Exhibit tells story of German prisoners

Donna Koerner of Seymour remembers hearing her stepfather tell stories of the German prisoners of war he met during World War II.

"He had worked at a POW camp right around here, in Austin, Indiana," Koerner said.

Her father was off fighting in Germany at the time.

With that kind of family history, it's no surprise that Koerner takes an interest in the past.

When she heard about a German POW exhibit coming to the Jackson County Public Library in Seymour Friday, she decided she'd stop by to learn a little more.

"I was just interested in it because I had heard so many stories growing up," Koerner said.

She wasn't disappointed.

For the second time, the TRACES Center for History and Culture in Minnesota brought its traveling bus museum to the library. This year's exhibit, "Held in the Heartland: German POWs in the Midwest," detailed the story of the more than 400,000 Germans held in Indiana and nearby states during the war.

The free exhibit was sponsored in part by Friends of the Jackson County Public Library and the Humanities Council in Minnesota.

From 1943 to 1946, there were POW camps in Fort Wayne, Windfall, Indianapolis, Morristown, Austin, Vincennes, Charlestown and Jeffersonville.

Some German prisoners were held at Camp Atterbury in Bartholomew and Johnson counties.

Some were also transported to Seymour to work.

Inside the bus, visitors got to see artifacts and read stories about what life was like for the German POWS.

Guests could also sit and watch a short film on the topic.

"I think it's just great that there is something like this available because so much of this information has been shoved into the past and it's being lost," Koerner said. "Unless you know someone who went through it or you went through it yourself, how are you going to hear about this?"

Suzy Hoagland, Amy Cooley and Jeffrey Quillen, all of Seymour, had heard about the exhibit in the newspaper and thought it sounded like something worth stopping for.

"I'm interested in history and like to learn about things I've never heard of," Cooley said of her reason for wanting to see the exhibit. "I really liked getting to see the eyeglasses and helmets that belonged to some of the POWs. It just makes it more real to see that."

Hoagland said she thought the most interesting part of the exhibit was learning about how the German POWs were treated by the Americans.

"They were treated a lot better than I ever thought because the Americans wanted word to get back to Germany so that they would treat our POWs better," she said. "I learned a lot from the movie, too. It's a great exhibit."

Irving Kellman, tour guide and bus driver, said he is proud of the work TRACES has done in bringing the history of POWs to communities across the United States.

He says often he learns just as much if not more about POWs and the war from those who come to see the exhibit.

"It brings back a lot of memories for those people who were POWs themselves or knew POWs from the camps," he said.

In the five years it has been on the road, the mobile museum has visited more than 1,600 American cities.

"More than 120,000 people have come through the exhibit and heard the stories of German and American POWs," Kellman said.

"This isn't something that is taught in textbooks and the stories are being lost. We hope to keep them alive."

For more information, visit www.traces.org.