Hide Article Text (OCR)
SANTA FE — A fascinating exhibit on the use of World War II POWs'as farm laborers throughout the state is in its final preparation stages at the New Mexico Farm Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces.That’s right. German and Italian prisoners of war were employed to get the job done on New Mexico’s farms when laborshortages became acute during World WarII.More than 400,000 enemy soldiers captured by American and Allied forces were shipped stateside to sit out the war. Recent research has determined that 11,473 were sent to New Mexico.Initially only a handful of large POW camps were set up. However, when officials recognized that these soldiers could be put to work, particularly in agriculture, they set up smaller, regional branch camps.Local farmers could then request POW day laborers for farming tasks or for harvesting crops. Farmers paid the federal government for their POW contract labor and the government then paid the POWs a small wage. Farmers also provided transportation from the camps to the fields and back.After the war, most POWs reported that their treatment and living conditions were far better than they could have expected if they had stayed in their respective armies. Some Americans thought the POWs were treated too well, while others were simply grateful for their help.Two base camps were established in New Mexico, one at Roswell and the otherJayMillerInside the Capitolat Lordsburg. Later, 19 branch camps were set up to get POWs closer to the farms where they were needed. Two alien internment camps for German, Italian and Japanese Americans were established at Fort Stanton and Santa Fe. These are notincluded in the study since they were not POW camps.For this oral-history project, 70 interviews were conducted with 26 farm ownersand workers, 21 townspeople and children, 17 camp guards or workers, 3 program administrators and 3 former POWs. Questionnaires were mailed to 22 former POWs living in Germany. Eleven were returned and have been translated. Twoformer POWs are being interviewed by their children.In addition, much research was done in the archives at area universities, museums and government agencies and in the microfilm records at newspapers in Roswell, Las Cruces, Deming, Lordsburg, Artesia, Carlsbad, Alamogordo Fort Sumner and Portales. Area historians, such asElvis Fleming in Roswell and Mollle Pressler in Lordsburg, also collaborated on the project.Widespread interest has been expressedand assistance given by German and Italian organizations and individuals throughout the nation and in Germany and Italy. The opening reception speaker, on Jan. 26, 2002, will be Dr. Ruediger Overmans of the University of Freiburg, who willcompare the experiences of German POWs in the various allied countries.The exhibit will examine the need foragricultural work the POWs performed, how the POW system was administered, and the Interactions and reactions ofPOWs, guards, employers, co-workers andthe general public.Robert Hart, the curator of interpretation at the New Mexico Farm RanchHeritage Museum, has been keeping me posted on the progress of this ambitious project for almost two years and It is now only a few months from completion.The exhibit will run from Jan. 26through June, 2002. It then will be available for travel beginning in September.; Numerous states and countries have indicated an interest.The project is funded by the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities, the Historical Society of New Mexico, the Dona Ana County Historical Society, the New Mexico Farm Ranch Heritage Foundation and the Fredrich Ebert Foundation.:Interesting sidebar panels to the exhibit will familiarize visitors with the GenevaConvention provisions for POWs, Braceros and other emergency labor programs, the detention of the crew from the Germancruise ship SS Columbus who were held at Fort Stanton, Japanese internment camps and German escape attempts.hmmo
Newspaper Details
Roswell Daily Record
Roswell, New Mexico, US
Fri, Oct 12, 2001
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 01 Jul 2019
Other Publications Near Roswell, New Mexico
Roswell Daily Record
