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- Notes:
- A Russian Orthodox priest conducts an outdoor service in the prison compound at Crossen-an-der-Oder in front of the YMCA building. The German authorities gave the Russians special permission to pray for the health of the Russian imperial family for this occasion.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This publicity poster was part of a campaign to raise $150,000 from college students in the United States in support of the War Prisoners' Aid effort. These funds would pay for WPA secretaries, huts, games, medicine, warm clothing, booklets, text books, and extra food for the 5.5 million young men in one hundred prison camps scattered across Europe. The poster shows a college student sitting in an easy chair, smoking a pipe, and reading a newspaper while a German sentry guards thousands of Allied prisoners in the snow. The poster also features student life in Europe on the left side, fighting in the army, and student life in America, enjoying life to the fullest.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This photograph shows an assortment of prison camp script and coins from Germany and Austria. All of the denominations are small (one to five Pfennige for German script and one to fifty Heller for Austrian script and coins), but this cash replaced legal currency to prevent prisoners from using the money to fund escape attempts or to bribe guards. The German script came from two prison camps in Saxony, Koenigstein-an-der-Elbe and Chemnitz.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- These prison camp bank note images, from "Der Krieg," provides an overview of German prison camp money (Lagergeld). Prison camp authorities issued script for Allied prisoners of war to make purchases inside prison camps. These authorities wanted to reduce the amount of money POW's used to reduce any opportunities of bribery of guards or to support escape attempts. Examples of script on this page are from Oberhausen (fifty Pfennige) and Merseberg (fifty Pfennige) in Germany, Chemnitz (two Marks) in Saxony, and a five Pfennige note.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A group of French and Russian prisoners of war at Puchheim enjoy an outdoor luncheon of hot soup outside of their barrack.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- British and French prisoners stand at attention during roll call in the prison compound at Wahn. German officers and non-commissioned officers stand in the center of the first row counting the prisoners and addressing sick calls. The prisoners stand in front of their barrack. Maintaining accurate counts of prisoners was critical for security and labor assignments.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Sample post card used by Allied officers at the prison camp at Fuerstenberg in Mecklenburg. Allied POW's could send several of these regulation post cards home every month.
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A game of chess pits a French soldier against a French colonial trooper in a German prison camp. Spectators include French prisoners of war and German soldiers. A British POW naps in his chair while wearing his slippers. Board games helped improve the morale in the barracks by giving the prisoners some mental diversions.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A wounded British prisoner (left) stands arm in arm with a French POW outside the military hospital at Cambrai in November 1914. The British soldier has a head wound and needs the assistance of a cane to move around.
- Date Created:
- 1914-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This store room in Merseburg holds two key materials for any prison camp: a large pile of potatoes sits to the right of the room (an important ingredient in prisoners' daily diets) and a large pile of coal is at the left (coat was a critical source of energy). A prison camp consumer huge quantities of potatoes and coal on a daily basis as part of the camp's operations. These supplies were essential to support the prison camp during the long winter months.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Two French prisoners team carry their barracks' dinner from the camp kitchen at Muensingen while POW's from other barracks wait for their allotments. In the background is a disinfection wagon for POW uniforms. This water color painting shows the hills surrounding the prison camp.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French and British prisoners mill around in groups on the camp compound in Muenster-Rennbahn while POW's in another barrack line up for roll call. In the background, construction is underway for new administrative buildings to support the prison camp. As the war dragged on, Allied POWs continued to flow into Germany from across Europe.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French prisoners of war unload a shipment of cabbages from a wagon in front of the prison camp kitchen at Nuernberg. They could expect a dinner of cabbage soup that evening while many of the cabbages would go into storage for future consumption.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- View of the prison camp at Regensburg from the opposite bank of the Danube. Only a short fence on the perimeter separates the milling prisoners from the river, but security does not seem to be a concern for the German guards. The prisoners have taken advantage of the weather to hang up some laundry to dry.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This photograph shows the interior of the Doeberitz Empire, the original theater in the prison camp at Doeberitz. The theater was located inside a tent and the illustration shows the stage, boxes, and general admission seats (benches).
