♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] Pull off Highway 18 in Algona, where a museum tells the tale of a World War II POW camp that once held thousands of prisoners, men who lived and labored waiting for war's end.

[Brian Connick] The front half of our museum is dedicated to the story of Camp Algona, and in the back half of our museum is the role of Kossuth County in World War II.

♪♪ [Brian Connick] In 1943, the United States government contacted local landowners and said, hey, we're going to put a POW camp in your community.

And within about nine months, they built a camp that would eventually house over 5,000 German and Italian prisoners of war.

Started off mostly with Italians and the German soldiers then came late in 1943 and were here for about three years until 1946.

There were people that were nervous.

We had 2,600 men and women that served from this county in World War II, and now we're going to bring some of the enemy and we're going to house them outside of town.

There were some folks that that that caused some conflicting emotions with, I think.

[Kohlsdorf] Some local farmers made the most of the situation as the new labor force helped to boost Algona's ag economy.

There were 34 branch camps connected to Algona, including locations in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

At the museum, travelers will find a mix of historic wartime artifacts from around the region.

[Brian Connick] We have woodworking items.

We've got poetry and artwork done by POWs.

And those are all things that typically surprise people that they had access to that kind of activity and that they were treated really well here in Camp Algona.

[Kohlsdorf] Housed at a nearby location, one of the museum's most moving treasures is this intricate nativity scene built by German POWs, an unexpected work of faith and craftsmanship.

[Brian Connick] The nativity scene that is the biggest artifact that came from the camp.

And that nativity scene is really, you know, they say world famous.

It truly is world famous.

You know, it's it's worth people's time to come check it out.

[Kohlsdorf] The Camp Algona POW Museum -- telling the remarkable local story of World War II history in northern Iowa.

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