World War II left a severe labor shortage on Minnesota’s farms – threatening the state and nation’s food supply at a critical time. Men who usually worked the fields left to fight overseas, paradoxically created a void that was filled by over 4,000 German and Italian POWs from overseas.
Held in Minnesota: Untold WWII POW Stories is a Pioneer PBS documentary film about the forgotten history of twenty-one POW labor camps in Minnesota during WWII by way of a major POW camp in Algona, Iowa.
Initially, communities were uneasy about dangerous enemies living among them and feared the prisoners would escape and seek revenge, bringing the war to their doorsteps. But curiously, the POWs and community members were inexplicably drawn to one another, especially in communities heavily populated with German Americans, like in New Ulm. In some cases, the prisoners formed tight bonds with Minnesotans, attended church together, drinking at bars together and working side by side.
Only one significant escape was noted when two German POWs attempted to return to the motherland in a stolen boat down the Mississippi River. The POWs were capture several days later—making headlines. Held in Minnesota explores the stories of these communities coming to bumpy terms with the enemy not only on their soil but tilling it, during an extraordinary time in Minnesota’s history and the world’s.
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