Minnesota played an important role during World War II.

In the summers of 1944 and 1945,  a group of about 60 German prisoners of war were brought to a camp at the Wright County Fairgrounds to help work in factories.

“They would be picking the corn for the canning company,” Geoff Welles with the Wright County Historical Society said.

The fairgrounds were turned into the POWs’ home.

“They had the barracks over in the ag building, showers in the poultry building. They ate around here at the grandstand,” Welles said.

One year the Wright County Fair was delayed because of the POW camp. The prisoners were allowed to worship at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Winsted and were treated very well.

“They were given toys, tools, games to play,” Welles said.

Few who attend the Wright County Fair know of its connection to a German POW camp.