Camp Concordia World War II German POW Camp.
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- čas přidán 5. 10. 2016
- During World War II, 300,000 German Prisoners of War were interred in the United States. Many of the POWs were confined in Kansas where they worked on farms and other prospects. Typically the Kansas POWs were housed small camps of 100 or less. Some of these camps were located in the communities of El Dorado, Hutchinson, Cawker City, Hays, and Topeka, Ottawa.
Three larger camps were located in Kansas, near Salina (Camp Phillips), at Fort Riley, and just outside Concordia, Kansas. Construction of Camp Concordia began in February, 1943 and the POW camp was turned over to the US Army on May 1, 1943. At its peak Camp Concordia 4,027 Prisoners, 880 soldiers and 179 civilian Employees.
Camp Concordia had 304 buildings including a 177 bed hospital, fire department, warehouses, cold storage, and officers club, and barracks, mess halls & administrative buildings for both the German POWs and American soldiers. The camp cost $1,808,860, running $40,000 over budget. Not bad for a construction that took only 90 days.
All of the prisoners at Camp Concordia were members of the German Army. Most were captured in Africa, and the first POWs came from Rommel's Afrika Korps. Only the enlisted POWs worked, most of them on farms, but some worked on the railroad or in the ice plant. The POWS had their own band and newspaper.
Camp Concordia officially closed on November 8, 1945. Many of the buildings were torn down and others were moved. Some are still serving as homes in Concordia. The only structures remaining at the original location are Guard Post 20, a ware house, some stone walls, the officers club, a few foundations, and the tower which once supported a 100,000 gallon water tank. A two story stone guard tower has been reconstructed.
The POW Camp Concordia Preservation Society has a small museum in Guard House 20, but does not open it on a regular schedule. The Society can be contacted at 121 West 6th Street, Concordia, KS 66901, (785) 243-1710. The Preservation Society meets at 7 PM on the second Monday of each month at The Cloud County Museum in Concordia. The museum has several exhibits devoted to Camp Concordia.
To visit the remains of Camp Concordia, go north of Concordia on US 81, 2 miles to Union Road. (also known as Fort Kearney Road) Then turn right (East) on Union Road where you will find the reconstructed guard tower on your left. Guard House 20 is a few blocks farther east. - Věda a technologie
The heart and soul of the American people. Thank you for the documentary.
My late father- in-law was an Italian submariner, a cadet, captured from his sunken submarine in 1940 by the Royal Navy. He was first in he the UK, then in Canada and then in the US; I think Tennessee. He larned very good English during his time in Allied ands.
After the War he came to Canada, met and married a wonderful teacher whom he knew through church. They had five great daughters. He was a very kind and caring man; he clearly had been positively influenced by his experiences in the years 1940-45.
The write up in the Kansas paper for Tropschuh after his burial will remain for me one of the saddest memorial pieces I’ve ever read. He was put to death by Hitler’s Nazi idealists who themselves were enjoying the liberties and the graciousness of America’s heartland, yet could not abide any derogatory private journal thoughts about an evil man who would’ve spared them no quarter, and certainly no comfort had they required quarter for their injuries sustained in his vainglorious war. At least Tropschuh, buried forevermore in the land of the free, is remembered with kind words, sobering words. God bless America, and the memory of a young man who didn’t have the freedom to disagree with the war in which he had fought.
Thank you, Kansas.
@@stonewalljackson7714
It was a very sad affair. I’m sure that the Americans had no way of stopping them from hanging him. How poignant a story it is. I’m thankful that some of the prisoners ended up as new immigrants after the war because of their experiences here. God bless you!
@@stonewalljackson7714
Vielen Dank mein Freund. Gott schütze sie auch.
Es tut mir leid für mein schlechtes Deutsch. Es wird einige Zeit dauern, Ihren vollständigen Kommentar zu übersetzen, aber ich freue mich, Sie kennenzulernen! Verzihen Sie meine Rechtschreibfehler 😳!!
Ich mag deinen Künstlernamen ~~~~~😁
Sprichst du ergendein Englisch? I’m very slow at this, lol! Ich bin sehr langsam damit 😕 Entschuldigung, es ist mir peinlich 😞 Guten Tag Ihnen!
Thank you ! You put this so eloquently! Well done !
It also goes to show the thuggish stupidity of the totalitarian mind: someone chose to spy into his private journal and it only came to light because the thugs decided to have a show-trial. There's no ideological motive beyond forcing others to be as unthinking as they are, so as not to disturb their self-image.
When i livedin Colorado we had a neighbor that was a POW in the state, a couple years after the war he joined the American army and retired after 23 years, he would tell storys i remember asking if he was a nazi he said he wasn't but he thought his wife was (he was kidding she was a very sweet lady).
My Grandfather was a Army MP during WWII. He was assigned the duty of escorting German POW's from East Coast seaports to POW camps inland. He told me the story of when he had only one POW to take inland by train. They were sitting across from each other playing Chess. My Grandfather had to go the the toilet, telling the POW to not try to escape. While in the toilet, my Grandfather was shocked to remember that he forgot to put the handcuffs back on the POW. Thinking the worst ...Court Martial for losing a POW, my Grandfather ran back to his seat and found the POW was still sitting there (without handcuffs on.) The young German POW said to my Grandfather...it's your move Sergeant. My Grandfather also laughed telling that story. That German did not want to escape. He was happy to have been caught by the Americans. He knew he would be treated much better than what he got in the German Army. Depending on work details...farm etc. Some POW's even made more money as a POW.
