Concordia POW Camp
Concordia POW Camp
Location: From Concordia, 2 miles North on Hwy US 81, then East 1 1/2 miles. Restored guard tower is on North side of road.
Nearest Town: Concordia
Contact: Ph. 785/243-2866
This
Kansas field was once home to over 5,000 German Prisoners of War
during World War II. The POW camp occupied about 160 acres of the 640 acre
plot of land which the US Government purchased in 1942. Total cost
for the completed compound was over $1 million dollars when construction
finished in April,1943. The guard tower, at left, was one of two built by
the POWs themselves. The Germans soon gained a reputation as hard workers.
During the war, there was an acute labor shortage in the US as almost every
able-bodied young man was serving in the military. In those days, much
farm work was still done by hand. The enlisted POWs worked on nearby
farms and at some businesses in nearby Concordia. They were paid a
nominal salary for their labor in prison script with which they could buy items
from the post exchange. German POW officers where not required to work on
these details, but some volunteered to do so. The relationships which
developed between the POWs and the locals were in many cases quite warm.
This at a time when American bombs where raining down on the German Homeland,
and when "Gold Stars" were appearing in community windows to signify the death
of a husband or son in the war. After the war, some of the former POWs
emigrated to the United States, some quite close to the site where they had been
prisoners during the war. Even today, the old POW compound and Cloud
County Museum are visited by former POWs, their children and now grandchildren.
In the Cloud County Historical Museum, Concordia, a section is devoted to the POW camp. Pictured above in the small photos is artwork--which is quite good--completed by some of the POWs to pass the long hours of captivity. The large photo above shows some of the many artifacts collected by the museum related to Camp Concordia.
Weeds
now grow in the concrete foundations of this once busy place.
Only a few scattered buildings remain. Within the space of less than 10
years, the land went from farm ground to POW camp, then back to farm ground.
After the closing of the camp in 1945, the buildings where either moved or torn
down for lumber.
The
black and white photo, left, shows the Camp Concordia
at it's peak, circa 1944. (Photo courtesy of the Cloud County Historical
Museum.)
Though things generally ran smoothly, there where occasionally problems at the camp. During a football contest, a POW was shot by one of the guards as he retrieved the ball from close to the fence. The guard stated that he had intended to shoot over the POW's head and that he had raised up unexpectedly. There were several escapes from the camp, but all were captured in a short time. The Germans also carried out their own system of justice in the compound. Over the years of the camp's operation, several POWs where thought to have been executed, it is supposed for speaking against Germany or for providing military information to the Americans, but nothing could be proven as these were made to look like suicides. These and the POWs who died of natural causes were buried in the camp cemetery and later moved to Ft. Riley's cemetery with the closing of Camp Concordia.
The
last sentinel, quietly guarding the decaying remains of Camp
Concordia, is the concrete pedestal which once supported the 100,000 gallon
water tower that served the needs of the 5,000 POWs and 800 staff.
The tank itself was constructed of redwood lumber, and was removed when the camp
closed. The concrete water tower base, a few buildings, the remains of a
couple roads, the restored guard tower, and some stones in the fields are all
that's left to remind us of this part of Kansas History.
(Special thanks to the curator and staff of the Cloud County Museum who were very helpful in providing information on Camp Concordia. It's an excellent museum, and I highly recommend a visit.)