About

ABOUT JEFF

Jeff LeJeune was born among the sugarcane fields of Jeanerette, LA, a background that helped inspire this project for History 451 under the direction of Dr. Jacqueline Beatty. He recently earned a Master's Degree in English and is continuing his education in Public History at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and in Geographic Information Systems through Michigan State University. In working with GIS, he aims to combine his passion for all things literary, historical, and geological. 

A 25-page historiography on prisoners of war in America can be obtained free of charge by messaging Jeff on Twitter @jeff_lejeune. 

BRIEF HISTORY

Some 425,000 Axis prisoners of war ate, slept, played, and worked on American soil during World War II, a reality that brought a nuanced array of men and politics that would be the perfect starting point for educating Americans on the importance of valuing historical nuance alongside the inevitable coalescence of dichotomy-forming myths. European politics and violence came to the home front. But so did a force of bodies large and able enough to aid farmers in the vital agricultural harvest that would eventually feed Americans themselves. Little do most Americans know that the war was fought right here at home. Little do they know that the "Nazis," as most wrongly assumed all Germans were, helped put food on the table for their ancestors. Little do they know that a whole world of goodwill, violence, sacrifice, treachery, politics, confusion, education--all things that make up the world as a whole--was staged here on American ground. That history lives on in the dust bins of library archives, but unfortunately has somehow died in the collective mind of America.

HOW TO NAVIGATE THE SITE

ITEMS

For further research, extensive metadata is provided for each individual item. All metadata, including the descriptions, are copied from the backs of photographs, with the exception of extremely rare cases where wording and spelling were made consistent with other similar descriptions. Simply click on the item for that information.

COLLECTIONS

Under the tab "Collections" are five categories of items, most of which are spotlighted in the exhibit. Peruse "Artistic Creations" for items not found in the exhibit.

EXHIBIT

Under the tab "Exhibit" is the "H.O.W." exhibit, where the viewer can find the cornerstone of the site.

The exhibit begins with a series of letters to and from farmers, congressmen, and war personnel. Each letter contains this site's analysis of the text. The viewer should click on each letter to make sure to read it in its entirety in the event it exceeds a single page.

Photographs of the prisoners themselves follow. Many of the photographs contain more descriptive context. Some contain psychological possibilities that may or may not be true for that particular photograph. These conjectures, however, are based in likely possiblilities, based on what any person's prison experience might be. An example is a textual guess on what a soldier might be thinking when he is staring blankly ahead while his friends are smiling around him. This feature adds a human element to the exhibit that may more adequately strike the empathy of the viewer. 

Items associated with a single POW, Herman Kuhnle, follow. These items are coupled with a brief biography of the man that at different times was stationed at four separate Louisiana camps. Letters written in German are not translated, and are provided for visual appeal only.

The exhibit concludes with a series of photographs that illustrate what has become of a world that once was, along with some final thoughts.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Recognition of all sources consulted for this project, and information for anyone who wants to do further research.