WWII German POW Camp

Concordia, Kansas

The Camp Concordia Preservation Society has a POW Camp Concordia Museum, chronicling the local incarceration of over 4,000 German prisoners during World War II. We were in Concordia a bit late for that, so we headed down the road to see what remained of the old camp.

Only a few structures survive, including a large concrete pillar that's the stalk of POW Camp Concordia's now-vanished wooden water tower. The most photogenic thing to see is a restored guard tower. It's more squat than towering -- barely tall enough to rake machine gun fire at the heads of POWs trying to escape through the wheat fields. But it is more eye-catching than what we've seen at other WWII prison and internment camps sites, which is mostly limited to diplomatically-worded plaques and monuments.

The German POWs worked the fields, paid to fill in during the wartime manpower shortage. Able-bodied Kansas men were off fighting in Pacific and Europe (and apparently sending their captives here).

The 160 acre POW Camp Concordia closed in 1945, after the war ended, and the temporary buildings and fences made way for more cornfields.

It wasn't a bad place, as prison camps went; many of the prisoners got along well with the farmers, who gave them rides into town where they could spend the money they made working the harvest.

The Preservation Society hosts an annual Victory Day Celebration in Concordia on the first Saturday in May. That's probably the best time to visit the camp, but any time is good if you want to experience a WWII POW vibe.