JUST BLOCKS FROM THE VACATED SITE of the former Faribault Canning Company, a group packed a Rice County Historical Society Museum meeting room Thursday evening for a lesson in World War II-related regional history. Specifically, we learned about German Prisoner of War camps in Minnesota and Wisconsin from Matt Carter, executive director of the Dakota County Historical Society. He offered an overview of those camps, which included 15 in Minnesota, one at the canning company in Faribault. Carter is a native of Reedsburg, Wisconsin, home to a POW camp. Growing up, he never learned about the camp in school. That prompted him to later research, write about and present on POW camps in the US.
WORKING AG-RELATED JOBS
I’ve always held an awareness of Camp Faribault and the prisoners who worked at the canning factory and on area farms. I also knew of the low-slung buildings housing the POWs who arrived here in June 1944. Those barracks were torn down in 1990 during an expansion of Faribault Foods, as the canning company came to be called. The business still exists today, in a sprawling manufacturing and distribution complex opened in 2017 in northwest Faribault’s industrial park.
Back during WWII, with millions of Americans off to serve in the military, POWs like those in Faribault offset the local labor shortage. Faribault Canning requested 200 prisoners to assist during the summer months with pea and sweet corn processing. The company paid the government 55 cents an hour for each POW laborer. That covered food and other living expenses. Prisoners received 80 cents a day for their work. Carter noted that the Faribault-based POWs worked within a 25-mile radius, some also laboring on farms, others installing power poles for Dakota Electric Association and 60 contracted to work for the local Andrews Nursery Company.
SETTLING IN AT CAMP FARIBAULT & BEYOND
POW camps were scattered throughout Minnesota with other nearby branch camps, as they were termed, in Owatonna, Montgomery and St. Charles. Camps farther north focused mostly on logging. All were offshoots of barbed wire-secured base camps (where prisoners initially arrived and were processed) in Algona and Clarinda, Iowa. Once prisoners settled in community camps like Faribault, they still remained under guard, although much more loosely watched. An estimated 450,000 – 600,000* prisoners arrived in the US on Liberty Ships during WWII to live in repurposed Civilian Conservation Corps camps, on fairgrounds, even in tents, Carter said. In Faribault, the POWS moved into barracks built by the canning company.
WEDDINGS, PROPAGANDA & “CODDLING”
Within the confines of his just-over-an-hour-long presentation, Carter presented an excellent overview of POW camps, adding some details that I found notably interesting. For example, proxy weddings were performed by local clergy. Under Geneva Convention rules, German prisoners could legally marry women back in Germany. Prisoners would gather flowers for the missing-brides prison camp weddings. Across the ocean their brides perhaps did the same while marrying absent grooms not seen in years.
Carter also shared that prisoners watched newsreels of German war atrocities as part of a reorientation program in the camps. Viewed as propaganda by some POWs, they responded by distributing handwritten propaganda while traveling on secured trains. Baffled by how these leaflets were dropped, officials determined that the papers were dropped down toilets and then onto the rails.
The third bit of shared information that struck me involves food. Newspapers reported how well prisoners ate, how they were being “coddled,” Carter noted. He showed a list of menus, which confirms the generous meals. The reaction was an outcry from an American public living on rationed foods and upset about the treatment of German-held US soldiers. In 1945, POWs were no longer allowed to buy beer, soda or cigarettes. And some of their food choices became less desirable (like hearts and liver).
Once the war ended, prisoners were repatriated, a process that took time. Many later returned to the US because of how well they were treated here, according to Carter. That was encouraging to hear. Even in war-time, kindness existed.
DIGGING DEEPER
Today all that remains of the Faribault POW Camp is a marker by the former canning company. If there are stories and photos, I am unaware. But I’m inspired now to dig deeper. I’ve already checked out Prudence by David Treuer from my local library. The novel focuses on a German soldier who escaped from a Minnesota POW camp. I also intend to read Anita Albrecht Buck’s Behind Barbed Wire: German Prisoners of War in Minnesota during World War II.
