Nebraska POW Camps: A History of World War II Prisoners in the Heartland

[gwb123]

One thing that always surprises me about reading history is how an endeavor that involved thousands of people and presumably millions of dollars can just vanish from public memory.

Such is the story chronicled by the book Nebraska POW Camps: A History of World War II Prisoners in the Heartland, by Melissa Amateis Marsh.

As noted on the internet:

In Nebraska, approximately 12,000 prisoners of war were held in camps across the state. Scottsbluff, Fort Robinson, and the village Atlanta (outside Holdrege) were the main base camps.

(from http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/stories/0801_0143.html)

Ms. Marsh’s book is a local history that looks into the life of the prisoners held in these camps, as well as the American personnel who were assigned to both guard and to re-educate them.

She describes the waves of prisoners who were transported far into America’s heartland as the war progressed: Afrika Corps, Italians, and then later POW’s from campaigns in Sicily, Italy and then finally the European mainland.

Given the geographic location of these camp, and the lack of transportation opportunities, escape attempts were a rare occurrence.

She describes each camp in the following terms:

Labor
Daily Life
Religion
Music and Theater
Recreation Arts and Crafts
Education
Intellectual Diversion Program
Motion Pictures

Because she describes these areas for each of the main camps, there is some overlap and repetition of the material.

One thing made clear by the book is the contribution of the POW’s to the wartime agricultural industry of the state. This was vital in both keeping the farming industry viable as well as providing food to the front and the home population. With huge numbers of young men and women off to fight the war, it is clear that the farming effort would have failed if it had not been for the added labor provided by these POW’s.

Some of the application of POW labor was a bit surprising, especially those that reportedly worked at the Cornhusker Ordnance Plant near Grand Island helping to manufacture bombs that would be dropped on Germany!

Ms. Marsh takes a more detailed look at what was known as the Intellectual Diversion Program. Originally this grew out of simple English classes for the prisoners. In some camps this eventually included academic and technical classes, partly to keep the prisoners intellectually occupied and also to convince them that Americans were not bad people after all. In 1944, the focus changed at the direction of the War Department, and the emphasis became more focused on de-Nazification.

This book is relatively short at 156 pages, illustrated with a selection of black and white photos. The author notes repeatedly that despite the size of this enterprise, it was very difficult to find remaining records and accounts of the Nebraska camps. She does provide over 20 pages of notes and bibliographical information that would be helpful to someone with an interest in delving deeper into the subject.

Last, but not least, Ms. Marsh tells of what remains of these camps today. For anyone traveling out here, there are museum displays at Scottsbluff and closer to I-80 the Nebraska Prairie Museum at Holdrege, NE.

This book can be purchased through Amazon.com as well as Walmart.com.

Below: A very unlikely photograph taken in either 1943 or 1944 at Camp Scottsbluff showing American officers with German bakers.

[gwb123]

From the cover: German prisoners with a wide variety of baggage boarding a New York Central train in Boston. Note the guard on the roof with a submachinegun. None of the prisoners look inclined to make a run for it at that particular moment.

[gwb123]

Cover Art:

 

 

[USAFnav]

Good review, sounds like an interesting book.

Pete

[rufus_firefly]

Thanks for posting this. A quick look at my avatar should reveal that my interest is more than just passing. It is the DUI of the 403rd MP PW Camp. I was the 3 during Desert Storm. One main difference between what we faced and what camps during WWII faced was the small cultural difference between the EPW sent to the U.S. and the population here compared to what we encountered in DS. The same thing happened in Korea, a clash of cultures. One lesson learned in DS, as stated in the history of EPW Operations in that conflict, which is available online, is that EPW operations are completely different from all other operations. The skill sets necessary to conduct EPW operations are not highly regarded nor can they be realistically trained for. That the camps during WWII were, for the most part, successful is a story that should be told.