From the Dec. 13, 2009, Detroit Free Press by Zlati Meyer.
More than 5,000 German POWs were held in Michigan during the war. With the distance from both coasts it was determined that escape would be that much more difficult. The best-known camp was Fort Custer near Battle Creek.
The Upper Peninsula had five camps, Camp Evelyn and Camp AuTrain were in central Alger County. Camp Sidnaw and Camp Pori were in western Houghton County and Camp Raco was in eastern Chippewa County.
Camp Lake View in Alleghenny County was by Lake Michigan and 250 Germans captured in North Africa were held there loving in an old CCC camp near the middle of the county. Several of these Germans later became US citizens and married local women.
Two POWs escaped from Camp Owosso in Shiawassee County on what used to be the Owosso Speedway ran off from a local business where they worked during the day with the help of two local women in a car. They were caught the next day.
At the end of the war, the Germans were sent home, but 25 are buried at the Fort Custer Cemetery.
One comment on the story told of another camp south of Howell in Livingston County. One of the prisoners was a U-boat captain who stayed after the war, became a citizen and lived by the water off Pettysville Road. He died a few years previous.
Today, Many Americans Do Not Know of the German Prisoners Among Us. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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