SusanN Posted 21 July , 2021 Share Posted 21 July , 2021 My grandad Julius Dahm was arrested as an enemy British civilian in August 1914 Germany and before he ended up In Ruhleben, he spent time in Wessel Fortress, then the military internment camp at Munster and thirdly CelleLager. Grandad carefully preserved this little watercolour of Celle all these years, I wonder if anyone can throw any light on the subject matter ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 22 July , 2021 Share Posted 22 July , 2021 Wonderful picture Susan. I guess you have seen the site (with translation on) https://cellelager.com/ I would only say that it was hutted, as it appears here, and that it contained officers of a number of nationalities that might be expressed here too. And art... Opere d’arte | Cellelager 1917-1918 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanN Posted 22 July , 2021 Author Share Posted 22 July , 2021 Thank you Open Bolt, I had not seen the artwork of Celle, so that was very interesting for me. I went on your link for Celllager.com but I wasn’t sure how to get an English translation ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanN Posted 22 July , 2021 Author Share Posted 22 July , 2021 Found the English translation…! what a great website for photos and information thanks again… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWK Posted 22 July , 2021 Share Posted 22 July , 2021 (edited) Signature looks like "A. de Badrihaye" I found an "Albert de Badrihaye", a Belgian painter, who worked for the German Army in WW1 (it doesn't specify what type of "work") https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_de_Badrihaye What was he doing in Celle? His signature on a 1928 watercolour (same A. as on yours, but the Y is different....) https://auctionet.com/en/904593-tavlor-2-st-landskap-akvarell-signerade/images ***Edit His ICRC card: https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/1958445/3/1/ Looks like the same person. Edited 22 July , 2021 by JWK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanN Posted 22 July , 2021 Author Share Posted 22 July , 2021 JWK that’s great detective work, so looks like this artist was definitely at Celle, I am not sure how my grandad acquired the watercolour or exactly when,though I do know my grandfather left CelleLager for civilian internment in Ruhleben , March 1915. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWK Posted 24 July , 2021 Share Posted 24 July , 2021 Alfred de Badrihaye got the death-penalty in his home-country of Belgium in 1920 for "Espionage" ! But alas his "dossier" does not exist anymore..... https://web.archive.org/web/20170312070825/http://search.arch.be/extra/ead/BE-A0545/BE-A0545_007012_006841/bijlagen.pdf#page=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyC Posted 24 July , 2021 Share Posted 24 July , 2021 On 21/07/2021 at 14:44, SusanN said: Wessel Fortress Hi, it`s Wesel, not Wessel. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festung_Wesel Best, GreyC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanN Posted 25 July , 2021 Author Share Posted 25 July , 2021 Hello JWK, looks like despite being under a death sentence from Belgium, Albert de Badrihaye survived until 1976, I can’t find many watercolours online, though I am sure he must have painted quite a few in his lifetime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanN Posted 25 July , 2021 Author Share Posted 25 July , 2021 Thanks GreyC, for the Correction from Wessel to Wesel, I see there is a book by Frederick Talbot on his experience there, but it sounds as though it would be very grim reading…but it may have to be next on my reading list as it also includes Ruhleben… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tootrock Posted 25 July , 2021 Share Posted 25 July , 2021 The above paperwork suggests he was French rather than Belgian. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanN Posted 25 July , 2021 Author Share Posted 25 July , 2021 Hello Tootrock, I found this on Ancestry which suggests he was born in Belgium.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyC Posted 25 July , 2021 Share Posted 25 July , 2021 There is a (German) article on Ruhleben by Christoph Jahr: Zivilisten als Kriegsgefangene..... in: Rüdiger Overmann (Ed): In der Hand des Feindes. Kriegsgefangenschaft von der Antike bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg, Köln 1999, p.297-321 on Ruhleben. It is well researched but in German. Maybe of interest as Jahr used archival material. Apart from this it might be interesting to note, that there were TWO POW camps in Celle. One in Scheunen with up to 15.000 POWs an one in the Celle palace, with only a handful (around 250) high ranking officers like (former) General Charles Bradley and mostly CIVILIANS like the mayor of Brussels, Adolphe Max and the British Duncan Heaton-Armstrong, the privat secretary of the then count of Albania. But also simply engineers, students, merchants, clergy. Some lists of the prisoners and internees seem to have survived in Berlin archives. As a civilian, your relative should have been kept in the palace rather then in Scheunen... GreyC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyC Posted 25 July , 2021 Share Posted 25 July , 2021 (edited) He was BORN in Belgium, but his NATIONALITY is given as "without one". And his place of residency at that time was about 200 km north of Celle right at the coast of the North Sea. He seems to have had relatives (Alfred) that were born in Germany (Breslau). That didn´t make the relative German per se but could explain why he worked for the Germans, as stated above. GreyC Edited 25 July , 2021 by GreyC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanN Posted 25 July , 2021 Author Share Posted 25 July , 2021 (edited) Thanks GreyC for your comments on Ruhleben and also Alberts nationality or rather lack of it…also I am encouraged to think my grandad may have been in Celle Palace; he had just started an apprenticeship as a fitter for Neue Automobile Gesellschaft A-G Berlin company in Cologne, he also managed to pass a very strict driving test in 1912 so that he could deliver cars to the coach builder, they were very sorry to have to let him go 11Aug1914 ,as “ he wasn’t German “. So maybe his time in Celle wasn’t so bad Edited 25 July , 2021 by SusanN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 26 July , 2021 Share Posted 26 July , 2021 (edited) On 25/07/2021 at 13:03, SusanN said: Thanks GreyC for your comments on Ruhleben and also Alberts nationality or rather lack of it…also I am encouraged to think my grandad may have been in Celle Palace; he had just started an apprenticeship as a fitter for Neue Automobile Gesellschaft A-G Berlin company in Cologne, he also managed to pass a very strict driving test in 1912 so that he could deliver cars to the coach builder, they were very sorry to have to let him go 11Aug1914 ,as “ he wasn’t German “. So maybe his time in Celle wasn’t so bad There are quite a lot of articles about Ruhleben Susan and I wondered if you had ever done an online search? 