Her grandfather, Eduard Kaib, helped to build the displays that are seen at the Kossuth County Fairgrounds.

Eduard Kaib was a German prisoner of war at Camp Algona in the 1940s.

In 1944, he built a small nativity, according to Marv Chickering, chairman of the Algona Nativity Scene.

The figures were made of soil and hardened on a stove, Chickering said. It was displayed during Christmas that year.

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson Thirty-seven sheep surround the Algona Nativity Scene. Each one weighs 40 pounds.

Lt. Colonel Arthur Lobdell, who was the camp commander, liked what he saw and asked if Kaib could build a larger one for Christmas in 1945.

Eduard Kaib, Horst Wendlandt and four other prisoners did just that.

Together, they built 65 half-life-size figures made of cement and donated them after World War II.

When the POW camp closed in 1946, the figures were moved to an old barn at the fairgrounds.

Included in the scene are four camels that weigh 500 pounds each, a cow that weighs 300 pounds, and 37 sheep that each weigh about 40 pounds.

“To get these figures done by six men in less than a year was an incredible feat in itself,” Chickering said. “These six German prisoners built it and left it to us, so we are extremely blessed.”

Chickering said Eduard Kaib is remembered as a creative man.

“He was a very talented artist,” Chickering said.

The First United Methodist Church in Algona took over the sponsorship of the figures in 1958. Prior to that, the displays were sponsored by the Algona Junior Chamber of Commerce.

The figures have been moved and rearranged through the years.

Today, the viewing room is 40 feet wide and 20 feet deep.

The figures are restored every 15 years.

Chickering said most people are impressed by the overall size of the displays.

“When people see it for the first time the most common reaction is ‘wow,’ because of its size and beauty,” Chickering said.

Lorenza Kaib traveled more than 4,000 miles from Germany to visit Algona on Dec. 29. to view the scene in its entirety.

She first visited Algona in the summer of 2009, but the display was not arranged together, as she recalled.

There were also not as many visitors.

To her, the history is what makes the scene special.

“In Germany, my family has a nativity scene,” she said. “You can see nativity scenes everywhere in Germany. So the nativity scene itself is not the special thing, but the historical context makes it precious and interesting.”

“What is really surprising to me is that it’s still here and that the First Methodist Church in Algona takes so good care of it and that so many people here are interested in seeing it.”

As a child, Lorenza Kaib heard stories of her grandfather.

“It was a common family story that was told during family celebrations or festivities,” she said.

It wasn’t until she was 19 that she decided to plan a visit to see the work her grandfather completed many years ago.

“At 19 I wanted to leave Europe for a moment and discover something,” she said. “So I engaged more with the story.”

The displays serve as a reminder of what her grandfather and others endured during the trying times of World War II.

“For me, at first it was really strange,” she said. “To see this story that has always been told and now it’s kind of this reality. When I look at it, not from just a personal perspective but more from a general perspective, I think it’s really interesting because it’s a starting point to think about international relations and how prisoners were treated during wars.”

Lorenza Kaib said that based on what she knows of her grandfather he wasn’t necessarily in support of the war.

“I think as far as I know, my grandfather was not a political person,” she said. “And I think it’s quite hard to imagine a person fighting a war being not in some way political. I just think he was more engaged with other things. I think for him it was like not asking too many questions and just doing your job.”

Lorenza Kaib is grateful that, in her grandfather’s circumstance, he was able to be the creative person he was while in Algona.

“The stories about my grandfather point out that he was a very creative and social person,” she said. “He was very cheerful. He wasn’t one really fighting during the war, but more in communication.”

“I just assume from these stories that he lived here quite well,” she said. “I mean, he had the possibility to build the scenery. Compared to my other grandfather, who was a prisoner of war in Russia and nearly starved, this is quite a different story.”

Chickering said the war is something that weighs on many visitors.

He said a man from Germany left a lasting impression on him many years ago.

“He looked over everything in the display area and when it was time for him to go he said, ‘I want to thank you Americans for the treatment I received in a Virginia camp during the war. I am only sorry the American prisoners weren’t treated as well as I was treated.'”

“He told me to keep up the work we were doing and that ‘this must never happen again,’ referring to the war,” Chickering said. “And by that time we were bawling our eyes out because it was totally from the heart.”

Lorenza Kaib said the Algona Nativity Scene provides something positive from the war.

“How you treat your enemy is really a different story for us, coming from a country which tries to engage with the guilt of the past coming from the Second World War,” she said. “This is more of a positive aspect to the story. That’s another reason for me why it’s so strange, because this whole Second World War is such a terrible thing, and then you have this interesting and nice story and how this fits together. It’s really complex, I think.”

Nane Euers accompanied Lorenza Kaib on her journey to the United States.

She said World War II is not something that is often discussed in Germany.

“Because we are from Germany, it is difficult because there is a lot of negativity connected to the Second World War,” Euers said. “There is not much room for positivity.”

Euers said when the war is discussed it’s a time of reflection.

Lorenza Kaib is majoring in photography at Folkwang University. For her final project, she plans to submit some of her work from this trip.

People don’t often think about the prisoners during World War II, she said.

“I think, in Germany, nobody really knows about the fact that there have been prisoners of war from Germany in the United States,” she said. “So it’s new to me and people in Germany that I am telling about this.”

In a room full of cement displays, Kaib said she wants people to recognize the human element.

“I hope this place is not just a place to visit and enjoy as a nativity scene, but as a place to interact with history,” she said.

“Here in Iowa, or in the U.S. in general, there are a lot of people with ancestors or relatives from Germany. I think it could be a really good starting point to have a look on World War II, and also maybe to think that the enemies, which in this case was the Germans, that they were also humans. But to connect to conflicts that are taking place right now and that they are all human beings. That would be my hope. It’s a nice place to visit or just pass by, but it has a deeper meaning.”