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This photograph of an Arab prisoner of war was taken by a YMCA secretary in a German prison camp.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Interior of the chapel at the prison camp at Pforzheim, highlighting the altar and screen. POWs could attend religious services inside the prison camp with priests supplied from chaplains or German clergy.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This is the machine room in the prison camp at Puchheim which generated the steam to disinfect clothing and eliminate vermin as well as provide electricity and heat for the prison camp. After several typhus epidemics, the Germans went to great lengths to prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases in prison camps.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This sketch of a group of Russian officers at Torgau, enjoying the evening by drinking hot tea and caramel beer while singing hymns in the prison camp canteen. Officers had a lot of time on their hands, especially since they were not expected to work by the German authorities.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Exterior photograph of the prison facility at Blankenburg, a prison camp for Allied officers in Brandenburg. The building was surrounded by barbed-wire fences to deter escape attempts.
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Students and their teachers pose for a photograph outside of the school house at the internment camp at Holzminden. German authorities had to provide additional social services to support the women and children incarcerated in civilian internment camps.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A group of French non-commissioned officers pose inside of their barracks at Giessen. Most of the NCO's wear identification bands on their upper left arms.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A group of newly arrived French North African colonial troops stand in the prison compound at Giessen. According to the caption for the photograph, these colonial troops arrived in the prison on October 9, 1915. They await their barrack assignment and ponder an uncertain future.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Two French prisoners create a variety of columns, urns, and planters from cement molds in their workshop at Heuberg. Many of these works would become memorials in the POW cemetery. Note the two pigs rutting around in the background of the photograph. Pork products were a welcome addition to the prisoners' diet.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- English prisoners of war meet on the steps of their barrack at the prison camp at Goettingen. Some of these men have adopted pieces of civilian clothing at the expense of their military appearance. Such practices represented a potential security threat since non-military clothing could be used to support escapes.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- The meat larder at the Lamsdorf prison camp is full of pork, beef, sausages, and other foodstuffs early in the war (this photograph was taken in 1915). A German cook and an Allied POW work in the storeroom in preparation for the next meal. The Allied blockade of Germany placed a heavy burden on the Germans' ability to feed prisoners of war within a year.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A French prisoner of war at Langensalza poses for a photograph with his pipe in hand. Given his demeanor, he appears to be contented in his confined surroundings. Not all war prisoners accepted captivity and many succumbed to "barbed-wire disease," a mental condition that arose from prolonged imprisonment for an indefinite period of time.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Henry Mahoney received this police pass in Koeln which permitted this interned British civilian to cross the border into Holland and eventually return to England.
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Russian prisoners of war line up at a German railway station, possibly in Berlin, in preparation to entrain for a German prison camp.
- Date Created:
- 1914-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A German Uhlan patrol captured these Russian scavengers during the Winter of 1914-1915. Troops who became separated from their units often resorted to "living off the land," which sometimes included plundering.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This water color picture provides a panoramic view of the prison camp at Muensingen, nestled in the hills of Wuerttemberg. The painting was probably produced by one of the camp inmates.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- These postage stamps were sold in the prison camp in Ruhleben to support a private postal system inside the facility. In addition to regular postage stamps, the postal authorities issued a postage due stamp and an administration (on service) stamp. The Reichspost ended the postage stamp service since it infringed on the German Post Office's mail monopoly and violated the law.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Two American officers, Major Harry Brown (left) and Major Dirk Bruins (right) sit on a bench outside of their barrack at Villingen with Major Sarda (center) of the Spanish Artillery. The Spanish government assumed responsibility for American interests in Germany after the Wilson administration severed diplomatic relations with Berlin in February 1917. As a neutral official, Major Sarda inspected German prison camps on behalf of the U.S. government.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A group of Polish legionnaires and civilians stand in the prison compound at Havelberg. The Germans interned these men because they refused to swear allegiance to the new Polish Regency in Warsaw in 1916.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- The French prisoner of representative, Leon Pailet, has a conversation with Colonel Bogen, the camp commandant, and Professor Eric Stange, University of Goettingen, in the prison compound at Goettingen before the inauguration of the YMCA hall in 1915.