Quadsow

[corisande]

I have been going through an Irish Brigade member's memoirs, and he makes reference to this punishment camp that men were taken to from Danzig-Troyl

he saw German guards remove 9 or 10 men from Danzig camp to what he describes as "slavery", some sort of prison camp. They went by train and road until they found themselves in a hut built near a river at Quadsow in a wilderness. Quadsow was a punishment camp, and I am not clear how these men had been selected to be taken there. This was their home. They slept on damp mud and the walls of the hut were damp. Tey worked from dawn to dusk, reinforcing the banks of the river. All they ever had for meals were hot drinks, no food. Two months later 5 of these men returned. Their appearance had changed, they were now bearded and pale, their eyes full of fear, their bodies bloated from hot drinks but no food. They were bullied by the guards, butted with rifles. Later that evening of their return they found that one had cut his own throat with a rusty razor. He made a recovery, but not a full recovery, and died later in 1918 "during the armistice". This man has to be Gunner Carr as he is the only man whose death fits - 15 Sep 1918

Can anyone enlighten me on Quadsow

[Doug Johnson]

Corisande,

Not in my list nor that of Cecile. Clearly a punishing work camp if not a punishment camp. Work camps are generally unrecorded and amount to thousands, especially the small ones with a specific purpose as this one seems to be. The only way these camps are identified is from prisoner reports which sometimes led to an inspection. Danzig iteself was unrecorded for some time and I am surprised that it does not figure in Cecile's list as it was a head camp.

Who's memoirs are they so I can add the camp to my list?

Doug

[corisande]

Who's memoirs are they so I can add the camp to my list?

It's a man called Con Rahilly who is writing at that point on a man called Peter Carr

The document is unpublished, and was sent to me by a descendant of Rahilly. I am in the process of going through it. He makes several mentions to Quadsow, and the fear they all had of going to Quadsow

I have had a look on the map, but cannot find anything - as you know most names are now Polish, so one tends to to stand much chance of finding it unless there is a wartime reference.

All the Irish Brigade eventually left Danzig and worked outside the camp, but in private venues like farms, the local gas works, or airforce station to name a few. The Germans denied in mid 1918 that there were any British POWs at Danzig, and when pushed by the Netherlands mission, confessed that the Irish Brigade were in the area, but not actually in Danzig-Trozl

[Doug Johnson]

Not on the Behind the Wire WO161 list either.

Doug

[Doug Johnson]

Quadsow is now Kwasowo in Poland.

Doug

[corisande]

Thanks Doug

Obvious really when you look at it

You are a fund of information

[corisande]

I have update my information on Danzig Camp - I picked up a lot of stuff at Kew, and it will take me a while to get this rewritten, but it will be on same URL.

Anyone who ca add to that please let me know.