Thank You to your Grandfather for his service.
My uncle was a prisoner of war,he was taken in northern Africa. He spent time in Germany,were I do not know. At a later time he escaped,a German family took him in and cared for him. In later years they exchanged gifts and letters
Hi, it would be good to hear of his experience there !!
Friends of mine had them work on their farm. they were very well behaved, and only asked the farmer for one thing: that he would drive through town as he took them home to the camp on his hay wagon, so they could look at the girls. He obliged.
Really? Thats hilarious.
That's so cute! Lol! 🥰
This makes me so proud to be an American. Anyone can be nice to his friend; it takes character to be nice to your enemy.
Well said...!!!!!!!!!!!
Great people Americans most of them 😂🇬🇧🏴🇺🇸
If they were only as nice to the brave black veterans who returned from fighting the nazis.
@@Wanderer25 Our ways have changed; nowadays our society treats Black and White soldiers the same, it disrespects both equally.
@@Wanderer25exactly right. The German POWs were allowed to watch movies in the theaters but the black US soldiers weren’t.
The kindness ,humanity, and generosity remembered by the pows is an insightful reminder of what once made America great.
Sorry you feel America isn't so great anymore. Those same qualities are still alive and well here. I'm glad to be American and everyday thank God I was born and raised here.
Kindness heals and leads to peace. Hatred is used to start wars. Live by God's ways and love and peace to follow will come.
I was privileged to know Robert "Bob" Baccus, postmaster at Athens, Texas. He is gone now, but I can say what happened to him in an American POW camp. The Nazis kicked most of his teeth out while they asked him what he knew about a German POW camp in Texas (built after he had deployed) He knew nothing of it, but they persisted in removing his teeth with their boots. Bob stuttered for the rest of his life. As a kid, this was the first time I realized that WW II was not just a playground game we played at school. Every war has its zealots and animal-like behavior, but there are still good people who will thrive when goodness and civility prevail. I love travel in Germany and speaking German in Texas, and this film was a delight. But I will never forget Bob's sacrifice and service. It is embedded inside my heart forever +
I remember a story I heard many years ago. about 30 to 40 pows were working outside the camp and were still working after the sun set. The citizens of the area armed themselves and made a search for the pows to no avail. the next morning the pows came marching on the road with some attempting to sing the Star Spangle Banner. When ask what happened he replied, "Ve hide in the forrest and vaited for the sunrise after all vhy vould ve vant to escape ve eat and are treated better than ve vere in the Wehrmacht."
I could imagine those POW's eyes nearly popping out when they saw their first American harvest meal laid out on a table. It was customary for the farmer's wife and daughters to put together a huge meal for the working crews. Having a German mom I can confirm that yes, they can drink our beer like water.
It just shows you that people aren't necessarily evil. It's our governments who teach us to hate each other.
Life is about survival and the strong and smart think they are entitled to take and do what they want, which leads to jealousy and resentment. There is only so much wealth out there and the top dogs want it all for themselves. That is why war is inevitable and the rich will always get richer and the poor will get poorer. I naturally hate anyone who thinks they are better then me and has the right to control me by telling me how to live. We both know that we live in a class society and there are two different sets of rules. One for the ruling class and one for the slave class.
Shut the fuck up you idiot
They would have preferred to win. It's human nature.
I'm a retired US Air Force officer and my first duty station was at the US Air Force Hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1991. One day, my wife and I were at a festival in nearby Mainz. While chatting with my wife, a older German man approached me and asked, "Are you Americans?" We chatted for a while, and I commented on how well he spoke English. He told me that one of his aunts had married an Englishman and he spent summers with his cousins in England. Then he added, "My English got a lot better when I was a prisoner of war in America." I immediately became uncomfortable and said, "I hope you were treated well!" He laughed and said, "I have only the fondest memories of my time as a prisoner of war."
He told me that he was taken to a POW camp in Washington State and spent a lot of time on voluntary work details picking apples and working in orchards. He told me about a memorable incident. When a group prisoners reported to one orchard, the farmer's wife had prepared a typical harvest meal for the crew. As the men approached the table, the wife suddenly began weeping and surprised everyone by hugging each man and saying, "You're boys! You're just boys!" Since he spoke English, he took some time to talk with her during meal times. She told him that her own son had been killed in the war. She said that had resisted it when her husband had applied for a POW work detail to help with the harvest. She was overwhelmed when she saw that the POWs were just boys, some younger than her own son, and not the monsters that she had imagined.
The gentleman told me that he had been a 16-year-old navy cadet when he was captured. He was assigned to a submarine that was on a mission to deliver a secret cargo to Japan. They had delivered the cargo, and were returning to Germany. They were to rendezvous with another submarine in the Indian Ocean for resupply and new orders. Within minutes after the submarine surfaced, it was attacked by American airplanes and ships. The submarine was damaged in the attack. The Captain ordered the crew to abandon ship while the Captain and another officer remained behind to scuttle the ship. He and his crew mates were rescued by an American warship. He said that he had always suspected that the Americans had intercepted and decoded their radio messages, because it seemed like the Americans were waiting for them when they surfaced.
thank you for sharing this story. such detailed and amazing how well he remembered everything. I am deeply touched with the old lady's story feedingthe pows.
