Camp Huntsville, World War II Prisoner of War Camp

Walker County farmers hired the prisoners. From 1943 to 1945 they harvested fruit, nuts, rice and cotton, and farmers paid the camp $1.50 a day, of which each prisoner received 80 cents in canteen coupons. A November 1943 riot between pro-Nazi and anti-Nazi prisoners made national news and fed calls for POW camp reform. In 1944 a program called the Idea Factory taught American democracy through lectures and films. About 200 Japanese prisoners arrived on October 5, 1945, for a re-education program that ended December 15. Sam Houston State Teachers College bought the site for one dollar.

What the plaque says

Camp Huntsville, World War II Prisoner of War Camp Camp Huntsville, completed here in 1942, was one of the first prisoner of war (POW) camps built in the U.S. during World War II. Designed to house 3,000 POWs, it had more than 400 buildings, as well as eight branch camps. The first POWs, part of Germany's Afrika Corps, arrived in spring 1943, and by fall the population peaked at 4840. Late in the war the camp became a branch of Camp Hearne (Robertson Co.). In Sept. 1945, Camp Huntsville sent its German POWs to Camp Hearne in preparation for the arrival of Japanese POWs at this site. The camp closed on Jan. 5, 1946, and the government transferred more than 800 acres, including buildings, to Sam Houston State Teachers College for use as a country campus. Texas in World War II - 2006

Where it stands

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