DDO Prisoners of War Collection
Abstract
The DDO Prisoner of War Collection was created from materials gathered for the POW exhibit created by Special Collections in the Stewart Library in 2006. It is broken up into two main series, POW Collection and POW Exhibit and OHI.
The POW Collection series were items gathered after the exhibit that deal specifically with the camp. There are correspondence in the form of letters and postcards with a few translations included. There are photographs, an Italy patch, and embossed cigarette case. There are also newsletters which were created by the prisoners. Unser Leben was the German prisoner’s newsletters, and Domini was the Italian Newsletter put together by Guiseppe Baltisi.
The POW Exhibit and OHI contains material collected for the exhibit, this includes photographs, exhibit captions, news articles, oral history interviews and items contained from the interviewees.
Dates
- Creation: 1940 - 2007
Biographical / Historical
The Prisoners of War at Defense Depot Ogden oral history project is the documentation of the lives of the
Italian and German prisoners that were held at DDO during World War II. The Ogden Defense Depot,
designated as a POW camp on October 11, 1942, was one of the first ten camps in the country. An
estimated 5,000 Italian prisoners and approximately 4,000 German prisoners were sent to the facility.
The prisoners worked in local warehouses, farms, and orchards. After Italy surrendered in 1943, Italian
Service Units were created which allowed the Italians greater freedom than the Germans, including visits
to downtown Ogden. The camp closed during the summer of 1946 after the 10,000 prisoners were
shipped home.
This project contains interviews from people who had interaction with the Italian and German POWs,
including the community of Weber County and POW widows. They discuss the daily lives of the prisoners
which includes conditions at the camp, work related issues, and the feelings of the community
surrounding the POW camp.
Extent
4 Boxes
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Box 1
FD 1 Artifacts- Cigarette Case
FD 2 Correspondence- Letters sent form camp
Newsletters
FD 2 Unser Leben, 1 Ausgabe Januar 1946
FD 3 Busico, Robert
Cultural context
- Defense Depot Ogden
- Prisoners of War
- World War, 1939-1945
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisons and Prisoners
Topical
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the WSU Stewart Library Special Collections Repository