@@ivywilliams9427
She wasn’t old then. She’d just lost her son in the war.
Excellent stories! They should be recorded for posterity, if only for family. You never know who might come along during some unexpected opportunity. It’s just good to know these things anyway. Thank you so much for sharing them, and thank you for your service.
Thank you for sharing this.
@@mynamedoesntmatter8652 I wonder if she had sponsered one of the pow boys to immigrate to America, many of those men lost families in Germany, and some came back to the US. These stories are so heart warming, best of humanity come through.
Canada had a lot of prisoner of war camps as well and a lot of these prisoners worked on the farms and it worked out quite well...One story was when 2 escaped from a camp in Alberta near the mountains during one night....After getting out they were chased by 2 bears during the night....The next morning they were back at the camp gate asking to get back in...
hahahahahahhahaa
Wow…..heart rendering
Must of been undercover Russian bears
They knew how good they had it here. Who on earth had the right frame of mind to go back? 😆
It would be bad enough being stranded in the US , but out in the vast wilderness of Canada would be the stuff of nightmares
We had German POW'S on our farm in Racine county, Wisconsin. My father said, they loved American Comic books.
"Steambot Villi, toot toot!, Beti Boop, vat a dish"
America may be an imperfect Union with imperfect people but being an American myself I have seen so much goodness in people's hearts time and time again and it still gives the same wonderful feeling it did the very first time I witnessed or was given the blessing of someone's kindness. ✌️♥️🙂
And American cigarette
American comic books. I learn to speak and learn english when i was a kid
If only german prisoners knew about camp concordia. They would not surrender to soviet troops.
If im a german officer prisoner one of the condition i will ask is to.be assigned in this camp
My grandfather was one of 12 children of German ancestry born in Concordia Kansas. German-Americans lived in the area many of which spoke German as well as English. My grandfather and his older brother both became doctors and served in WW1 in France for over a year. When my grandfather's brother returned to Kansas, he became infected with Spanish Flu and died. He and my grandfather had planned to open a medical clinic as they had grown up working in the family pharmacy in Concordia.
My Grandpa was a POW but i can't remember where. He always talked positive at the time in camp. About the humanity and good food.
Mean while my father sat in a german pow camp starving . Glad to know these guys were nice an cozy .
My thoughts exactly! Not to mention what the Japanese did to any and all POW's. On the other hand they were barely feeding their Army and civilians... Those WW2 guys were something else
This was at the same time they were burning people alive.
The POW camp I remember my older sister talking about was in Huntsville, TX. It was about 35 miles NE of Houston. I was too little to remember visiting, but she said Dad would drive us down on weekends to watch the prisoner baseball games. My Dad was a first generation German born in the US, since his parents came about 1900.
I wonder if the POWs felt at home when seeing German Americans, being able to speak their language, and feel kinship.
Another example of American kindness and generosity even to their " enemies" during the war days. Thanks for the documentary and also for uploading it here.
The kicker is that German POWs were treated far better than American citizens of color during that time in history.
... and for 400 years Africans who did NOT SHOOT AT AMERICANS WERE TREATED LIKE ANIMALS... NO GARBAGE. America has been a conentration camp for African Americans for the said 400 years. Wanna know why?
No shame. Imagine how those same Nazi soldiers treated the Wereth coloured American soldiers captured by German SS soldiers. Omg
My grandfather was a guard there. He has a cool wood table made by prisoners and given to him.
That’s pretty damn cool
My grandparents were wheat farmers in Otis Kansas during WWII. Grandpa was Russian/German and emigrated from Ukraine area during the Russian revolution and spoke fluent german. When I was a kid I would go back for harvest and grandpa told me stories of German prisoners that worked on the farm during harvest during those years. A guard truck would bring them into to town from the fields for lunch or dinner and grandpa and grandma would feed them and used to play BBC rebroadcasts of Hitler's rants and speeches on the old philco radio. Grandpa said the majority would shake their heads in disgust knowing they had followed a mad man. Still Grandpa said some still "had the fire in their eyes" and were true believers until the end. Grandpa also mentioned that since most of the young eligible men had gone off to war, the young girls were enamored with the good looking blond haired blue eyed young Germans. This was not appreciated by many of the local folk who had sons overseas fighting but was still a fact of life. The video is correct in stating there is no real point to trying to escape out there. There are very few trees and topography is flat and it is miles between towns and in the summer you wouldn't get far. Fascinating...we still own the farm back in Kansas and will make a point of visiting Concordia when I go back this summer.
We had a camp here in Jersey and some of the guys came back after the war and settled here.
Excellent! Thanks for your input! You have had an interesting upbringing!
My late father who the war survived the war, was a Major in British 8th Army and was in middle-east, Dodecanese island in Greece and north Africa. He, rather his division; was involved in capturing 000s of Italian prisoners. He used to regale me with war time stories in telling how IT prisoners were so happy to be captured rather than being forced to fight by the Germans. He used to tell that the Italians were good engineers rather than combat soldiers. My father survived the entire war with some injuries and and post war became a famous psychiatrist. Lived up to 95 years of age.
