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- Notes:
- This photograph shows the interior of the Association building at Crossen-an-der-Oder. Russian instructors, from the POW population, teach a class for their fellow countrymen. The YMCA strove to provide educational opportunities to prisoners of war to help them find better jobs and help their families after repatriation.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French and Russian prisoners read books and newspapers in the reading room and library at Cassel. They sit at benches and will be warmed in the winter by the large oven in the middle of the room. The rear wall is decorated with a variety of pictures. Given the large number of POW's in the room, reading was important for inmates in terms of education and entertainment during the prisoners' free time.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- The Russian prisoners in Reichenberg display the contents of the recreation chest they just received from the YMCA War Prisoners' Aid organization in Vienna. Each chest held games (Tambola, dominoes, chess, checkers, and Mensch aergere dich nicht), musical instruments (accordions and harmonicas), books, and Russian Orthodox crosses. An unidentified Association secretary, in the civilian clothing and wearing the C.V.J.M. armband), poses with the Russian prisoners. The YMCA committee in the prison camp then sent these recreation chests to POW's working outside of the camp in Arbeitskommandos (labor detachments).
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Fighting lice was the scourge of all POW's during World War I, whether in a prison camp or in the trenches. French, Russian, and Belgian prisoners have set their mattresses in the sun to air out their bedding to help eliminate the infestation. Some prisoners are reading, playing board games, or repairing their uniforms in front of their barracks at Nuernberg. Others have taken the opportunity to wash their clothing and hang them out to dry by the building.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Russian officers relax in their comfortable room in the prison camp at Josefstadt. Several sit a cloth-covered table reading newspapers while another stands against the stove reading a book. The room features furniture, a mirror, and wall decorations. Another group of officers sit at a desk in the next room.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Russian prisoners enjoy the reading material in the prison camp library at Purgstall. The book, journal, and newspaper collection is modest in size, but the room offers a stove, a globe on the top of the book shelf, and photographs decorating the wall. The camp library was one of the most popular places in most prisons.
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French, British, and Russian prisoners of war pack the YMCA reading room in Goettingen. To maximize space, there are no tables to make sure that as many prisoners as possible can be accommodated in the reading room.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French and Russian prisoners relax outside their barrack in Koenigsbrueck one afternoon. The men are spending their time reading, playing cards, or engrossed in a chess game under the supervision of two German guards.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Max Reiser, a Swiss YMCA secretary, sits in the center (wearing the bowler hat) at a table with Russian POW's in the prison compound at Reichenberg. Reiser appears to have just distributed books to the prisoners, which were often in short supply in prison camps. The prison censor stamp indicates that the censor approved the photo on 17 April 1918.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Social workers and neutral inspectors often visited prison camps to meet prisoners. In this wood block print, a social worker, probably a YMCA secretary, distributes books to French and Russian prisoners of war at Muensingen. Books were important for entertainment to help POW's pass their time and to support education programs.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries