Traveling WWII History Exhibit Stops In Lynnfield

A traveling history exhibit run by the Midwestern-based nonprofit group Traces was on the Lynnfield Common Tuesday, offering residents some insight into a fairly obscure chapter of the World War II era.

Traces travels the country using converted buses that house video and print media presentations on various aspects of U.S. history. In this case, the exhibit focused on some of the 600-plus POW camps that sprung up across the United States during World War II. Massachusetts was home to 11 of these camps.

A 10-minute video shown in a small theater on the bus focuses on one of these camps in Iowa, where the prisoners ended up working in nearby farms and factories and getting along with locals even as the war raged on. To this day, visitors to Algona, Iowa can apparently even view a large nativity scene that was carved by German POWs as a gift to the town in the waning days of World War II.

In fact, treating the German prisoners well also served U.S. interests well from a foreign policy perspective, even long after the war had ended.

"It's a testament to the American way of life and the American spirit, the way we treated the POWs," said Irving Kellman, Trace's bus driver and tour guide. "It's also a testament to the way the World War II generation conducted themselves."

The bus carries about 10 large illustrated boards containing facts, pictures and other information about this aspect of the nation's history. Some artifacts, such as a WWII-era German helmet, are displayed as well.