eamann Posted 19 February , 2009 Share Posted 19 February , 2009 Hi all! I have discovered a site which contains an eye-boggling amount of on-line information about POW camps: http://www.gutenberg-e.org/steuer/ See in particular the article on how the German POW camps were organised: http://www.gutenberg-e.org/steuer/archive/...many/index.html There are similar articles on the Turkish, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian camps. See also copies of the newspaper for British POWs: http://www.gutenberg-e.org/steuer/steuer.ch08f.html If I add that the site also contains references to many specific camps and dozens of pictures you will understand that it is well worth a thorough search! Best wishes to you all, And a heartfelt thanks to the YMCA, Comumbia University and the Gutenberg Project for making such a priceless document available for free! Eamann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 19 February , 2009 Share Posted 19 February , 2009 Good link there Eamann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Johnson Posted 19 February , 2009 Share Posted 19 February , 2009 Having read parts of the book a while ago I have my doubts regarding the accuracy of many of the "facts" and statements contained within it. Parts of the book are very useful as indicatators of further research lines but others parts are at odds with other research and statements. The general tone is that just about everything good that was done for PoWs was done by the YMCA and as such seems more like YMCA propogana (they did great work but not all down to the YMCA and not to the extent the book suggests). One of the stements on which we have discussed the topic before is as follows; "in Constantinople, it is estimated that as many as fifteen thousand Muslim POWs defected to serve in the Turkish Army and fought in Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Macedonia". This may come partly from a misinterpretation of wartime reports. Whilst I can accept the 15000 as recruits (easy to recruit a starving PoW by offering him food) there is no evidence found for anywhere near that number having been sent to turkey and so far no evidence that they took part in any action. The little evidence found so far suggests otherwise. The German camp organisation is not as straight forward as the book makes out. A read of Gerard's book will point to the organisation of camps as being different throughout Germany depending on the whim of the local commandant. Not all German camps used PoWs to command their own troops. McCarthy (I think) says that the American Embassy were actively trying to persuade the various commandants that that was the best way to run the camps, and was the way that camps in Britain were run. Not nearly all camps used German cooks as suggested, in fact most seemed to have used PoWs as can be expected; and which camps had Restaurants that served a la carte food? "Prisoners were allowed to write two letters of two pages a week"? Not in any reports I have seen unless this applied to American prisoners, certainly not to French and British and I hardly think that exceptions would be made. It is a good resource but one I treat with caution. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eamann Posted 23 February , 2009 Author Share Posted 23 February , 2009 Thanks Doug for alerting us to the fact that the book is at odds with what other historians are saying. My interest is just in Friedrichsfeld, since my grandfather was a prisoner there from April to November 1918, and Steuer's book gave me some interesting facts and photos. Eamann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owilki1984 Posted 28 March , 2009 Share Posted 28 March , 2009 Hi All, I just wanted to thank Eamann for this information, I have been reading the book which is interesting in its own right, however, what is amazing is the primary material that is also included in the appendices. I am seriously impressed with some of this stuff. Thanks also to Andrew for flagging my attention to it – on the ball as always Andrew. Just a bit of additional information for interested parties in the YMCA – Steuer uses the For the Millions of Men Now Under Arms, extensively as source material. He explains the source in one of his appendices. You can actually access these via the Gutenberg archive: Volume 1 http://www.archive.org/details/formillionsofmen01newy Volume 2 http://www.archive.org/details/formillionsofmen02newy There seems to be a tone of information in these which I think members will be interested in. Regards Oli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Kemp Posted 23 April , 2009 Share Posted 23 April , 2009 Thank you for the information. I have read this article and there is certainly some interesting information but I am a little sceptical about the the author's perspective and objectivity. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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