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- Notes:
- Bare-headed and kneeling Russian prisoners participate in an Orthodox divine service in the church in Wahn. There are no pews in the church to accommodate as many prisoners as possible for the service. The building was decorated with pine garlands and wreaths which suggests that this was a Yuletide service. German authorities often permitted POW's to convert unused barracks into churches to accommodate the prisoners' spiritual needs.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- British prisoners produced these Christmas cards in December 1915 with the Doeberitz sailor telling Father Time to get a move on, a reference to the long anticipated end of the war. Prisoners could send these cards home to their friends and families.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This was the cover of the Christmas 1916 edition of "The Ruhleben Camp Magazine." A harlequin and his dog sit in their prison room on top of an American Express box with pen in hand. Two cornucopias spew out parcels and the margins show the internees involved in a wide range of activities. The two articles featured in this 50 Pfennige journal are "Fun and Spandau" and "The Fashionable Tailors."
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- The barrack captains in the prison camp at Ruhleben sent out this Christmas-New Year's card, decorated with a holly branch, to other civilian internees inside the facility. The card commemorates their first holiday in the prison camp, in December 1914, and three more holidays would pass before the repatriation of many of these men.
- Date Created:
- 1914-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This program marked the official opening of the YMCA hall in the Ruhleben prison camp on 24 December 1915. The Association dedicated the new facility at a particularly depressing time of the year for interned civilians. They were far from their families during the Yuletide season and the YMCA sought to inject some holiday spirit into their weary lives. The program featured a divine service and music to celebrate the holiday.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Despite the peace treaty between Russia and Germany, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918), Russian POW's continued to languish in German prison camps due to the Russian Civil War. Russian prisoners could not return home because the Allies did not want to swell the ranks of the Red Army and rail transportation through Poland was cut off due to the Russo-Polish War. The American YMCA sent War Prisoners' Aid secretaries back into Germany to provide relief for Russian POW's and M.V. Arnold was assigned to the prison camp at Parchim to restore welfare services. This program, developed by the Russian POW's to honor Arnold's work, depicts various scenes in the prison camp: food provided by the Association, a Christmas tree, a boxing match, a view of a camp barrack, and a German sentry guarding the fence. Note the Red Star at the top of the program. Bolshevik agitators infiltrated many of the German prison camps especially after German authorities captured Red Army troops that chose internment in East Prussia rather than decimation by the Polish Army during the Russo-Polish War.
- Date Created:
- 1920-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- The British internees at Ruhleben designed this Christmas card, depicting a jack of clubs, complete with a set of golf clubs. The prisoners' Christmas cards attempted to inject a bit of humor during a time of year when prisoners were especially home sick.
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries