Iowa’s chronicler of World War Two has opened a new exhibit. Michael Luick-Thrams grew up on a farm near Mason City and in 1989 began researching Iowa’s connection to Nazi Germany. He found thousands of German prisoners of war had been housed in Iowa, and an old school, Scattergood, had been made into a refuge for Jewish immigrants fleeing the Nazis. He’s formed a group to gather documents and pieces from the holocaust era and create exhibits and lessons. His group, “Traces,” documents stories like 20,000 German POWs held in Iowa camps, Iowa soldiers captured and held in Germany during the war, refugees, a pen-pal of Anne Frank who lived near Burlington, and stories used to teach about war, peace, freedom of the press and responsibility. Luick-Thrams says Iowans offered refuge to Jews fleeing persecution, resettling many at the “Scattergood House” established in at a school building that had closed during the Depression. He says the work’s very important since we find ourselves today in a world of war again, with refugees, soldiers POWS and internees. The group goes into schools and historical societies and puts on conferences, and this is their second exhibit with a third planned for next year. He says next spring Coe Collee will host the group’s third World War 2 Studies Conference. An exhibit of artifacts from the Scattergood House opened this weekend at the Jewish Historical Museum in Waukee. Luick-Thrams spoke last night (Tuesday) at Drake University. The story of his work and the organization is online at http://www.traces.org/
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