World War ll: Camp Atlanta It may surprise you that during World War ll (WWll), here in America, we also had Prisoner of War (POW) camps. What might be even more surprising is that there were even a few here in the state of Nebraska. There were many POW camps in Nebraska, but who would have guessed there would be a camp in Atlanta, Nebraska, a little town of one hundred thirty-one people. The thousands of prisoners held in Nebraska, the design of the Camp Atlanta, and last but not least, what the conditions were like inside the camp are three of the main points to discuss. The thought of having prisoner of war camps located in America never came about until World War ll. There were close to twelve thousand prisoners housed in the state of Nebraska. Camp Atlanta was located around eight miles west of Holdrege on highway thirty-four. This camp was one of the biggest camps in Nebraska. Camp Atlanta housed around four thousand prisoners compared to other camps in Nebraska that contained only around three thousand. Of all the camps in the United States (U.S.), Camp Atlanta had the lowest death rate; although, there was still a lot of disease. Malaria was a common disease in the camp at one time, so there were a lot of lab tests that had to be done. …show more content…
During the war there was an agreement with the government to put in a three million dollar installation of an Axis Conscientious Objectors Camp (a camp for pacifist religious groups) right outside Atlanta but it turned into a POW camp instead. Camp Atlanta opened on November 29, 1943, which was the only time the public was allowed to enter the camp. After the POW camp was built, people around the area were told to never leave their keys in their cars and to always bring in their clothes that were hanging on the clothes line. Also the camp only had twenty-eight original camp