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French prisoners, wearing wooden clogs, plait straw into baskets in a workshop in an unidentified German prison camp.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- These Russian prisoners of war formed a singing society and performed concerts for their fellow POW's. They are standing in the prison compound of an unidentified prison camp, outside one of the barracks.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This photograph shows an assortment of prison camp script and coins from Germany and Austria. All of the denominations are small (one to five Pfennige for German script from Chemnitz and Koenigstein-an-der-Elbe in Saxony and one to fifty Heller for Austrian script and coins from Freistadt and Kleinmuenchen), but this cash replaced legal currency to prevent prisoners from using the money to fund escape attempts or to bribe guards.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- French prisoners read books and journals in the library in the prison camp at Heustadt. The shelves of the library are well stocked with a wide range of books and journals. Reading was a critical diversion for many prisoners, either to continue their interrupted school studies or simply to learn how to read.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Seriously wounded French prisoners of war return from German prison camps, awaiting their train at a station. They participated in an exchange program in which POW's returned home through Switzerland.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- German infantry storm a French trench on the Western Front during a raid, seeking intelligence and prisoners for interrogation.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A rare photograph of Russian soldiers surrendering early in the war: a Russian soldier to the right waves a white handkerchief after his comrades laid down their rifles and raised their hands in submission. The Germans used these types of photographs for propaganda purposes.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This photograph shows the Festung Marienberg strategically placed on a hill overlooking the city of Wuerzburg. The Germans incarcerated Allied officer prisoners in the fortress.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A group of Indian Muslim prisoners of war relax outside the prison camp kitchen at Zossen-Wuensdorf. Some of the prisoners are preparing sheep for slaughter for their dinner. The kitchen maintained strict religious standards for the Muslim POW's incarcerated in the camp.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A French prisoner plays his self-made cello in the theater at Grafenwoehr. Prisoners often exhibited their ingenuity and talents by making their own instruments or by utilizing other inmates with wood carving skills to construct needed musical equipment.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- These prisoners are soaking in a special disinfection bath in the prison camp at Guestrow. Nearly arrived POW's, especially from the Eastern Front, carried a variety of diseases and they entered the quarantine station at a prison camp after their uniforms were disinfected and they had received a shower or disinfection bath.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This is a view of one of the fifteen Association halls the American YMCA constructed in German prison camps during World War I. German officers and guards stand in the foreground.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Russian prisoners of war plant seeds in a newly ploughed field on a German farm. Prisoners engaged in agricultural work were not paid as well as POW's who worked in factories but farm workers enjoyed better meals in relation to their comrades back in the prison camps.
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Drawing of German troops collecting and deporting Belgian women and children to labor camps in Germany in 1917 as a priest looks on from the steps of his church. The Germans relied heavily on conscripted labor to support their war industries and did not have access to overseas labor, due to the Allied blockade.
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Operating a large prison camp facility like Muenster required a large supply of resources and dependence on Allied labor. Russian prisoners saw trees and stack fire wood in huge piles in preparation for the onset of winter. The Germans sought to save coal and prison camps utilized wood to heat stoves and boilers during cold periods.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- British internees line up with their dinner pails waiting for their lunch rations at the camp kitchen in Ruhleben. A German guard stands by the door near an internee who is already eating his soup. Several of the prisoners appear to be in good human, including the man in the center of the photo wearing his soup bowl as a helmet.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Russian prisoners install posts and unroll barbed wire to enclose the prison compound at Buetow. The POW's provided the labor for the construction of prison camps, which included setting up the security to keep them inside the compound.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Prisoners set up booths plying a wide range of wares outside of their barracks in Cassel. POW's had access to food and other commodities which they could sell to other inmates. This food complemented the rations the German authorities issued to war prisoners. A German non-commissioned officer checks out the goods for sale at the right.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Russian prisoners participate in the dedication of a memorial to fallen comrades at the cemetery outside the prison camp at Frankfurt-an-der-Oder. A monument stands to the rights, surrounded by four white poles, topped with wreathes. A Russian Orthodox priest and several ministers lead the bareheaded soldiers in a prayer of remembrance.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- British prisoners of war work on a German farm, turning over the soil and sifting stones from the dirt. A Landsturm guard watches their work in the background.
