Few Michiganians know that during WWII our state was home to 6,000 captive German and Italian soldiers, part of a national program that included more than 400,000 POWs. They were processed at Fort Custer near Battle Creek, then assigned to 31 smaller camps in mostly remote areas. Every effort was made to remove the “bad guys” — the overt Nazis and Fascists — from the general population, most of whom were homesick young men glad to be out of the war.
Gregory Sumner, a professor of history at University of Detroit Mercy, has written a book called Michigan POW Camps in World War II and will share stories of the men who lived in these camps and how they impacted the communities around them.
Join us for what will be an interesting trip through time learning about a little known piece of Michigan history.
