Stalag Wisconsin: Inside W.W. II Prisoner-of-War Camps Paperback – Import, 28 February 2002

I ordered this book for my husband, and he is really enjoying it. His grandfather was a foreman at a German POW camp in Wisconsin in 1945. It is interesting to see how this played out in history.

Great research. A lot of detail. And tons of personal recollections. After the initial explanation of how these prisoners ended up in Wisconsin, which is fascinating, the author describes the details of each camp. But after about 15 stories about pea picking, canning factories, how much money the Army made from each camp and how well the prisoners were treated, it got a little tiresome. The only thing that kept me reading was the inclusion of a few fun anecdotes and the fact that some of these camps were located near where we live. For an entertaining novel that weaves a lot of these details into a single story I'd suggest Home Front by D. W. Hanneken.

An interesting reminiscence about a time so far removed from our current society as to be viewed with envy. Simpler times. This would be of interest to WW2 readers and those interested in the nostalgia of America. How rural Wisconsin handled the captured German soldiers is a lesson in how people can get along under adverse conditions. The Germans were enthusiastic workers who recognized the futility of an escape and coped the best they could. The fears of the rural communities over the prisoners were demonstrated to be very much over-rated. Of interest was the strict adherence of the US government to the Geneva Convention (even to the point of making payroll to the German soldiers). The documentation is from local sources from the time and gives credence to the writing. An enjoyable read.

I live in Wisconsin and my father told me of his driving a truck taking the Prisoners to where they were to work for the day. I/we are of German decent but the only German my father knew was Gesundheit. Which is what one says after someone sneezes. It means God Bless You.But all the Prisoners were not German, other ethnic people were also Prisoners. Very well researched. I bet many people today are not aware of this Wisconsin history, but she mentions the other states that were involved too.

I knew we had prisoners in the state of Wisconsin. But didn’t realize how many and how they were used in the canning industry.After the war was interesting to know that a lot of the prisoners came back to Wisconsin.