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- The vast sea of prisoners is demonstrated by this "photograph" of 30,000 Russian prisoners of war standing in the compound of an unidentified German prison camp. This picture is actually a montage of several photographs produced by the American YMCA (note the disproportion of sizes between the groups of men) to show the cramped conditiosn of prison life during the war.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French prisoners of war line up outside their barrack in the compound at Soltau for a roll call while German officers and non-commissioned officers converse in the foreground to the right. Periodic checks of POWs ensured camp security and exposed escapes.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Prisoners from Muensingen worked in labor detachments on the farms surrounding the prison camp. In this wood block print, a French prisoner tills the soil with a pair of oxen led by a German woman. Women often took over the care of farms when their husbands were mobilized for military service.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French, Russian, British, and Belgian prisoners stand in the court yard and on the stairs of the building to the left in the prison camp at Regensburg. Note the white identification badges on the front of the POW's hats.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Blindfolded Indian POW's from South Asia appear to be conducting an exhibition of their powers of concentration. They seem to be working with a bowl of snakes in front of an audience in the prison compound at Zossen-Wuensdorf.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Indian prisoners prepare unleaven bread from a special wheat flour in an oven in the prison camp at Zossen-Wuensdorf. Indian POW's peer through the barbed-wire covered window to watch the bakers at work. As a propaganda camp designed to recruit Muslim prisoners for Turkish Army service, the Germans permitted the Indian POW's to prepare special meals that were not available in other camps.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French, British, and Russian prisoners of war join civilian internees for this picture of the narrow gauge railway in Guestrow. They sit on one of the locomotives and cars with a German NCO and guards, with a second locomotive to the right. The Germans constructed railways in larger prison camps to move supplies, men, and materials as part of the daily operations of the camp facility.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Russian officers enjoy a meal in the dining hall in the prison camp at Guetersloh. They drink coffee and beer with their dinners and are served by an orderly in the white coat.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A French officer tastes the day's soup in the camp kitchen at Limburg, as Russian and German cooks prepare for the distribution of the meal to the prisoners. Feeding all of the men in a prison camp on a daily basis was a massive undertaking in spite of wartime food shortages.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A deceased prisoner is taken to the prison cemetery in a horse drawn hearse (note that the pair of horses are wearing black mourning blankets) with a German guard of honor. French prisoners follow their comrade behind the hearse enroute the cemetery.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Russian prisoners march along a dusty road to captivity in Germany under the supervision of German lancers.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- The deck of the German commerce raider S.M.S. Moewe is crowded with Allied prisoners, seized from cargo ships on the high seas. If a commerce raider slipped past the Allied blockade, their prisoners would spend their captivity in naval prison camps.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Reverse side of the ten-Pfennig note from the prison camp at Chemnitz in Saxony. The script clearly states how POW's can legally use these bank notes.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Russian prisoners in the YMCA orchestra perform in an outdoor concert for sick and wounded POW's at Crossen-an-der-Oder. The Association provided musical instruments and sheet music to prisoners to help them form bands and orchestras to provide entertainment to the general prison population.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Official Inauguration program of the YMCA hut at the prison camp at Goettingen, in French, p. 1. It identifies the official speakers and musical performances.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Three Roman Catholic priests stand beneath potted trees outside of a barrack at Landau-Ebenberg in the Pfalz. There were a large number of French prisoners in this camp and the German authorities appointed priests to serve their spiritual needs.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Serbian prisoners of war crush rocks and work on a military road construction project under German guard in 1915.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This drawing shows a typical cell for civilian internees at Fort Hirson--an iron bed, a bench, and a picture. Most cells also included a small stove which provided limited warmth.
- Date Created:
- 1914-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Part of the hospital staff and recuperating Allied prisoners stand in the courtyard of Hospital 106 in Cambrai.
- Date Created:
- 1914-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A French cobbler is busy repairing a shoe at Muensingen in this wood cut print. Note that the shoemaker is wearing wooden shoes due to the lack of leather in the camp.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A cricket player chases down a ball in the infield of the race track at Ruhleben as spectators watch the match. Civilian internees could watch a wide range of games during their captivity in Germany.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This is the interior of the Roman Catholic chapel at Zwickau. The photograph shows the altar and communion rail with some French prisoners praying. The Madonna and Child statue to the left of the altar and the fleur-de-lys pattern on the altar cloth indicate the church was used for Catholic masses. The church is relatively ornate with several pictures and a banner in the corner.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- The American YMCA arranged expositions of prisoner handicrafts and sold these projects to provide POW's with a modest income. The prisoners at Cottbus made these handicrafts, which included baskets, wicker furniture, a violin, a balalaika, hats, spoons, pictures, and other goods that were in demand in prison camps.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- American forces cross the Rhine River at Coblenz to begin occupation duties in accordance with the terms of the November 1918 Armistice. A few German civilians watch the Americans march across the bridge. The Allied occupation of three bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the Rhine River eliminated Germany's historic defensive line in the West.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This graph demonstrates the huge numbers of Allied prisoners captured by the Germans and Austro-Hungarians by July 1915 (1.9 million) as reported in the Frankfurter Zeitung. The Germans had captured the vast majority of these prisoners (1.4 million).