We own a few acres with an old 1880s church on it. Family owned parts of a ghost town for a hunting retreat. Kansas is nice. If you're into middle of nowhere living. It has it's pros and cons.
Germany was on the right side of history. Your grandpa was full of shit.
If only every German POW could have been sent to America. Truly heart touching that the local people and POWs formed relationships and didn't let the war keep them from seeing each other's humanity. God Bless America and God Bless Germany.
God bless Germany today ; but surely not back then; they knowingly supported a government that caused the death of 50 million people; in the drive for more land, and to terminate races they did not care for.; and did not have the courage to stop the maniacal leadership that caused the carnage, because too many people supported the cause for land and ethni cleansing.
There were german pows sent to America
I spent my first 20 years in Kansas. I've never felt so proud of her.
Thank you Kansas.
They didn't teach this in school? Wow
my father in law was here , he work for german farmers , drank beer after work and at lunch . had a old drunk ww1 guy they drag around ,he was passed out most of the day .for 2 years had to carry him and his gun back to camp . tons of young german farm girls around . he never had it so good in europe , food every day free beer for lunch , and young german speaking ladies , he hated to back , took 5 years he came to USA
Americans in the Stalags were not treated near as well as the Germans were treated here.
So he immigrated to the US and married a German speaking Kansan girl? lol, what a happy story, thanks for sharing.
A wonderful story. It does my heart good to know how we Americans treated German POWs and how both sides appreciated each other.
There was also a POW camp in Campo California, which is east of San Diego. I think that 3 POWs escaped, but 2 came back almost immediately, and the 3rd a few days later. That area is high desert and there was no water or anything else for many miles. I also heard of a prisoner who tried to escape to Mexico because Campo is right on the border. The Mexicans who lived in the area brought him back. The camp also had a theater, library, and offered college courses taught by instructors from Imperial Valley College in El Centro. The instructors drove 65 miles each way. El Centro is below sea level, and Campo is at about 2,800 feet. Most of that climb is within about 15 miles, hard on those old cars. Some of the prisoners worked on farms in the area.
Very good story. I was stationed at Wichita, KS when I was in the USAF. I loved the people of Kansas. The prisoners were treated well in the US.
I was also stationed At McConnell AFB 1958 - 1962. Wichita was a great place t be stationed.
@@georgschmidt494 I was stationed at Ft. Riley in 71, they weren't all that friendly then.
This was one of the very best videos I have seen in a very long time...God bless the citizen of Cordonia Kansas !!
The Narrators voice is very very good. Great History and story.
My grandpa was a ww2 vet and they had taken German pows. I'll always remember that he said you don't really win a war by the # of bodies you rack up. It is by how many hearts and minds you win over. This totally proves it. I'm sure glad I came across this great story.
My grandpa served in the battle of the pacific but I remember asking him how they felt about the germans. He said they had nothing against the regular german army, they were doing their jobs, but they did not like the SS soldiers.
Sometimes when we talk to people who oppose US, we have to remember things like the behaviour of US during WW2, as a Dane with family in CA and FL in US, it’s a treat so see uploads like this. Thanks a million!
Our country has been corrupted by very bad influence in the past 30 years. Hopefully the pendulum will swing back, and purge the low vibe influences and bring back the high vibe goodness.
Was there ever any other pow's this lucky from any other country? This is the way it shld be.
I really really enjoyed this video, my dad was over in Europe as a front liner through World War II, he only spoke about the war in his 85th year, which was his last year of life...
It was really nice to see that there actually was some humanity and decency through that war, thanks you so much for making this video...
Hi, it was the same with my father; he said that they were told they could not speak of the war until fifty years had passed!
@@carolbell8008
I’ve never heard that, and I’ve known a lot of veterans.
An excellent story that I found to be touching. A stark contrast to the stories of how POWs were treated in Germany. The takeaway I got was that of American hospitality.
I knew a POW the Germans captured, he said they were not treated nothing like this , nor treated bad, he said Germany was so poor they could barely feed their own.
@@jamesberlo4298 I won't get into it here but, a lot of those stories of German pow camp atrocities were and are exaggerated
I visited the site of this camp 3 years ago with the head of the preservationist group that preserves what's left of it. The documentary shows some of the few remnants you can still find. I found the documentary despite its degraded picture quality, very moving and a testament to the goodness that underlies the human spirit.
Michael E The Italian camps in Nth Victoria state Aussie,theres not much left,but theres a small historical group.
I'd like to second your "human spirit" belief. The differences between we humans gets to much attention.
Excellent documentary, very well done! Even I as a younger generation german can still learn a lot from these documentaries about german POW's in the United States.
Roger Lecucq Learn about the ones in Canada. Camp Concordia, I believe. The Germans we took in! Also the English took in a lot of German soldiers. Greeted them with clothing, food, etc., Good watch, great Brits!
@@sparx180 For information on the WW2 POW camps, refer to:
www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/prisoner-of-war-camps-in-canada
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_prisoner-of-war_camps_in_Canada
My grandmothers cousin owned land next to this camp. Many years later I hunted Pheasants there. Part of the gate was still there.
It's nice people at heart want to get along, when there's no people telling them they have to fight each other
That is the key, propaganda manipulation, indoctrination via public schools, predictive programming via the Mockingbird Media (Project Mockingbird)...
My father was recovering from wounds suffered in France at El Paso and Little Rock. He said prisoners would serve as baggers at the commissary. The Germans were sullen, the Italians were singing.
