Camp Concordia

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Camp Concordia Circa 1945 (Courtesy Cloud County Historical Society)
Camp Concordia Circa 1945 (Courtesy Cloud County Historical Society)

Camp Concordia was a Prisoner-of-war camp that operated from 1943-1945. Its location is two miles north and one mile east of Concordia, Kansas. The camp was used primarily for German army prisoners during World War II who were captured in battles that took place in Africa.

Camp Concordia was the largest Kansas camp, holding over 4,000 prisoners[1] (some sources cite as high as 8,000 prisoners[2]). The camp consisted of a complex of 300 buildings and was staffed by 800 United States soldiers.[3]

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[edit] Daily Life at Camp Concordia

The prisoners arrived at Camp Concordia by train. Authorities believed that placing them in the Midwest United States could provide useful labor for agriculture. Almost immediately, the Germans started working with local farmers.

"Difficulties between POWs and local residents were few, and in fact friendships formed," stated Lowell May, president of the camp's preservation society. "Only a handful of escape attempts occurred, none successful." Life at the camp was easy compared with the war in Europe. Prisoners played outdoor sports, listened to band performances and took courses offered by the University of Kansas.

The prisoners headed back to Germany in the autumn of 1945, some of them harboring pleasant memories of Kansas. Franz Kramer of Gundelfingen, Germany, said: "There was no reason to criticize American authorities. The prisoners felt that they were well treated. We learned a little of the American way of life and saw part of the vast country."[4]

[edit] The Camp Today

Restored Camp Concordia Guard Tower
Restored Camp Concordia Guard Tower

Several structures of the camp remain, including a prison warehouse used for storage, an officers club, and a restored guard tower. Only the guard tower is easily accessible to the public. The land is now used primarily for farming, although some houses have been built on the land as well.

The original guard house remains and has been restored. You can write to the POW Camp Concordia Preservation Society at Box 341, Concordia, KS 66901, or phone (785) 527-5576. Today, correspondence continues between former POWs, their relatives and Concordia residents.

Camp records have been transferred and maintained at the Cloud County Historical Museum in Concordia. On display at the museum are also many items of interest about Camp Concordia including several original paintings created by prisoners at Camp Concordia.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ KS Publishing, Inc. - Camp Concordia
  2. ^ Oakie's Heart to Heart
  3. ^ ZGram - 1/1/2002 - "Happy New Year!"
  4. ^ ZGram - 1/1/2002 - "Happy New Year!"
  • Bell, Rachel Lowrey (1998a). A Proud Past... A Pictorial History of Concordia, Kansas, Marceline, Missouri: D-Books Publishing.
  • Carlson, Lewis H., 1997, We Were Each Other’s Prisoners. Basic Books, New York.
  • Emery, Janet Pease (1970a). It Takes People to Make a Town, Salina, Kansas: Arrow Printing Company. Library of Congress number 75-135688.
  • Krammer, Arnold, 1979, Nazi Prisoners of War in America. Stein and Day, New York.
  • May, Lowell A., 1995, Camp Concordia: German POWs in the Midwest. Sunflower University Press, Manhattan, Kansas.
  • Thompson, Glenn, 1993, Prisoners on the Plains: German POWs in America. Phelps County Historical Society, Holdrege, Nebraska.