Camp Stark German Prisoner of War Camp
Stark, Coös County, New Hampshire
Marker Inscription
In the spring of 1944 a high fence and four guard towers transformed a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp on this site into New Hampshire's sole World War II prisoner of war camp. Approximately 250 German and Austrian soldiers, most captured in North… transcription continues on the marker
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The Story
In the spring of 1944, a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp tucked into the White Mountains of northern New Hampshire took on a strange new life. Ringed by a high fence and four guard towers, it became the only World War II prisoner of war camp in the state, holding roughly 250 German and Austrian soldiers—many taken during the fighting in North Africa. Like thousands of POWs held across the wartime United States, the men at Stark were put to work, cutting pulpwood in the surrounding forests to relieve a wartime labor shortage. Over months of shared labor, wary captors and captives in this remote mountain town formed unexpected human bonds that residents remembered long after the war.
Why it matters
Camp Stark is a reminder that the global conflict of World War II reached even the most remote corners of rural America, and that the war's enemies were, up close, ordinary men whose time here left a lasting mark on a small community.
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Related events
- · World War II
Themes & tags
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