Nazi Prisoners of War: The Civilian and Prisoner Experience in Agricultural America

Abstract

Local histories help explain the daily experiences of the average citizen on a micro level, leading to a better understanding of the collective experience. Ensuring local histories are collected and properly analyzed is important in the understanding of national issues. Prisoner of war camps constructed by the United State military during World War II spotted the rural American landscape for the duration of the war. One such camp was named Tucker’s Crossing and located in Corvallis, Montana in the Bitterroot Valley. This German POW camp provided much needed labor for local sugar beet farms and helped revitalize the economy.