Werner Meinel
Werner Meinel spent time in both
Camp Algona and the Owatonna, Minnesota Branch Camp. He was one of the
few prisoners to escape Camp Algona, spending the evening with a local girl
and her brother before returning to the camp voluntarily.
Following the war he returned to Germany, reuniting with his
family in West Germany, but conditions there forced him to flee again to the
United States in 1963, and took up residence in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
There he worked as a freelance photographer. He returned to Algona
several times, and remembered fondly the time he spent there. Below
are several personal accounts by Meinel of the escape and his connections
with Algona, run in local papers.
'His Time Here as POW Helped Him Decide to Live in U.S.'
'Their
Wartime Friendship is Renewed Here'
(Includes detailed account of the escape)