Doug Johnson Posted 11 December , 2005 Share Posted 11 December , 2005 On the 21 st April 1918 a memorial, to prisoners who had died in captivity, was opened in the cemetery at Gustrow PoW Camp. This was presumably erected by subscription from the camp inmates. The inscription on it states 1914 - ____. Was this inscription ever completed? Both the photographs were taken on the day of the official inauguration. Leading the british singing was Harold Phelps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 11 December , 2005 Share Posted 11 December , 2005 Beautiful memorial. maRINA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KateJ Posted 12 December , 2005 Share Posted 12 December , 2005 On the 21 st April 1918 a memorial, to prisoners who had died in captivity, was opened in the cemetery at Gustrow PoW Camp. This was presumably erected by subscription from the camp inmates. The inscription on it states 1914 - ____. Was this inscription ever completed? Both the photographs were taken on the day of the official inauguration. Leading the british singing was Harold Phelps. Lovely memorial - do you have any more info on it? How was it built? I persume the Germans must have allowed it? I checked the Times online for "Gustrow" after August 1914 but could only find references to poor treatment of PoWs and brief mention of soldiers repatriation post war. Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Johnson Posted 12 December , 2005 Author Share Posted 12 December , 2005 more photographs for you to look at. The first is in what appears to be a stonemasons in the camp. I have a number of photographs showing various workshops dating from 1915. This one was a lot later, around 1917. The large female carving appears to be the same style as the one on the monument though the one on the monument is bigger. The Germans not only allowed it but took part in the inauguration. On the photo with the choir, German officers can be seen to the right with wreaths. The second photo shows German officers laying wreaths. The cemetery held over a thousand graves by the end of the war of which only some 58 were British and Commonwealth, all of which were moved in the 20's to Hamburg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KateJ Posted 12 December , 2005 Share Posted 12 December , 2005 more photographs for you to look at. The first is in what appears to be a stonemasons in the camp. I have a number of photographs showing various workshops dating from 1915. This one was a lot later, around 1917. The large female carving appears to be the same style as the one on the monument though the one on the monument is bigger. The Germans not only allowed it but took part in the inauguration. On the photo with the choir, German officers can be seen to the right with wreaths. The second photo shows German officers laying wreaths. The cemetery held over a thousand graves by the end of the war of which only some 58 were British and Commonwealth, all of which were moved in the 20's to Hamburg. Amazing photos! Are they family photos? The reports I found in the Times only tell of poor treatment of PoWs - your pictures tell another story! If it's a PoW camp then who are the other graves (sorry that probably sounds thick!) or are they German? Can we see some more? Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Johnson Posted 12 December , 2005 Author Share Posted 12 December , 2005 Kate, The photographs are some of the 140 photographs my Grandfather brought back after spending the whole of the war there from 1914 to 1918. The poor treatment arose in the early part of the war due to a combination of circumstances but a change in commandant led to much better conditions from 1916 onwards. I have posted some other photographs under the PoW forum including a photograph of the grave of John Gilffillan of the 1/London Scottish who died there in 1914. His monument was probably made in the camp. A similar cross was erected for Pte Harry Malthouse AN&MEF who died after the armistice. It was paid for by fellow prisoners but was not made in the camp and was erected in 1919. There is a photograph of this one on the AWM web site. The graves were all of prisoners as far as I know as the camp was isolated. French Belgian and Russians predominated at the camp though there was the odd italian etc. All the graves were in dug in date order ie all nationalities were mixed in together. My Grandfathers invitation and order of service for the inauguration follow; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KateJ Posted 12 December , 2005 Share Posted 12 December , 2005 Thanks for sharing them. You're so lucky to have them after all these years! Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Johnson Posted 12 December , 2005 Author Share Posted 12 December , 2005 Egbert, The first link is very interesting. Unfortunately my German is not good enough to be able to read it straight off. Do I understand that the church shown below the camp photograph was from Gustrow camp and was purchased and moved after the war? It certainly looks like the one from the camp; Does it mention what happened to it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 12 December , 2005 Share Posted 12 December , 2005 Egbert, The first link is very interesting. Unfortunately my German is not good enough to be able to read it straight off. Do I understand that the church shown below the camp photograph was from Gustrow camp and was purchased and moved after the war? It certainly looks like the one from the camp; Does it mention what happened to it? http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:M_IuP...enenlager&hl=en it says about: ...at the very beginning in the first weeks of the war (1914) the PoW camp was established...with ca 10000 prisoners from France , Belgium, Russia and Britain...guarded by a Landsturm Bn from....and was headed by the commandant, Mr. Siefken...he headed the camp until retirement 1921 to include the camp period starting 1919 temporary home for German refugees from Provinz Posen (my Grandmother was displaced from Gnesen/Posen by the way), Western Prussia....(followed by a mission statement regarding the work of pastoral care in the camp)...a barrack served as church...the prisoners built on own expenses a church tower on top of the barrack.....for which the bonfazius association lent a bell which is still today rung...1919 after deactivation as a PoW camp the citizens bought one of the barracks to be used as a church off site...eqipped with the altar from PoW times... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Johnson Posted 12 December , 2005 Author Share Posted 12 December , 2005 Thanks for that Egbert. It looks like the camp had numerous uses after the war. I know that it was in use for Russians for at least a year after the war. Some 10 000 were still there then as they had no homes to go back to! An American was in charge at the time. Thanks for the link as well. It is another part of the picture of this camp which I find fascinating. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest harriet1883 Posted 25 April , 2011 Share Posted 25 April , 2011 I stumbled across this accidentally and want to thank you so much for posting it. My Grandfather, Pte Albert (Bertie) Goddard died on 4th March 1915 in Gustrow camp. With deep appreciation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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