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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Barbed Wire Disease


owilki1984

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Hi Everyone,

Further to my post on Crefeld Camp re pictures, I could also do with some images on Barbed wire disease amongst the British POWs, also to go in the dissertation. I already have examples on the disease itself but could do with a representative image if anyone is willing to share one with me. Failing that if anyone could point me in the right direction on the Web etc.

Thanks

Oli

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Barbed wire disease was essentially a psychosis brought about by confinement. In essence many listed as suffering from it were 'administratively' ill as Britain and Germany agreed that anyone who had spent a certain time behind the wire could be automatically deemed to be suffering from it, this allowed them to be exchanged into a neutral country as being sick.

I'm not sure therefore how you'd be able to photograph it.

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The Germans were thorough in photographing everything else about the prison system, so there may be some photos floating about in Germany somewhere. But I really don't think you're going to be successful Oli - the Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial and Canada Archives have plenty of photos of prisoners - perhaps you might want to see if you can find any images of men who were known to have suffered BWD, a photo of an imposing building like Holzminden or Clausthal, or a photo of the actual barbed wire in situ.

Cheers,

Aaron

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Hi Oli,

I do not have any photographs that are specifically relevant and I have not seen any anywhere, however, there are pictures around of miserable looking PoWs standing behind barbed wire which evoke the feeling of the condition. I know I have one from Tinglev that looks really good, if that's the right word to use. I also know I have it scanned ready and there are British amongst the prisoners.

Doug

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'Wire happy' is a term more usual, I suspect, in WW2. Nevertheless, it does express the issue...

Cheers

Peter

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Hi,

Thanks all for the replies. I take on board all the points and knew it was a bit of a long shot but I thought there might have been the odd shot of a sufferer if the disease, or a POW undergoing treatment. Thanks for all your help though.

Doug your picture does sound good. Representative of the suffering that the wire could do. Additionally I have also put quite a bit in the dissertation which refers to Tinglev. If you would be prepared to send me the image to use I would be very grateful. I will obviously reference the image to you in my dissertation.

Many Thanks

Oli

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Have you tried the Medical OH's?

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Hi,

Thanks all for the replies. I take on board all the points and knew it was a bit of a long shot but I thought there might have been the odd shot of a sufferer if the disease, or a POW undergoing treatment. Thanks for all your help though.

Doug your picture does sound good. Representative of the suffering that the wire could do. Additionally I have also put quite a bit in the dissertation which refers to Tinglev. If you would be prepared to send me the image to use I would be very grateful. I will obviously reference the image to you in my dissertation.

Many Thanks

Oli

I think you are getting mixed up between physical injuries caused by barbed wire (probably treated before a POW reached the camp)and Barbed wire fever which left no physical mark and required no physical treatment

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Hi,

I have read about POWs socially regressing, undergoing acute paranoia etc from barbed wire disease. Also I have come across POWs being ‘sectioned’ and sent to lunatic asylums. I fully realize that such incidents were rare, and the usually mental strains of capture would not be overtly visible. I just though there may have been pictures taken of some of these acute victims (perhaps their behaviour being so odd that the authorities pictured them) or perhaps pictures of POWs in asylums (as in functioning asylums rather that a requisitioned one used to house POWs).

Like a said a long shot and I understand the scepticism of members in such a request. A photograph of mental rather than physical suffering is I suppose impossible. I was rather thinking about a physical representation of the mental suffering.

Thanks anyway for all replies. Doug’s image does sound like the sort of thing that I was looking for

Regards

Oli

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If I understand you properly, you are looking for photographs of patients suffering from mental illness brought on by incarceration in a prison camp. I doubt if there would be any distinguishing symptoms which could be photographed. Mental illness is usually defined by its symptoms rather than its causes.

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And in any case how would one distinguish between someone whose illness had been caused by incarceration and some other cause? Given the number of pows statistically it is probably safe to assume there would be some men who would have mental problems entirely unrelated to the fact that they were prisoners and others whose problems were the result of combat stress (PTS) before they were taken prisoner. The concept of Barbed Wire Fever was a totally artificial concept invented by British and German negotiators in the Hague in order to find away within the rules of war to exchange pows into neutral countries, as I said before any pow who had been in the bag for a certain time was deemed to suffer from it, therefore the vast majority of exchanged prisoners were tagged as suffering from it. Amongst them would be some men with mental problems but as I've said above whether this was the result of incarceration or not would be impossible to say.

As for "I just though there may have been pictures taken of some of these acute victims (perhaps their behaviour being so odd that the authorities pictured them) or perhaps pictures of POWs in asylums (as in functioning asylums rather that a requisitioned one used to house POWs)." this leaves a slightly queasy feeling - a bit like the public being shown cases in the old Bedlam hospital.

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Yep you are right. Not a nice thought, but understanding behind such conditions was in its infancy and thus seeing suffers must have been quite a phenomenon for some interested parties. I mean I think I’m right in saying that the phenomenon of Barbed Wire Fever was really picked up in world war one by men like Vischer etc.

Also with the POW camps there was some Germans who recognized the social phenomenon that was occurring within and took notice. Individuals who reacted visibly against assimilating into the new societies, i.e through complete regression would surely have raised an eyebrow. Additionally there were other projects (one on POW dialects for example) taking place so various POW population were being ‘mapped’ (as Foucault would say) and barbed wire disease would certainly have captivated the attention of some.

I also agree with your point of pinning down mental trauma just to captivity rather than other causes. Brigadier-General Williams for example certainly suffered some mental trauma in captivity, suffering hallucinations and insomnia together with acute paranoia. The way he was captured – literally being blown up – certainly affected his mental state, but captivity must have contributed. His medical examiner certainly put his time in captivity as a major cause of William’s problems, the symptoms disappearing on release.

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