My grandfather was captured in north africa as an italian POW. He couldnt be happier, never wanted to be at war nor did most of the people he was with. He said the british treated them very well taught him how to play checkers and he always played with me as a kid
I am from Downs, I remember the old camp at Cawker City. It was used as a youth camp for years after the war. I went to school in Concordia, my wife is from Concordia. Her father was fighting in Burma during this period.
Under General Stillwell. It was a treacherous war theatre, they fought the Japanese, imagine, the Japanese were in China(the theatre there is the size east of the Mississippi), Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Philipines, Malaysia and Indonesia. They were going to invade India and meeting the Germans in Iran.......talking about madness.
Donald Kerr is my cousin and I had been there several times to see his old cars. So nice seeing him on this video. I have a video of him, my dad, me and another cousin who lives in Concordia riding in a 1910 Model T--great memories!
Those Model-T cars are just great!!
This all sounds a lot like the experience of Houlton, Maine with their German POW camp. The prisoners were treated well, behaved themselves, were put to work outside the camp on farms, and many kept in touch long after the war.
This showed America at its best, and showed the awakening of individual thought for our German captives, who shortly thereafter, became our German allies. Not everyone knows that the single largest ethnic immigrant group in America, and their descendants, are German. Texas, Minnesota and Wisconsin, among other states, are chock full of them. When my girlfriend (now wife!) drove through Texas in 2013, I told her that there were many German enclaves in Texas. She didn't really believe me until we drove through them. I'm glad we helped to de-Nazify so many decent German POWs.
And many great Americans were of German descent, like Admiral Chester Nimitz...
This video reminded me of a story I read in a newspaper years ago. I German PW became curious as he traveled from NY to a POW camp. He escaped from a camp because he wanted to see some of America. He returned to the POW camp on his own after a week. When the war ended and he was being sent back to Germany, he escaped again. Because he wanted to stay in America. If I remember right, he was caught after a couple of weeks and later was allowed to stay here.
Very interesting film, these P.O.W. were great German people, 18-20 year olds !!! Innovative, artists and loved life. Sports, reading, and AWESOME CHEFS, What food !!! I am from Aurora, Illinois, 40 minutes West of Chicago. Kankakee, Oswego, you name it, Geneva !!! And I Chicago !!! Relatives all around and now here in Naples,Florida !!! Love Germany and Austria !!! Larry K.Parent, Naples,Florida.
My family is from the Bradley/Kankakee area, but I grew up in Louisiana.
Oddly enough, they were of English heritage and married Germans.
Sadly, it wasn't really 18-20 year olds. Prisoners were 20's to 40's in age. Very many were farmers sons and others were well educated or were trained professionals or tradesmen. Their skills fit well in the camps and within the communities.
@@tankgirl2074 Interestingly, Germany always had trouble with "too many people in a crowded land", that was the reason there has been such a huge German Diaspora, all over the world, the Don region of Russian (from the time of Catherine the Great the Russian Tsarina who happened to be a German Princess), South Africa, North America, South America. It is really puzzling how both WWi and ii Germany ended up being defeated and destroyed. There are powerful forces that want to doom Germany. Yet till this day, we don't know who these entities are. Sadly, they have moved to America, our country looks a lot like post WW1 Weimar Republic. Wish more people look into this.
We had a camp here in Tyler Texas. The Germans were treated OK. Some of them could not believe how big the USA was. They were let out to work on farms in the area. Some did not wont too go back to Germany after the war.
They obviously didn't study world geography in school.
@@vivians9392most Americans today have no idea how truly big the United States is
Germany was gutted by the Allies. Hell scape after the fighting. It was in bad shape after wwi, those German pows likely all experinced degrees of deprivation growing up. WW1 saddled Germany with colossal reparations. It absolutely crushed her economy. The Treaty of Versailles created fertile ground for the rise of Hitler. One can say the seething desire for revenge on the part of the French and British Governments led to WW2.
Bravo! Excellent! Thanks so much for the video! This should be required viewing for the students of today! Best of luck!
This is a great piece of history! I'm glad this was recorded and I'm sad that our country has gone so down hill.
I hope the radical lefts in the USA come to their senses.
GOD BLESS AMERICA>.
@blueindio1000, you were sent to Earth to lift its frequency, to hold light. The pendulum will swing back, we are going up! :)
@@DouglasUrantia No, they will be deprogrammed, lol.
16:45 Making a German drink American beer could possibly be considered a 'war crime' by the German peoples.
Haha
The guy said that they drank cases and didn't get drunk.
Absolutely my father gave his POW'S American beer, they were not impressed.
It was more like koolaide than beer I'm sure
American lager beers were crafted by German Americans. Budweiser is the the largest selling beer in the world, you craft beer drinking twit.
A beautiful video, well done. The last lady said it all," we were people"
Outstanding video! I didn't know that Reinhard Mohn and Prof. Bracher had spent decisive years in Camp Concordia. It would be worth while to show it on German TV!
The first time I went to Germany the first person I met was a guy who'd been a POW in Kansas. He'd wanted to stay when the war ended but that was not allowed. He tried to get back to the US once he was repatriated but never got a visa.
Great program! Well done! Very interesting!