1. http://ww1centenary.oucs.ox.ac.uk/space-into-place/wyndhams-war-one-mans-account-of-living-in-ruhleben-internment-camp/ 2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28420676 3. https://medium.com/soccer-stories/how-britains-best-soccer-players-survived-a-first-world-war-prison-camp-21beeae7057f 4. https://britishheritage.com/history/ruhleben-prison-camp 5. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2774903/amp/Gardening-wire-Amazing-story-British-POWs-transformed-prison-camp-flowers-vegetables-sold-Germans.html 6. http://library.law.harvard.edu/digitalexhibits/ruhleben/exhibits/show/ruhleben/ruhlebenites NB. There was even a much belated obituary (he died in 1976) about a Black Olympics athlete incarcerated there (of British Caribbean origin) in the TIMES this last Saturday, but I cannot find it online. Edited 26 July , 2021 by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 26 July , 2021 Share Posted 26 July , 2021 Hello, Part of the conviction in 1920 may have been that he lost wathever nationality he had (Belgian or French). Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanN Posted 26 July , 2021 Author Share Posted 26 July , 2021 Thanks Frogsmile, there were some links I hadn’t seen, in particular the British Heritage one which showed a fantastic photo of the 1914 British female protesters , protesting about the internment of British civilians and in particular Ruhleben, one lady even has a Ruhleben sash. I really hope some more photos and stories may be unearthed from members old albums and diaries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyC Posted 26 July , 2021 Share Posted 26 July , 2021 2 hours ago, AOK4 said: Part of the conviction in 1920 may have been that he lost wathever nationality he had (Belgian or French). Interesting idea! GreyC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 26 July , 2021 Share Posted 26 July , 2021 1 hour ago, GreyC said: Interesting idea! GreyC I know that, after WW2, several convicted "collaborators" lost their Belgian nationality when they were not present (because they had fled abroad). I can imagine there was a similar thing after WW1. Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanN Posted 26 July , 2021 Author Share Posted 26 July , 2021 Having no nationality was a difficult situation, as my grandfather suffered this for many years, he could not initially get a Passport and finding work after the Great War was even more challenging. He eventually obtained a special permit to travel from the Nigerian government in West Africa to work for the Palm Oil industry for a couple of years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWK Posted 26 July , 2021 Share Posted 26 July , 2021 Found an article in the Belgian newspaper “Het Laatste Nieuws” of 20 april 1920 about Albert (He’s called “Albrecht” in the article, but “born in Bruges in 1880”) In short: in 1917 Albert/Albrecht worked for the Public Education office in Brussels. Several colleagues there had expressed the desire to flee the country to the Netherlands (with the help of a notary in Antwerp), and from there join the Belgian Army on the Yser. He travelled with three colleagues to Liege on their way to the Netherlands, and whilst in a café, they were arrested by the German police. The three colleagues were imprisoned in Brussels. Albert/Albrecht travelled back to Brussels, and told his colleagues the three friends had arrived in the Netherlands safe and well. In the end he betrayed another 6 colleagues (and the notary), who all were sentenced to 2 to 13 months in prison….. For his betrayal and espionage he received the deathpenalty. From the website of the Royal Library of Belgium (click the third entry from the bottom "20-04-1920" ) A beautiful watercolour, but what a story behind it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanN Posted 26 July , 2021 Author Share Posted 26 July , 2021 Oh dear, JWK you have uncovered a grim truth behind this artist, I wonder what drove him to such terrible betrayals… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyC Posted 26 July , 2021 Share Posted 26 July , 2021 Thank you very much JWK, quite interesting, especially as the dossier on his trial has been destroyed. GreyC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWK Posted 26 July , 2021 Share Posted 26 July , 2021 1 hour ago, SusanN said: Oh dear, JWK you have uncovered a grim truth behind this artist, I wonder what drove him to such terrible betrayals… Why was he released from Soltau as "a Frenchman" or indeed as a Belgian (His father was a police-officer in Bruges. Don't know if that job was available to "strangers" in those days)? Maybe he was tricked into pledging allegiance to the Germans, maybe he offered himself to the German authorities as a spy/collaborator. He did made Germany his country, got married there, and died there. Anyway: your watercolour has nothing to do with that, as it was made befóre all this in the newspaper article! Interesting thing I found in the Dutch newspapers: on 15th June 1945 (so 6 weeks after the end of WW2) Albert de Badrihaye and his wife Auguste Richter, without known abode, are summoned to appear before the court in the Hague on the 18th to be heard about "article 99 of the Civil Code" [Which can either deal with possessions (in the Netherlands) or "end of marriage" stuff. Not quite clear] As far as I know the two stayed together until the end of their lives, so "must be about possessions"? Your grandfather Julius Dahm get's a bit snowed under in this thread. Sorry about that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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