
Did German POWs Really Play Baseball With Local Objectors?
There is a weird rumor that claims that during World War II, Nazi prisoners of war would play baseball against conscientious objectors who were from Michigan in the Upper Peninsula.
This all stems from a time when German prisoners of war were kept in camps starting in 1943 in rural areas, and forced to help with labor shortages. At the same time, there was Camp Germfask, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp used during World War II, which housed conscientious objectors to the war at the time.

The history of Camp Germfask is well known and documented, as on the Military History of the Upper Great Lakes website:
Camp Germfask was originally built in 1935 by Civilian Conservation Corps laborers. The name “Germfask” is an acronym that contains the first initials of the last names of the founders of the camp: Grant, Edge, Robinson, Mead, French, Ackely, Shephard, and Knaggs. The CCC men stayed at Camp Germfask to contribute to the resource improvement project, most importantly to the Seney wildlife refuge located about five miles from the camp in Seney.
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On a Reddit post, one person talked about how the CCC helped build the refuge, which is accurate. However, they make a very interesting claim:
In the summers, the German POW camp north of there in AuTrain would be pitted against the Conscientious Objectors in games of baseball. The crazy part? Local yoopers would cheer for the Germans! When asked, several would say: "At least they're willing to fight for their country."
The truth is, conscientious objectors were only housed in the same nearby area as German prisoners of war for 388 days between 44' and 45', and there is no proof on the internet that any baseball games took place.
But I guess that can be left up to rumor, unless any Yooper can provide photographic evidence that these games ever took place.
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Gallery Credit: TSM Mark Frankhouse
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