... a testament to the power of good and its lasting effects. Wonderful story. Often, it is the pawns on the grand chessboard of life, those conscripted souls who endure the travails of those higher up and far removed from the consequences of their decisions. I watched a documentary recently on the Korean War as one of our US Army veterans recounts his horrors only to say that he had long ago forgiven those poor Chinese soldiers who had swarmed over the ridge line saying in effect, that only he and his enemy shared the bond of this awful experience; a touching tribute. "If I could see him today, I'd hug him."
Good insight! Yes, the entities that push the pawns around on the chess board are always concealed, we don't really know who they are do we? There are figure heads like the prime minister, the party secretary, or the presidents, but they are must the horses, the knights, the bishops....the ones who move the pieces around are not visible to us. Princess Diana had said this about her family by marriage:"They are not human..." Something to pounder (I don't think she was crazy). If David Grusch was telling the truth at the Congressional hearing, we should know soon enough, that there are other, powerful beings controlling our destiny.
That was well worth watching. Unfortunately, the only regrettable thing about it is that it shines a light on the fact that we Americans are probably not as wholesome today as we were just eighty years ago. Then again, maybe we are. I hope so.
We are even more compassionate, that's why we are giving our country away
Ya. They certainly dont make people like they use to.
alexanderthekev Just like everyone else.
@WiseandRise they still are.
@Based_Surfer you're a bad person. Your parents failure.
Even enemies of the time can treat each other with respect, humanity and decency.
One reason was that the war was not fought in the US, it felt removed. If the war was fought here, the people would not feel so generous, that is not to take away the kindness the American people showed to these pows. A heart warming story. It is amazing a change of scenery can bring about so much healing and connection.
Just watched this video since I saw Concordia in the title and wondered if they were talking about my state of Kansas , I live in a town 20 minutes away called Glasco with about 500 people in it. I love the way this video was made as it does show the simple natures of Kansas! Also Concordia has one of the best gyms around too :)
the story of a shot to shit B-17 on its way back to the English channel in 1944 , unable to return fire with dead and wounded on board., tailed by a Messerschmidt 109 titled "A higher calling" by Adam Makos is an excellent story to add to "Concordia". .,thank you for this video.
Wonderful book and tv documentary. Charlie Brown, the new Captain, in his twenties, brought his plane back to England with all crew. The German pilot officer, age 42, pulled beside the flying wreck with holes in it, saw the wounded crew members bent over helping collapsed crew members and didn't have the heart to deal it a death blow. He saluted, peeled off, flew back to the base and reported the plane crashing into the sea. Years later, the two pilots reunited and were friends for life..
@@elizabethroessner8487 Was Franz really that old at the time, both he and Charlie died in 2008 after reconnecting in the 80s. They died within months of each other. I think Franz was in his young 30s at most. Unbelievable story. They definitely had a soul connection.
driving to california from ny i en\joyed my trip across kansas. very friendly small towns, clean fast food restaurants. i remember one where a victorious high school team celebrated their win.
good clean family environemt. this new yorker loves kansas
Beautiful story . Thanks
Beer was $.15 a bottle. In Vietnam we had a company club. Beer cost us $.10 to buy and we sold it for $.15. As company commander, I used the profits to have shows come to the compound. They performed two shows as Inhad troops on the base camp and also on Fire Support Bases and on mountain tops.
As an Englishman I’ve watched this film,thought was good ,,but my story goes about 5 years ago I was walking to my sister house in rural sussex when I saw a man attending a bee hive, got talking with him , noticed he had a accent ,so I asked him where he came from ,he was German, but had a good English speaker ask him about it he told me he was in an American pP0W camp in New Jersey, l ask how was it he said it was ok but one morning the guards started shooting for no aparrent reason killing 5 Germans and and wounding many more, he then told me the reason. The officer in charge had a nefue killed after d day, that’s one war crime that went unreported
A heart warming presentation.
My late best friend's late dad was a POW in the States, having been taken prisoner by the British in North Africa. He loved Britain and the USA. It is a shame these two countries are now so riven by fear and loathing.
@jamesprice4647. The same influence/entities have been running the show in the US and UK since the 1960s. They have succeeded in turning our countries into the modern day Weimar Republic...anything goes, black is white, up is down...this documentary gives hope and remembrance, it is like the light of a beacon in a time of darkness.
An example of what makes America so great.
Mitchell : what happened since them days
@@danrook5757 80 years of war will warp a decent people into something sad and twisted. Americans elected Donald Trump to the White House. They hold up signs reading "Sacrifice the Weak!" They cheer a man who openly mocks disabled reporters. They make excuses for a man who is to anyone with eyes in his head, and a heart in his chest undeserving of their excuses.
@@danrook5757 The Weimar Republic moved in. Our "educated class" are product of the Mockingbird programming and NeoMarxist indoctrination. We got NeoLibs and NeoCons running the permanent establishment in DC, who are addicted to Color Revolutions and stoking wars all over the world. They rather enjoy maintaining 1700 naval and air bases globally and waging war wherever they see fit. When one lives inside a Blackbox (as those small theater), one only sees and hears what the director wants you to see and hear. When the red lights go on, you see what the red light illuminate, when the green light is turned one, you see what the green light illuminate... we have the misfortune of living inside the Black Box---Matrix maybe a better term.
Fascinating story. I wanted it to go on and not end!
