Prisoners of War in Dundy County

The men came from a camp about 110 miles east, beside the Phelps County village of Atlanta. The Army began building it in September 1943, and the first 250 prisoners arrived that December, Germans taken mostly in North Africa; 830 more came in February 1944. At its height Camp Atlanta held about 3,000 men in three compounds, guarded by some 275 enlisted men and 60 officers. Repatriation began early in 1946. That year the frame buildings, plumbing and other valuables were stripped and auctioned, and by 1947 only slabs remained. A water tower and two chimneys still stand.

What the plaque says

Prisoners of War in Dundy County In May 1944 German prisoners of war from Camp Atlanta, Nebraska, were sent to a side camp near here to help area farmers complete the 1943 corn harvest. Seven farmers employed forty- four Germans, who harvested some ten thousand bushels of corn. Six tarpapered frame buildings, enclosed by a fence, housed the prisoners; a nearby windmill served as a guard tower. The Germans returned to Camp Atlanta on June 30, 1944, and the buildings were sold in February 1945. Hansen Charitable Foundation Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Arikaree Breaks — 20 mi
  A strip of loess canyons two or three miles wide cut across the northwest corner of Kansas, followed by a signed gravel tour north of St. Francis into Nebraska and back.
• Champion Mill — 23 mi
  A water-powered flour and feed mill on Frenchman Creek, running on creek water since 1888 and rebuilt after an 1891 fire, beside a creek that irrigation wells have drawn down.

More markers nearby

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• Ward Bond's Boyhood Home — 9.4 mi
• General Custer in Nebraska — 10 mi
• The Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express — 16 mi