Carol Chandler, left, of Dixon, IL, is a retired hospital nurse who likes to do historical research, write, and share her knowledge with others. She is a member of the Lee County Historical and Genealogical Society Board of Directors. On Monday, October 15, 2018, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Chandler will present “German POW’s in Northern Illinois.” She will speak in the City of Morrison Community Room adjacent to Odell Public Library, 307 S. Madison Street, Morrison, IL.
A question-and-answer session will follow. This free program is part of the fall Lifelong Learning Series sponsored by the Odell Public Library Friends.
During World War II, Great Britain, already flooded with prisoners, requested help from the United States in housing prisoners of war. The prisoners usually arrived in Liberty Ships returning to the U. S. that would otherwise be empty. The Geneva Convention required the U. S. military to treat the prisoners as they did their own soldiers–with adequate rations, clothing, living quarters, entertainment, and wages paid in scrip.
Prisoners were amazed that comfortable Pullman cars carried them to their camps. One German prisoner reported that he gained 57 pounds during two years of captivity.
Most camps were in the South, because heating costs were lower there. But by the end of the war, over 400,000 men lived in camps in 46 states, including Illinois.
News coverage of the camps was intentionally limited until the end of the war. Initially, prisoners worked in the camps doing construction and maintenance. The National labor shortage soon led to requests from business owners for help in canneries, mills, farms, and other places not related to National security.
To make labor available where it was needed, the Army added more than 500 “branch camps” to the existing 156 main camps at military bases.
For more information or to register for this intriguing program, contact Odell Public Library at 815-772-7323. Reservations are encouraged but are not required.
In the photo from the National Archives, German WWII prisoners of war board a train taking them to camps in the Midwest.