@sassiebrat. Because it is loaded with LOVE
"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares" seems to fit here
This also says alot about the people of Kansas.
alot fo them are nazis
Who were a lot of Nazi's? The prisoners? No, they were young men that got drafted and had to go to war. Most had nothing to do with Naziism. Most didn't even know what was going on, outside their own unit. Or are you talking about the locals who were nice? If so Tyrone, your just another black, white hater.
Thats pretty lame, you need to go crawl back under your rock....
Raymond Holt because treating your enemy with respect, common decency, and as humans makes you a nazi.
@@TymphaRedbreaduwuowo Now they call themselves liberal democrats.
This should be required watching in schools.
I hesitate to comment but.... it wont ever be it is 'too white'.
They would rather BURN IT ! What a sad country we are becoming !
*Im sure they where happy they had been there rather then end up in Russian hands*
I do not know if it happened with any Concordia POW's but there were approximately 50,000 German POW's in America that, when sent back to Germany, ended up in the Soviet controlled zones who were put to hard labour. A little more than 5,000 of the 50K would survive the Soviet labour camps to return to their families.
1 million of german soldiers died in bolshevik hands. They were lucky.
The Russians were kind of unhappy that the Germans invaded and killed everyone.....so..ya.. they weren't so forgiving as the USA.
Up to 40 MILLION Russian civilians died and up to 11 MILLION troops. Anyone fighting in the east was deems to have had a hand in it. It would have been very hard if you were Russian to have forgiven, let alone forget that
Lovie DeBiasio which is why a lot of Germans ran to the Americans at the end of the war. The Americans had reputation for treating their prisoners very well, even too well by standards. We have such an abundance of everything. A lot of prisoners wound up staying in America and becoming citizens.
Our Greatest Power is not our weapons but our diplomacy. The way to change hearts and minds is thru our humanity and generosity.
Tell that to Victoria Nuland and her hubby Robert Kagan, and Antony Blinken.
9:20 you can hear the Divine Mercy Chaplet in the background on the gal's TV. Very appropriate prayer, given the topic.
Trust the people of the land, the smallholder farmers and the rural population in general, to have the biggest, golden hearts of all.
always did always will
@Jordan Sharpe No actually they did, but a higher percentage of blacks owned slaves .
I really appreciated your comment. This is probably the most up lifting and kind statements I have ever heard. Howdy from South Texas.
@wotan20. This is where the renewal of our country will start. Rural areas with people who have "biggest golden hearts".
Wow what an amazing story.Wonderful thank-you.
I wonder what all our POWs in German camps felt about these Germans in the US having a great time and eating so much great food? I’m sure they only found out about this after returning home after the war, but I bet our prisoners didn’t like that huge disparity.
Please remember are pows in Germany knows that they can't eat as well as the local people, in 43 44 the Germans were starving, the guards had a hard time keeping the locals from going in the camps and killing the pows.thats why at the end of the war alot of camps were moving out of Germany, not my opinion I watched a bunch of American GI pows interviews, and that's what they said,,
@@user-bl6ne3hc6n Allied camps for German pows in German had many die of starvation, bad hygene. Ike was forced to move them to the States, because it cost more to ship food from the US to Europe. So every time the ships coming back from Europe empty, he had them loaded up with German POWs, cheaper to keep them in the US. These lucky men who had a chance to experience America. It was not easy for ordinary people to travel the world back then.
Excellent! Thanks for sharing and teaching!! Best of luck!
I lived in South Central Nebraska one hour from Concordia while in High school in the early seventies. Back then states set their own minimum age for consuming alcohol. You could drink 3.2 beer at the age of 18 in Kansas. My friends and I went to a bar that had live music on Saturdays at a place called DJ’s in Concordia. The bar was more interested in making money than enforcing the drinking age law so we started going there a couple of years before we turned 18. It was a great time and I have fond memories of going there. I did not turn 18 until October my freshman year at college.
I must add that many of the old farmers in the area were grandchildren of German immigrants. Back then you could go into the one tavern in these small towns in Nebraska and Kansas, that were more like villages with only 200-300 residents and hear these old farmers speak German as they played cards. When back in the area a few years ago I asked a friend from one of these little towns settled by German immigrants if you could still hear German spoke in the tavern. He said all German speaking went away with the deaths of the older generation.
My home area of Colorado, Sugar City, had a POW CAMP and i heard msny stories about the farmers and field workers.
Excellent! Thanks so much.
I hope that I can visit this camp soon. My dad was interred there from August 1944 on .
Walter, thanx for your film, it makes me cry, because my dad, who died 1993 of cancer, couldn't watch it. But it backs my memory of his talkings. And he influenced all of his kids. THATS reeducation at its best. Now I am an OF4 on a NATO high command and would be happy to visit Concordia. Walter, please contact me again on wucannonball1@gmail.com . Have been on a mission to AFG and made friend with an US colonel whom I visited with a Nato travel order 2 years ago.
no pow camp in usa killed any prisoner the Geneva convention would have a shit fit. and all officers are to be treated as their own officers. same food same brandy same smokes.
He can't, because he's drinking the Neo-Nazi Kool-ade !
Didn't happen here in America did it? Eisenhower had to make a choice, feed the people or feed the German pows. He chose to feed the people and treated the pows as the Germans treated pows from other country's and the people Hitler put in the death camps. The pows that were here in America were never starved.