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- British prisoners reenact the scene of a drama in the theater at Schweidnitz. Theatrical performances provided the actors, musicians, and stage crew with an opportunity to practice their crafts and the camp population with entertainment.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French prisoners carry out hot bowls of soup from the camp kitchen in Zossen and are heading back to their barrack to enjoy their meal. In some prison camps, all POWs had to report to the camp kitchen for their rations while at others two prisoners would visit the kitchen and bring back a large pot of rations which would be distributed inside the barracks.
- Date Created:
- 1916-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- These three photographs depict the prosthesis donated by the American YMCA to help severely wounded prisoners regain some of their abilities after losing limbs. By providing state-of-the-art prostheses and physical rehabilitation, the Association sought to help these unfortunates learn new trades so they could support their families after the war and not become a burden on society.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Two British sailors saw down a tree while another British prisoner of war holds an axe during some winter work. Two German guards look on and observe their progress.
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- After capture in the German offensive in the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes in February 1915, these Russian prisoners prepare for transport to Germany from a German border town. Note the destruction of the town in the background of the photograph.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- In the evening, after a long day, prisoners often socialized over a cooking fire, preparing some food from their parcels. In this drawing, French prisoners cook a meal at Muensingen. Cooking meals in the barracks was prohibited due to the potential for fires.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Russian doctors care for light cases in the hospital ward at Buetow. The ward is full of sick and wounded but the conditions are clean and bright. Note that the orderlies wear white identification badges on their left breast pockets.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This is a general view of the prison camp at Doebeln in Saxony, which is located across the park and small lake in the town. Allied prisoners worked in labor detachments in local industries in the area.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- A group of captured Indian soldiers stand outside of the citadel at Lille with two German soldiers.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French prisoners unload food provisions in baskets from a wagon under the supervision of a German NCO and armed guards. Soup pots sit on the ground to the right. The scene is from the Winter of 1914-1915 and it is cold--many of the prisoners have their hands in their pockets. The prison barracks at Wetzlar stand behind the prisoners.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French prisoners of war eat their lunch outside of their barrack at Hammelburg. They are enjoying a lunch of soup and bread.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Official inauguration program of the YMCA hut at the prison camp at Goettingen, in English, p. 2. The program identifies the official speakers and music presented at the ceremony.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This is an exterior view of the World's Alliance of YMCA's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland in 1922. The Association would soon move from this building to new facilities on the Quai Wilson on Lake Geneva.
- Date Created:
- 1922-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Seven members of the YMCA Committee at Rastatt pose for a photograph in a comfortable sitting room. They served as the officers of the Rastatt Association, to implement the YMCA program with the aid of an Association secretary, usually Conrad Hoffman, who made periodic visits to the camp to restore supplies and equipment and to address any problems with operations. The WPA Secretary helped organize Associations within each camp, recruiting POW's with YMCA experience or special talents to implement the program. These committees then served as help committees to promote the athletic, spiritual, educational, and social programs of the YMCA. Note the POW identification number on the upper arm of the prisoners.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- The American YMCA funded the erection of this large stone memorial to American prisoners buried in the cemetery at Rastatt.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- This drawing shows the "Bird Cage," a building near the tea house which housed pro-German British civilians. They lived segregated from the other prisoners in the camp at Ruhleben because of their political sympathies. The German government considered these men enemy aliens, although many spent most of their lives in Germany.
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French prisoners at Friedrichsfeld sit on benches, enjoying the sun in their garden in front of their barrack. The garden features flowers and squash in a star-shaped design. This type of gardening was very popular in prison camps and helped prisoners pass their idle time. Vegetables helped vary prison fare and would help stem hunger later in the war.
- Date Created:
- 1918-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- English-speaking prisoners of war at Goettingen had access to "The Wooden City," a newspaper which carried information about camp activities as well as cultural and historical issues. In the 15 September 1915 issue, Karl Fries, the Swedish General Secretary of the World's Student Christian Federation, wrote the front page article about Archibald Harte and the YMCA's War Prisoners' Aid program.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries