohio had 6,000 Italian and German POWs, most of whom worked on local farms or in local factories. |
Ed Mohrmann | 11 Aug 2021 1:19 p.m. PST |
My g'father managed a paper mill in Eastern NC during WWII. My mother and I lived with the g'parents while Dad was in the Pacific (USN). There were occasions when a half-dozen or so POWs would be invited to share lunch or supper – usually if they had special events coming up (birthday, good news from home, etc). Christmas 1944 there was a party for 50 + German POWs organized by my g'mother (who was born in Hungary came here in 1913). When the Italian government became a co-belligerent in 1943, the Italian POWs had the run of the little town (Plymouth, NC). |
doc mcb | 11 Aug 2021 2:38 p.m. PST |
Not that different from the German pows in the Revolution. |
ZULUPAUL | 11 Aug 2021 2:46 p.m. PST |
There were German & Italian POWs in Michigan, Detroit, Romulus & numerous places including the Upper Peninsula. There is a story I read about a group of 2-4 German POWs who escaped & swam across a lake nearby thinking they had made it to Wisconsin , the MPs told them they weren't even close to Lake Michigan. |
Saber6 | 11 Aug 2021 3:09 p.m. PST |
I always wondered about the effect of being put on a train and watching the countryside change for DAYS and then get out at a Camp in Kansas or Nebraska (I know there was at least on camp near Hastings Nebraska). Do you even think of escape when it could take weeks to get somewhere you 'might' find a way back home? Plus, as I understand it, the POW rations were better than they got at the front. |
Wackmole9 | 11 Aug 2021 3:27 p.m. PST |
there was a large Italian POW camp in WW2 in Greeley Co. They pulled Sugar Beets. |
79thPA | 11 Aug 2021 4:36 p.m. PST |
Doc mcb, I was thinking the same thing. |
ColCampbell | 12 Aug 2021 6:21 a.m. PST |
Same in Mississippi with the various camps for German and Italian prisoners. Camp Clinton outside Jackson held senior German officers including General Ramcke who accomplished a brief overnight escape to send a protest letter.
On 1 January 1946 he briefly escaped from Camp Clinton, Mississippi to post letters protesting about American propaganda campaigns and the withdrawal of tobacco and other luxury items from the POWs to Byron Price, the director of the Office for Censorship, and Senator James Eastland. [from his Wiki article, source: Hitler's Generals in America by Derek Mallett. Jim |
Legion 4 | 13 Aug 2021 8:38 a.m. PST |
Yes, nothing new here. Was fairly common as already noted. Also, from what I understand these EPWs in many cases were treated better than Black American Soldiers & Sailors … |
genew492 | 13 Aug 2021 12:58 p.m. PST |
My father served as an interpreter for Italian POW's in a construction battalion. They build roads through swamps in Florida and Louisiana. |
Sgt Slag | 13 Aug 2021 1:12 p.m. PST |
My paternal great-grandpa came to the USA, aged 16, before the Kaiser went to war, WW I (he did not want to die for his Kaiser, in the trenches). My paternal grandfather, his son, operated a farm near Fairmont, MN (SW area of the State), during WW II. I vaguely remember discussing POW's working farms, with him, when I was around 8-10 years old, nearly 50 years ago. He's been dead for over a decade, so I cannot ask him about it anymore. For the POW's in the States, there was nowhere to run to, to escape! The USA is so big, then they would need to cross the Atlantic… Modern-day European tourists have no concept of how large the USA really is. They think that driving 100 miles is a huge deal (the USA is 2,300 miles across, East to West). When they visit, they believe they can take in the entire eastern seaboard, in two weeks of sightseeing, from Maine, to Florida. They really have no idea… Cheers! |
deadhead | 13 Aug 2021 1:13 p.m. PST |
Legion 4's comment really set me thinking. The UK, a model of welcome for all in WWII, soon caught up with US prejudices in the early 50s I'll leave it at that for now. Too good a family reunion tonight with our three sons around the table and the wine flowing. As for the sheer size of North America, it is true that, even after living there for six months…I still do not get it. I flew everywhere in a couple of hours. Easy to get around. Awful trains, terrible road surfaces, buses… forget it. But that was 1983. Most folk I met in Michigan had never left the US, indeed many had never even left Michigan, the argument being they did not need to. |
gamershs | 13 Aug 2021 8:01 p.m. PST |
When I was in Germany (US Army 1976) I went to October Fest in Munich Germany. Sat across from a German who had been a POW in the US during WW2. He was a veterinarian and had taking care of the cavalry horses that were being allowed to die off. Had nothing but good words about his treatment. I was speaking in my high school learned German and he was speaking in his learned English. |
Nine pound round | 14 Aug 2021 4:13 a.m. PST |
In a lot of Midwestern towns, they probably didn't need translators: my father can still remember everyday business in the Minnesota town where his grandparents lived being transacted in German, even after WWII. |