Higher Education at Camp Concordia: Denazification in Kansas

Open Access

Abstract

As World War II came to a close the United States Government believed it was possible to 're-educate' the German people. They believed that the Germans could be disabused of their harmful Nazi ideology and recast with modern American, democratic values. On the eve of Europe's greatest realignment of power in the twentieth century, the U.S. saw great potential in crafting a strong, stable, pro-American Germany. For this to be accomplished, however, education was key. Camp Concordia, a prisoner of war camp in rural Kansas, was a key testing ground for how the U.S. government sought to re-educate and de-Nazify the German people.