Historical context:
Des Plaines benefitted from the wartime economy during the Second World War. Light manufacturing companies, like the Benjamin Electric Company, pivoted to manufacturing military equipment needed by the Allies. The Douglas Aircraft Company had a significant and long lasting effect on the city, providing employment for hundreds of women and men (with onsite daycare for the children of employees) and sparking a small housing boom. There was even a United Motor Coach bus line dedicated to transporting workers to and from the Douglas Aircraft plant.
Douglas Aircraft manufactured the C-54 Skymaster, a long-range transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Douglas continued to produce the C54 Skymaster at its Orchard Place Douglas Field plant for a time after the war. The Douglas plant eventually became the site of O'Hare International Airport.
In 1945, the students of Maine Township High School successfully completed a fundraising drive to raise $500,000 in war bonds, in order to have a C54 Skymaster cargo aircraft named the "Maine Flyer." The Maine Flyer is the subject of the documentary film Faster and Higher: Celebrating Maine's Flyer, produced by students at Maine East High School in 2015.
Like many Midwestern communities, a large number of German immigrants settled in Des Plaines. Some German-Americans maintained German Nationalist sympathies up until the U.S. entry into World War II, as demonstrated in a few letters written by Astrid Dagenbach to her friend, Gloria Mau. For example, in her letter dated April 28, 1939, Astrid praises Adolf Hitler’s speech to the Reichstag, broadcast on the radio on the same date, and several other letters from this period sign off with “Hail Hitler.”
Camp Pine in Des Plaines was home to about two hundred German prisoners of war (POWs) during the end of World War II (1945-1946). The POWs, including a young German named Rudolf Velte, were put to work on the farm of Eugene Carl, Pesche’s greenhouse, and other local farms. Despite their status as prisoners, the Germans were held on a loose rein, and many of them formed close, lifelong bonds with German-Americans in the area. For more information, see WBEZ Chicago public radio programs Hosting the enemy: Our WWII POW camps and Why Rudolf Velte returned 50 years later, by Edie Rubinowitz.
Historical context:
Des Plaines benefitted from the wartime economy during the Second World War. Light manufacturing companies, like the Benjamin Electric Company, pivoted to manufacturing military equipment needed by the Allies. The Douglas Aircraft Company had a significant and long lasting effect on the city, providing employment for hundreds of women and men (with onsite daycare for the children of employees) and sparking a small housing boom. There was even a United Motor Coach bus line dedicated to transporting workers to and from the Douglas Aircraft plant.
Douglas Aircraft manufactured the C-54 Skymaster, a long-range transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Douglas continued to produce the C54 Skymaster at its Orchard Place Douglas Field plant for a time after the war. The Douglas plant eventually became the site of O'Hare International Airport.
In 1945, the students of Maine Township High School successfully completed a fundraising drive to raise $500,000 in war bonds, in order to have a C54 Skymaster cargo aircraft named the "Maine Flyer." The Maine Flyer is the subject of the documentary film Faster and Higher: Celebrating Maine's Flyer, produced by students at Maine East High School in 2015.
Like many Midwestern communities, a large number of German immigrants settled in Des Plaines. Some German-Americans maintained German Nationalist sympathies up until the U.S. entry into World War II, as demonstrated in a few letters written by Astrid Dagenbach to her friend, Gloria Mau. For example, in her letter dated April 28, 1939, Astrid praises Adolf Hitler’s speech to the Reichstag, broadcast on the radio on the same date, and several other letters from this period sign off with “Hail Hitler.”
Camp Pine in Des Plaines was home to about two hundred German prisoners of war (POWs) during the end of World War II (1945-1946). The POWs, including a young German named Rudolf Velte, were put to work on the farm of Eugene Carl, Pesche’s greenhouse, and other local farms. Despite their status as prisoners, the Germans were held on a loose rein, and many of them formed close, lifelong bonds with German-Americans in the area. For more information, see WBEZ Chicago public radio programs Hosting the enemy: Our WWII POW camps and Why Rudolf Velte returned 50 years later, by Edie Rubinowitz.
