This year marks the 80th anniversary of Camp Concordia’s closing and the 10th anniversaries of both the POW Camp Concordia Museum and Victory Day celebrations.
Victory Day, held the first Saturday in May, will take place on May 3rd from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the former POW site just north of Concordia. Festivities include tours, WWII re-enactors, historical displays, and food from Podunk BBQ.
Camp Concordia once held 4,000 German POWs on 160 acres and followed Geneva Convention standards. Some prisoners even worked on local farms and formed lasting friendships. Author Lowell May recalls POWs feeling fortunate to have been captured and sent to the U.S.
One former prisoner, Reinhard Mohn, later became a German media mogul and philanthropist. Camp Concordia remains one of the largest POW camps of its kind in U.S. history.
