Herald photo by John Stennes

Vietnam veteran Mike Hanson, from Cooperstown, N.D. tours the "Behind Barbed Wire" bus Monday in Grand Forks. The traveling exhibit about midwest prisoners of war in Nazi Germany will make stops today in Warren, Hallock and Roseau, Minn.

POW exhibit stops in area

Traveling exhibit details lives of Midwest POWs in Nazi Germany.

By Rona K. Johnson

Herald Staff Writer

An exhibit called "Behind Barbed Wire: POWs in Nazi Germany" gives visitors a glimpse into the lives of Midwesterners held in German prison camps.

The exhibit, based in a converted school bus, was parked in the Grand Forks Public Library parking lot Monday evening and will stop at three northwestern Minnesota libraries today. The exhibit drew a record 357 people in Thief River Falls on Monday morning, according to Michael Luick-Thrames, guest historian. He expected about the same size crowd would turn out in Grand Forks based on early traffic.

Luick-Thrames is executive director of Traces, a nonprofit organization created to collect and preserve experiences of Midwesterners, Germans and Austrians during WWII.

The exhibit included photos of life in the prison camps, a map of the prison camps in Nazi Germany, an example of POW camp currency and POW art. The narrative portion of the exhibit explained what life in prison camps was like, from the Germans' interrogation techniques to escape attempts.

Visitors to the display were asked before entering the bus to read a poster that explained how most POWs either were captured in North Africa in 1943, were pilots shot out of the sky during the air war over Europe or were soldiers captured at the Battle of the Bulge.

"All of the men who survived them, however, left a provocative legacy for those alive today - one involving the very nature of war itself: How does armed conflict between groups of people play out, face-to-face, when the guns are lowered; how 'should' humans treat each other and, ultimately, live together?"

One of Monday's visitors was Esther Blecha, 77. The former Central High School German teacher visited the display because she grew up during WWII and because she's a history buff.

Blecha's husband, Clarence, served in the South Pacific during WWII and her cousin drowned during a D-Day training exercise.

"He never got a Purple Heart because it was top secret," Blecha said. But, she said, her cousin's family in Bismarck is trying to get his medal, which is awarded to members of the armed forces who are wounded in battle or to the next of kin of soldiers who were killed in action or died of wounds received in action.

Today the exhibit travels to Minnesota and will be at the Warren Public Library from 8 a.m. to noon; the Hallock Public Library from 1 to 4 p.m.; and the Roseau Public Library from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.