Iowa’s role in holding thousands of prisoners of war during World War II is the subject of a presentation in April at the Webb Shadle Memorial Library in Pleasantville.

Author Linda Betsinger McCann will be at the library to discuss her book “Prisoners of War in Iowa” on Friday, April 12th from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Jo Ellen Glick from the Webb Shadle Memorial Library tells KNIA/KRLS News the book looks at how prisoners were spread out around the state, and what they did while being held here.

“Iowa had two main camps, in Algona and Clarinda, and about seventeen branch camps throughout the state. At the branch camps, the POWs worked for a short time on a specific project; Linda was able to speak with people who had the prisoners work on their farms or worked with them in canning factories,” Glick says.

Around 25,000 German, Italian and Japanese prisoners were in Iowa during the course of the war.