Maine Memory Network

Contributed by Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum

• Item 105302
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Description

During World War II, the United States interned German, Italian, and Japanese prisoners of war (POWs) in the US. Thousands of German prisoners of war came through Camp Houlton in Maine between July 1944 to May 1946. This POW worked on the Leslie and Ellen Rhoda farm in Hodgdon.

The Geneva Convention permitted prisoners to work on area farms, administered through the Farm Bureau Labor Association. Prisoner activities were closely monitored. The work program was a great help to the farmers at harvest because of the severe labor shortage due to the war.

This POW became friendly with the Rhoda family and was very fond of their young son Richard. The prisoner had a son the same age in Germany that he missed terribly. The POW was an attorney before he was forced to join the German Army. As a coincidence, Richard Rhoda became an attorney.

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About This Item

• Title: German POW with Richard Rhoda, Hodgdon, 1944
• Creation Date: 1944
• Subject Date: 1944
• Locations:
  • Hodgdon, Aroostook County, ME
  • Houlton, Aroostook County, ME
• Media: Photographic print
• Dimensions: 7.6 cm x 5.1 cm
• Object Type: Image

Cross Reference Searches

Standardized Subject Headings

• Detention facilities--Maine--Houlton
• Farming
• Prisoners of war
• Prisoners of war--German--Maine--Houlton--Photographs
• United States. Army--Facilities--Maine--Houlton
• World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners

People

• Rhoda, Richard

Other Keywords

• Aroostook County
• Babies
• Camp Houlton
• Cars
• Harvest
• Houlton Army Air Base
• Houlton Army Air field
• Potato Harvest
• Potatoes
• Prisoner of war
• Toddlers
• Trucks
• WWII

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More to Consider

Item 13561

German prisoners picking potatoes, Houlton, 1945

Item 13562

German POWs on the farm, Houlton, ca. 1945

Item 13564

Prisoners of War, Houlton, 1945

Exhibit

Passing the Time: Artwork by World War II German POWs

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