German POWs Were Seated at an American Thanksgiving Feast. They Thought It Was a Trick.

During World War II, German prisoners of war held at Camp Algona in Iowa experienced an American Thanksgiving celebration in November 1944. The camp’s historical records document efforts to provide holiday meals and maintain routines for prisoners far from home. For men raised amid wartime propaganda and years of conflict, encountering American customs and food offered a different perspective on life in captivity. This story explores the documented history of German POWs in America and the unexpected realities of Thanksgiving behind barbed wire.