And maybe some day I’ll travel to Algona, Iowa, to visit the Camp Algona POW Museum and learn more about this place which housed prisoners sent to Minnesota, including to Faribault.
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*Because of differences and discrepancies in record-keeping, the number of prisoners housed in US POW camps is uncertain. Some sources claim 600,000-plus, while Carter estimates closer to 500,000 prisoners based on his research.
© Copyright 2023 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
This was amazingly interesting. The photos have a ghostly feel to them, haunting… almost like you can feel what happened there.
Your observation about the buildings…I see that now that I view that photo again. I suppose many abandoned buildings present that image.
That is something I have always thought, but see it very much so in this!
Yes, sometimes we look beyond what we simply see to see more.
Wow, I had no idea about any of this
These POW camps were scattered across the US, likely some even in Michigan.
I’m sure there were some, I’m going to read more
I’ll be curious to read what you uncover.
I read today, that Michigan housed 6,000 German prisoners – some in each peninsula. thanks for bringing this to my attention, I really never knew about them
That’s a lot of POWs. You are welcome re. teaching you something new. We can still learn.
wow… I had no idea.
These POW camps were located across the country, probably even in Texas.
I had no idea about this either. Thanks for sharing this story.
You are welcome. It seems you are not alone in not knowing about these POW camps. I didn’t put this in the story, but New Ulm had one also.
I’m stunned that this wasn’t something we learned about in school!
Just like the US-Dakota War of 1862. Many Minnesotans never learned about that either. I did because of where I grew up, in Redwood County.
My sentiments exactly…I had no idea this.
This is a part of local history which needs to be more broadly shared.
Somehow I missed this topic! POW camps in Minnesota have long been an interest of mine since my Mom and Dad had POW labor on their farm in summer of 1945. Dad would pick up two or three prisoners at the camp in Owatonna. It was threshing time so the prisoners were available between pea and corn harvests at the canning company. The family story is that one day, Dad kept them working past the time they were supposed to be back in camp. So, the camp called. Kind of a big deal but no harm was done. I’ve actually done presentations on this topic and have read the book you mentioned. It is excellent. Another good one is Swords Into Plowshares by Dean Simmons. I appreciate learning more about the camp at Faribault including the picture. Not much is left anywhere of the camps save the one near New Ulm. Many people know nothing about this great piece of Minnesota history. Thank you for the post!
Colleen thank you for sharing your family story of POW workers on your farm. I expect you have many more stories to share since you present on the topic. Thank you also for the book recommendation. I asked if any camp buildings remain and the new executive director of the Rice County Historical Society stated near Wells. He did not mention New Ulm. Can you fill me in on the remaining New Ulm site?
The New Ulm area POW camp was in WPA buildings at Flandrau State Park. I’m not sure if it was a state park back then, likely not. If you go to the website, it mentions the POW camp which is now used as a group center. I don’t think it is open to the public, but if involved in an event there, then you can see it. The park is split with one part right outside of New Ulm. The other part with the group center is across the Cottonwood River and so is a few miles away. I wish it was open to the public. This makes me wonder if you could see it on one of their open house days. I’m not sure what is at Wells. The book I have doesn’t say what happened to it. I’ll keep an eye out for Matt Carter and maybe get to hear him sometime. I keep learning things about this!
Colleen, thanks for additional info on the New Ulm buildings. I knew the camp was at current day Flandreau, but not about the group center across the Cottonwood. I agree that it would be interesting to tour. Randy is reading “Behind Barbed Wire,” which he grabbed after I checked it out from the library. Thankfully I am reading another book and can wait my turn.
I hoped to get a copy of Behind the Barbed Wire but even used ones are very expensive. So, I just have to go to the library if I want to look up something. But I guess I’m lucky it is there.
The “very expensive” tells me this book is valued. Our library has TWO copies.