German POWs in Kansas Learned American Business. One Took the Lesson Home.

Behind Kansas barbed wire, captured Luftwaffe officer Reinhard Mohn learned English and American business techniques. Camp Concordia also contained a university-approved educational program, professional cooperation between prisoners and Americans, and a struggle over who would control life inside the compound. Mohn later carried American management ideas into postwar Germany and launched the Bertelsmann Lesering, which reached one million members. 0:00 A prisoner learns American business 1:20 Camp Concordia becomes a guarded city 2:00 Elaine Walser’s surgical team 2:55 A university program behind the wire 3:55 Concordia’s named teachers 5:15 American command restores order 6:30 Mohn’s documented Kansas lesson 7:50 The Lesering takes shape 9:35 One million members Sources: https://www.bertelsmann.com/en/media/... https://www.kansashistory.gov/kansape... https://archives.lib.ku.edu/repositor... https://www.theguardian.com/media/200... https://history.bertelsmann.com/de/mi... https://history.bertelsmann.com/en/mi... https://journals.wichita.edu/index.ph... https://www.sueddeutsche.de/leben/ber...