Statewide Iowa — Filming in Iowa for a movie about a World War Two camp near Algona for German prisoners has concluded and the film is scheduled for release next year.
There were shooting locations at several locations in Kossuth County for the film “Silent Night in Algona” during the first three weeks of November. Actor Bejo Dohmen is a native of Cologne, Germany who’s had roles in German movies and TV shows. He says getting a chance to help tell a true story is unique.
Dohmen plays the character Klaus, one of the six German POWs at Camp Algona who created a nativity scene featuring figures ranging from a foot to more than four-and-a-half feet tall. Dohmen says he didn’t realize there were POW camps in the United States.
Mark Holmes grew up in Alabama, but speaks fluent German, which helped him land the role of another POW named Dedrick. Holmes says the three weeks of filming here was intense.
Till Wolter is a German born actor who plays the role of a POW named Altman. He says it was incredibly easy to work in Kossuth County, despite the cold.
Carter Glade was born in New Hampshire, but spent a good deal of his childhood in Germany. Glade says he only recently learned of the project and quickly sought the role of one of the POWs.
Bodhi Rader, another actor portraying a German POW, grew up in a small farming village in Germany before his family moved to Florida and Rader says the movie will feature some emotional scenes and powerful imagery of the Iowa countryside.
“Silent Night in Algona” depicts events from September through December of 1944. The movie’s scheduled for release in November of next year.
