Camp newspaper Graudenz

[Jenniferanne]

I have just been handed my Father -in -Law's Rifle Brigade mementoes amongst which is a copy of the camp newspaper entitled "The Vistula". He was a prisoner of war in Graudenz from April 1918 until repatriation. Until I received these documents no one had known where he was imprisoned, but he seems to have been in Saxony before being sent to Prussia.

Also enclosed with the newspaper was a programme for a camp concert. Both are in a very fragile state having been folded for 82 years so I am anxious to preserve them for posterity. My thanks go to Bob Lemke who responded to my first appeal yesterday and to a lady who told me where to find this link. As a new member I cannot discover how to answer them and thank them for the information I have been given, perhaps someone would fill me in.

The back of the camp paper has several names and addresses signed over the advertisments, some have ranks included. They are all very faint, but with a little patience should be decipherable.

I have been advised how to preserve the papers, but would like some advice about what should be done with them. Who would be interested- The Rifle Brigade, The Imperial War Museum or perhaps The National Archives?

Finally, whereabouts is Graudenz and how big was the camp?

Jennifer Anne

[Bernard_Lewis]

Here is some info on Graudenz - see the top 3 items on JSS (John Stanley Starnge) and his POW days:

http://swanseabattalion.net/index.php?opti...0&Itemid=66

I'm not an expert on it, though...does JSS sign the docs you have? A long shot, I know...

Bernard

[Doug Johnson]

Jennifer Anne,

Some paper, especially newsprint, is full of acid and it becomes brown and flaky. There is a spray available but I have never used it. A lot of paper documents such as newspapers will not survive in their original form and will only be available as microfilm or as scanned copies in the future. This is not a tragic loss as the information is important and not so much the original copy. If the document can be scanned then that is the first line of preservation and it should be done before the document is too far gone. The IWM would probably be glad of it and would be my first choice. They will have the resources to preserve it properly. As far as I can tell they do not have a copy already (I checked their collections on line). If you do give it to them ask them if they can give you a scan of it and then post it here so we can all see it.

Responding to posting is best done openly then everyone knows you have done it and no one thinks you are one of those who just get the information and run. You should now have access to the PM system though which was originally barred to you as a new member.

There are plenty of photographs on this site for Graudenz and Anne Warin's book, Dear Girl I escaped is worth reading. Mrs Pope-Hennesey said the following;

A strong fortress town (pop. 40,300) on the Polish frontier, picturesquely situated on the right bank of the Vistula. British officers have been sent here from March, 1918. It was used as a prison in the war of 1870. American prisoners here. Unfortunately as it was only used from March 1918 there will not be an American report for it and there does not appear to be a Dutch report either.

There is a report listed in FO383 by Surgeon Lieutenant R P Langford Jones on conditions in the camp.

It's lunch time so I will be back later.

Doug

[Doug Johnson]

I'm Back,

Surgeon Lieutenant R P Langford Jones' report does not appear in the WO161 list so presumably it is one of those reports which was recieved by the Foreign Office but not passed onto the PoW Committee, presumably because the Committee was no longer active.

Doegen reports that there were 607 'English' officers and 101 men here together with 5 American officers in October 1918. Note that this was in the English camp. There was a French camp here as well but I do not know whether it was at the same place or not.

I suspect that the Spanish who were doing visits on behalf of the French did not visit the camp either but possibly did visit the French one.

As your father in law was a Rflm, he was an orderly at the camp i.e. a servant for the officers. The lack of information about the camp i.e. no neutral country report, I am not sure where the orderlies were housed but I suspect it was in the same building as the officers i.e. a stone built building and not a hut.

Doug

[Doug Johnson]

Graudenz was in the XVIIth Army Corps area and the Kommondant in October 1918 was von Gres. The city is on the Vistula River (East bank) and is now in northern Poland. Spelling of the new name is not easy but Grudziądz seems OK.

Doug

[Jenniferanne]

Graudenz was in the XVIIth Army Corps area and the Kommondant in October 1918 was von Gres. The city is on the Vistula River (East bank) and is now in northern Poland. Spelling of the new name is not easy but Grudziądz seems OK.

Doug

Thanks Doug, have only just logged on again as we had a family crisis. Sadly there is no signature for Captain Strange on the paper that I can see , but I will be trying to decipher the signatures in the near future and will post them as soon as possible.

Jennifer

[Doug Johnson]

For those interested the deacidification spray is here However the price is such that in this case the cost of treating just both these documents is really not cost effective as the documents are not worth enough to warrant spending so much. Better leaving it to the experts as there is also no guarantee that it would work and I have no experience of using it. With regard to German paper towards the end of the war I have documents which are in excellent condition with no sign of acid attack so good quality paper was available.

Doug

[Guest Robert Holland]

My grandfather was captured 21st March 1918 taken to and imprisoned at Graudenz. He wrote a memoir of his experience a few years before he died in 1979.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Robert,

Was your Grandfather's report ever published or is it an only copy?

Doug