ScholarWorks@UNO

The Social Memory of WWII : Prisoners of War in Louisiana

Companies of German soldiers first invaded Louisiana on July 9th 1943” (Bayou Stalags, Foley and Schott 1981:1). Over the next two years, more than 40,000 Axis soldiers would follow suit; for these men, the remainder of WWII would be spent as Prisoners of War. Camp Plauche, one of four POW base camps in Louisiana, operated out of Harahan and was home to more than 3,000 of these POW’s, with regional side camps housing an additional 1,400 men. Today, there is virtually no physical evidence to indicate that Camp Plauche, or its side camps, ever existed. / / Field research and interviews reaffirm the physical evidence; something is being forgotten. Few people are familiar with local POW camps, and even fewer are able to recall having enemy soldiers in their hometowns. In contrast, historical research is relatively informative; locations, conditions, and operations of the camp are well recorded and photographed. If the historical information is there, why is it failing to reach a broader audience? Within the context of a substantially memorialized war, why is this aspect of history being forgotten? How does social memory dictate what we commemorate and what we don’t? / / Social memory relies on the communication of information. The content of that information and the influence of subjectivity upon that content have the ability to perpetuate or discourage certain aspects of history. In the case of Louisiana’s POW camps, social memory seems to have discouraged what could be considered a substantial component of wartime history in the United States.