My wife made me do it
I'm just a simple farmboy who grew up on that kind of farm (in Minnesota) in the early forties and left in the early sixties. Fifty years ago I married a "farmgirl" from Algona.
I know more than a few things about farming in the 'forties. And the 'fifties, etc.
And I have visited the POW museum in Algona, just a half block south of its hollowed-out main street (thank you, Big Box stores!). The museum has far more than they have room to display, and I urge you to visit there, if you have any interest in this corner of American war history. There's a lot more there than the nativity scene that the movie focused on.
All of the basic historical network that holds this plot together is true. But is it equally true is that the story of the crippled (somehow? Why?) farmer (why do we never see him actually working either his fields or maintaining his farm equipment?)???
If (when?) you actually visit the museum, you'll learn that the POW prison camp in the US, centered on Algona, IA, extended for a radius of around 200 miles, in all directions. There were subcamps in many agricultural areas in Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and likely other states. These camps all contributed many (mostly) German POWs to work during planting and harvest. It was a small win-win for everyone: farmers got help at times when labor was scarce, and many of the German POWs had themselves been farmers before being impressed into the German military.
And when (if?) you do visit this museum, you'll see that a kind of centerpiece is a Nativity Scene, carved by one of the prisoners, whose name I can't recall, but most definitely was a confessing Christian.
But thhere are so, so many anomalies, impossibilities, unnatural scenes in this movie that it's impossible to review by somebody who's actually lived there. The best words I can give you are these: if you are interesteed in the real story of how German POWs fared in mid-America after D-Day, and if you can manage an afternoon and overnight stay in/near Algona, go do the museum. Skip the movie. The movie's not real. (It's not even filmed in Algona, but in Whittemore!)
Doug.
I know more than a few things about farming in the 'forties. And the 'fifties, etc.
And I have visited the POW museum in Algona, just a half block south of its hollowed-out main street (thank you, Big Box stores!). The museum has far more than they have room to display, and I urge you to visit there, if you have any interest in this corner of American war history. There's a lot more there than the nativity scene that the movie focused on.
All of the basic historical network that holds this plot together is true. But is it equally true is that the story of the crippled (somehow? Why?) farmer (why do we never see him actually working either his fields or maintaining his farm equipment?)???
If (when?) you actually visit the museum, you'll learn that the POW prison camp in the US, centered on Algona, IA, extended for a radius of around 200 miles, in all directions. There were subcamps in many agricultural areas in Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and likely other states. These camps all contributed many (mostly) German POWs to work during planting and harvest. It was a small win-win for everyone: farmers got help at times when labor was scarce, and many of the German POWs had themselves been farmers before being impressed into the German military.
And when (if?) you do visit this museum, you'll see that a kind of centerpiece is a Nativity Scene, carved by one of the prisoners, whose name I can't recall, but most definitely was a confessing Christian.
But thhere are so, so many anomalies, impossibilities, unnatural scenes in this movie that it's impossible to review by somebody who's actually lived there. The best words I can give you are these: if you are interesteed in the real story of how German POWs fared in mid-America after D-Day, and if you can manage an afternoon and overnight stay in/near Algona, go do the museum. Skip the movie. The movie's not real. (It's not even filmed in Algona, but in Whittemore!)
Doug.
- douglas-b-meyer
- Feb 5, 2024