Oklahoma Journeys

Week of April 26, 2008

First German POWs Arrive in OK – April 29, 1943

This week on Oklahoma Journeys, foreign visitors making their first appearance. During World War II there were many decisions to make, questions to answer, and problems to solve, not the least of which was what to do with the growing number of captured enemy combatants. Oklahoma played a big role in that part of the war, and that’s the topic of this week’s Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.

From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

With the entry of the United States into World War II, citizens and soldiers were forced to confront the many fears and concerns connected with entering a violent global conflict. One of the more unusual issues dealt with handling the various enemy combatants taken as prisoners of war. For a time England dealt with all of the enemy POWs but soon turned to the United States for help. Between 1942 and ‘45 hundreds of POW camps were constructed around the country to house these prisoners. Most of the camps were situated in areas with warm or temperate climates, most notably the states of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Oklahoma itself contained more than thirty separate facilities built especially to house enemy prisoners.

It was in this week of 1943 that the first of many trainloads of POWs entered the state making their first stop at Madill. Other trains soon followed arriving in Tonkawa, Waynoka, Alva, Pryor, McAlester, Seminole, and Pauls Valley just to name a few. Oklahoma was a bit different in that only captured soldiers of the German military were held here, while other states held Japanese, Italians and other various military personnel. According to interviews and diary entries the experience of most prisoners held in Oklahoma was as pleasant and as good as could be expected for one staying in a POW camp thousands of miles away from home. The prisoners were, as listed in the Geneva Convention rules, fed food comparable to that served to US soldiers, and they were paid for work performed in the various camps. Payments to prisoners, however, was usually done with coupons or vouchers good for use at the various canteens and stores found in each camp.

Escapes weren’t much of a problem, and Oklahoma camps only had one or two instances of escapees who never returned. Most German army soldiers that escaped did so unaware of the vast distances lying between towns and houses in the Oklahoma countryside. Used to the relatively crowded landscape of Europe, these Oklahoma escapees usually returned to camp hungry and exhausted or willingly turned themselves in for a drink of water and a ride back to their compound. A good number of POWs were hired out to local farmers and put to work on various farms and ranches. The prisoners, according to their employers, worked hard and were overall friendly to be around. Some relationships between German prisoners and Oklahoma families continued well after the war ended with a few prisoners actually opting to remain in Oklahoma on a permanent basis.

You can learn more about the German POWs thru the newspaper collection in the research library at the Oklahoma History Center, located in Oklahoma City on NE 23rd Street just east of the state capitol. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma History Center, dedicated to the collection, preservation and sharing of our state’s past. From the Oklahoma History Center, I’m Michael Dean.