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Post by librarylady on Jul 21, 2023 18:52:29 GMT
Did you know that the US had camps for the Germans?
Turns out many were in Texas because of the space to create the camps. I learned today that the county fairgrounds in the county of my youth housed the Germans during the war. I also learned that the community where I went to high school had a camp.
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milocat
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,469 
Location: 55 degrees north in Alberta, Canada
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Post by milocat on Jul 21, 2023 19:31:10 GMT
Yes I knew. I've read a couple of fiction books about it. The Japanese were also in these internment camps. The one book I read was about a German family that had been in the US for years, the children were born there and they sent them to a camp then shipped them back to Germany. The kids didn't even speak German.
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Post by katlady on Jul 21, 2023 19:42:59 GMT
Interesting to read that many of them had been trained to be fighters since they were children. I wonder where they all went after the war was over. Did they return home to Germany, or were they allowed to stay in the US?
ETA - These were not the same as the internment camps for the Japanese-Americans.
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Post by auntkelly on Jul 21, 2023 20:18:18 GMT
There was a German prisoner of war camp at Tonkawa, Oklahoma, which is about ten miles from my hometown. It housed 800 prisoners who were captured in Africa. Many of them worked on local farms.
One former prisoner, interviewed after the war said, “there was no reason to try and escape. Where were we going to hide in Oklahoma? Besides, it was a lot better to be a prisoner of war in Oklahoma than a German soldier on the Russian front.”
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rodeomom
Pearl Clutcher
Refupee # 380 "I don't have to run fast, I just have to run faster than you."
Posts: 3,667
Location: Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma
Jun 25, 2014 23:34:38 GMT
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Post by rodeomom on Jul 21, 2023 20:25:58 GMT
My 2nd great grandfather was a guard at the POW camp near were I live in Oklahoma.
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chendra
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,862
Location: The 33rd State
Jun 27, 2014 16:58:50 GMT
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Post by chendra on Jul 21, 2023 21:14:49 GMT
I knew, only because I read "Summer of My German Soldier" as a kid, but we did not learn about them in school.
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Post by magenta on Jul 22, 2023 0:45:22 GMT
I knew, only because I read "Summer of My German Soldier" as a kid, but we did not learn about them in school. This is exactly what I was going to say. But then I realized I found out from the movie starring Kristy McNichol, which made me want to read the book. Did you ever read the sequel, “Morning Is a Long Time Coming”? I was never able to find it until just a few years ago. |
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ellen
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,567
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Post by ellen on Jul 22, 2023 2:50:45 GMT
I knew, only because I read "Summer of My German Soldier" as a kid, but we did not learn about them in school. Same. |
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Deleted
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Jul 3, 2024 12:46:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2023 11:37:04 GMT
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Post by bdhudak on Jul 22, 2023 12:56:42 GMT
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iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by iowgirl on Jul 22, 2023 13:08:16 GMT
There were a couple big camps in Iowa. They housed both German and Japanese soldiers. The prisoners were used for farm labor, which was in very short supply at the time.
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lisaknits
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,399
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Post by lisaknits on Jul 23, 2023 12:45:30 GMT
Yes, there was a camp about 20 minutes from where I grew up. Apparently many of POWs were allowed to leave the camp and work at local farms since there was a labor shortage due to the war. Some became attached to the area and were allowed to remain after the war.
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Post by ktdoesntscrap on Jul 24, 2023 3:29:49 GMT
I knew, only because I read "Summer of My German Soldier" as a kid, but we did not learn about them in school. I LOVED that book as a kid and read it 100 times no lie! I also did research on POW camps in the US during WWII both in High School and college because of that book! |
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