Hoy hoy! A fine day to all! The anecdotes of the interaction of POWs and farmers in the States is most enlightening...an extension of a broader and historical culture. A wee view from the other side of the equation....from families who were reluctant to admit their ancestors were Germans from Russia. My dad's parents emigrated from Bangert, just south of Saratov and near the western banks of the Volga River. Arriving in Canada in 1898, they began farming the next year at Lydiatt (Eugenfeld, St. Owens) in Manitoba. There were 8 sons and 5 daughters. None of the sons ever spoke of their ancestral links to Russia or Germany. Not politically correct during W W II. My dad, when pressed, would say the family was from Austria, or Transylvania in Romania. And that was it. The children of that generation knew their parents had taken some German in school in Manitoba, and that the German was the main language at many family functions. Only Aunt Elsie mentioned her parents came from the Volga region of Russia, and before that (1764) from the Black Forest area of Germany. She wrote letters in German to Huber, Otto, and Steinhauer relatives in the Volga area until the 1920s when she no longer received replies. Aunt Elsie Huber married Ernie Meyer emigrated from Germany to Canada in 1926. He was considered a natural resource on the home front as a farmer, but during W W II, he had to report to the RCMP (the Canadian Mounties) every week. May the runzas be with you, der Schnickelfritz, Cliff Huber