@ Yes, means he was a POW...Duh!!
Thank you, for being you.! Very much.!
The educational aspect is fascinating 👍 this has been really nice to see
I enjoyed the video. I especially liked the comments by the woman who questioned the kindness her parents showed the Germans.
I am amazed at the anger and hatred that these video comments have exposed. In the end, we choose what we believe. Sometimes we are given no alternative, especially in religion and politics. People like to be told what to think, what to believe and pretty much what to do. Discussing the merits of WWII Germans vs Japanese vs Americans vs the Soviets is interesting. I doubt the victims of the holocaust or of the rape of Nanking or Stalin's purges would see much value in that discussion. They were murdered by evil men who believed in what they were doing. And no I don't think the USA is perfect. If you look for perfection in human history you are going to be sorely disappointed. History is, for the most part, a collection of recollections of humans engaging in inhumane behavior. We are always taught to beileve that the most recent winner is the best and most benevelent. Why, because history is most often written by the victors.
Well said!
I have come to believe History is written by Historians..which sad to say isn't always taught in our formulative years.
Humans are indeed perfect. Perfect at living caring and killing.
What at times we lack in hate we excel in compassion. What we lack in compassion we will excel with evil.
I will never understand the hate that a religion will have for another religion.
Humans. The loving caring species unless you think differently.
Nice video.
To bad we can not stop the wars. Then again without conflict would we be where we are today or living in caves
@@moss8448 I believe as old adage history is written by the vicotrs. In my dottage I have come to understand history is written by the editors and publichers.
Hi , that is so very true indeed!
Have read where a lot of locals (all over the US) were talking about how well the POW's ate (better than themselves as they were on Ration Cards etc) an even the guys guarding those POW's saying how good they had it.
At 19:10: Was quite surprised to find someone I know here: Karl - Dietrich Bracher is a historian who wrote a number of volumes about the Weimar Republic as well as the IIIrd Reich that came after Hitler's appearance in 1933. His works are very interesting for anyone who likes to find out why the Weimar Republic of 1918 failed in the end, to be replaced by one of the most ruthless dictatorships on this planet. Back in 1933, no one in Germany ever had a grain of knowledge how the Nazis could become the end of all rules and customs that had formed modern Europe between 1648 and 1871!
Hard to believe the University of Kansas gave certificates of college credit that were taught in the Prison Camp. German Universities recognized these certificates after the war. Interesting.
I just read 'The Longest Winter' about the horrible treatment of US POWs in Germany. What a contrast.
Remarkable story of history. Thankyou
We had one of these camp 10 miles from my home....in Utah
As one was born 1942, I must say this is a great ducument of history. As airforceman in the 1960s, I could spent several visits
in the USA and had among older serviceman some, which were POW in the USA. They all had expiriences as are described in
this documention.
Excellent documentary. Bravo!
Outstanding piece of History!!! Thanks.
We can all be proud of how well we treated or defeated enemies.
I met one of the pow's who worked on my grandfathers farm north of abilene ks . He was a nice person and he said Ralf my grandfather treated him well. He and many other pow's stayed in kansas as they had lost many familiy due to war and the socialists (nazi's) had destroyed their country.
We had a POW camp in my home town in Nebraska. Miniature compared to this one, but there is no published history of it that I can find (so far). There must have been very many scattered around in the mid-west.
Ron Hoffstein They had one in Canada as well. Camp Concordia I believe. They loved the German soldiers. They worked, they were not treated as sub humans and most of them stayed in Canada thus enriching their culture! Sorry it had to be "The Germans We Kept."
In the United States at the end of World War II, there were prisoner-of-war camps, including 175 Branch Camps serving 511 Area Camps containing over 425,000 prisoners of war (mostly German). Yes, there were a lot of camps across America!
they were all over the South too.
My father in law liberated a German POW camp in France. He made pics and brought home the flag that flew over it. He said the American prisoners looked like "walking skeletons." They looked pretty much like the Jews you see in death camps. I had an uncle who was shot down over Germany and captured. He broke his femur when he landed in the trees with his parachute, and his leg was never set or treated, The Germans may have fed them like they did their own soldiers, but the German soldiers had little or nothing in the last years of the war. He said he nearly starved to death before he was freed by US and Allied soldiers. "War is Hell."
I deal with these Nazis all of the time and NOTHING will keep them from defending Hitler and his evil regime....amazing
No, "Hans", evil is what history and research has revealed. If you "research" on neo-nazi and stormfront web sites, you are getting nothing but steaming feces. HUNDREDS, maybe thousands, of German POWs in the USA came back here to live their lives out. Maybe one or three Americans did the reverse, probably because of a Frau.
KurtB nazi officers in my state, Mississippi, were given (black) servants to tend their quarters, serve tea at 3:00, etc. They had it good.
@Hans - give me some examples. We can continue a civilized discussion.
@Andy - Bullshit, or perhaps isolated bullshit. Regardless, what does that have to do with the topic?
I'm almost 50 years old and I never knew of this. My goodness.
I remember hearing about them when I was a kid, from both sets of grandparents. But I grew up in a time when world history was taught in schools. I was born two years after WWII, So there's 22 years that separate us.
We had a camp here in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Don't know how many were there but they were allowed out into the town and there was no trouble.