Most People In Indiana Don’t Know About Camp Atterbury, An Old German POW Camp
By Tori Jane|Published January 25, 2021
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Tori Jane
Author
Tori Jane is a storm chaser, writer, photographer, and the village idiot - in that order. When she's not out and about dancing with the meanest storms on planet Earth for funsies she can be found wandering, shooting landscapes, writing, editing photos, and otherwise up to no good. Legend has it that she can also be occasionally spotted typing up short bios in the third person, but those rumors are unsubstantiated.
During World War II, between 1942 and 1946, nearly 500,000 prisoners of war from overseas would arrive in the United States. 425,000 of them were German prisoners, all detained within more than 500 POW camps situated around the US. Indiana was home to nine of them, and they were known for something special that one doesn’t exactly expect when thinking about war: empathy.
One such Indiana camp was (and is still) known as Camp Atterbury.
Construction began on Camp Atterbury in 1941, much to the intrigue of locals. The town nearest to the camp had approximately 800 residents at the time, and they were very curious about their soon-to-be new guests: a few thousand German prisoners of war. In 1942, the camp officially opened.
Anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 German prisoners would eventually arrive in Indiana; many of them would end up here.
Neighboring Hoosiers had mixed opinions; of course, there were some folks who weren't thrilled about the existence of Atterbury so close to their own homes. However, interestingly, the majority of Indiana residents were empathetic toward the prisoners.
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"They're just people like us," was a common sentiment echoed among neighbors.
The United States chose to honor the 1929 Geneva Convention in terms of treatment of POWs. Therefore, the prisoners were treated quite well. They were able to attend church, earn money, get educations, and play sports, among other activities.
They had a nickname for themselves: "Pensionerte Wehrmacht," meaning "military retiree." The initials of the mock-title were taken from the "PW" labels on the uniforms they were given.
Over time, however, as World War II raged on, Indiana citizens began to grow weary of the guests in their towns.
Oftentimes, people would get word of the poor conditions American prisoners of war were enduring overseas, and they wondered why it was that the US treated theirs so well. Despite the pressure from locals, however, the US chose to continue adhering to the decent standards of living for prisoners.
In December 1946, Camp Atterbury, the POW camp, shut down for good.
It remained, however, on "standby" status until 1950, when it was reactivated as a military training center for the Korean War. In 1969, and to this day, the Indiana camp now known as Atterbury-Muscatatuck remains a training facility for modern US soldiers.
The grounds span 36,000 acres, and military personnel at the camp have not forgotten the facility’s long, honorable history. Today, soldiers work hard to become the best they can be, and the US sticks to the high standards they have held themselves to at the camp for decades now. They offer several types of military training, including but not limited to urban training, simulations, and even special ops.
If you’d like more information on the modern workings of Atterbury-Muscatatuck, visit their website. You’ll find information about visiting, current training exercises, and more.
Have you ever visited a historic prisoner of war camp? What was it like? Tell us your stories in the comments.
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