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Remembered Today:

POW camp WÜnsdorf-Zossen near Berlin


Jempie

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Hello!

Can someone tell me a bit about this POW camp?

Seems it was especially a MUSLIM pow camp!

Even a MOSKEE was foreseen for the prisoners!

Now North-Africans served into the French army..Spahis, Morrocans,Algérians,Sénégalese..and so on...

But what other nationalities might be have been there too?

Any idea?

I used two different search machines, but it seems (so good as ) nothing was published about?

Only response I found was from an international Convention at Dublin swhere probably a French Paris (at Nanterre) University woman seems to have geven some exposure about this camp.

Otherwise nothing to find!

VBR

Jempie

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Zossen was generally a none European camp. Many Indian troops were there and there are various documents in FO383 regarding them. I have a feeling that other troops were there early on but were moved out.

According to Mrs P-H it was 20 miles south of Berlin and run by the 3rd Army Corps.

Doug

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Zossen was generally a none European camp. Many Indian troops were there and there are various documents in FO383 regarding them. I have a feeling that other troops were there early on but were moved out.

According to Mrs P-H it was 20 miles south of Berlin and run by the 3rd Army Corps.

Doug

Thanks doug!

But what supposes to be that reference FO383 ?

I am no POW historian and was just wondering which people went to Wünsdorf-Zossen indeed.

Logic if it were in general muslims...

But the pictures I have from Indians are from so called Hindous! Sofar I know thus no muslims!

Sikhs or such...than there were in Belgian also Zouaves...(no idea about their religion I have....)

What goes on Flandres front, I know from Nieuport until Ypres, you had indeed Indians, Zouaves, "Tirailleurs Sénégalais" , Spahis and such....I have a number of pictures into a French WWI magazines (1914) on them...

But none of these had uniforms as on the above POW photo...but their own "folkloristic uniform" so to say.

Now it is so that for more British and French Pows were tranferred from the front to "Berlin"...but I know for more these were than interned at Döberitz.... mght be also to Wünsdorf-Zossen and maybe later indeed this location was than "reserved" for non-Europeans and mainly "muslims"...

Fact is that on these there is little known about their history during WWI overhere. (Belgium)

There seems to be in some farm along frontline of the yser some remains from "unknown muslem warriors" which left some arabic script on a cellar wall...none knows from which regiment these were...

But I couldn't find any link on the history of Wünsdorf-Zossen indeed!

VBR

Jempie

here a picture of wounded Indians at Brockenhirst hospital...waiting to rejoin the front again!

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BTW

Some curious thing on these photos (I have 3 photosof wounded Indians at Brockenhurst)

9 upon 10 is wounded at their left hand & arm in general!

strange!

VBR

Jempie

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Jempie,

FO383 is the series of papers at the National Archives at Kew which deal with prisoners of war during WW1

Extract from the index of FO383/65

Indian prisoners of war camp at Wünsdorf (Zossen): reports.

Lists of Indian prisoners in Germany: arrangements for compilation

Extract from the index of FO383/65

Pro-German British prisoners interned at Zossen.

Extract from the index of FO383/200

Sepoy Ghulam Khan, 59th Scinde Rifles: his death from tuberculosis at Halbmond Lager, Zossen, Germany.

Extract from the index of FO383/218

Refusal of German Government to allow Swiss Medical Mission to visit prison camp at Zossen and subsequent examination of British, Indian and Belgian troops.

These give clues as follows;

/218 mentions British, Indian and Belgian troops ie not just non europeans were there in 1916 (the date of the records) As I said before, I think they were relocated later.

/200 mentions the name Halbmond Lager as being another name for the camp and therefore worth a search.

Some Indians are Moslems but the names in FO383 indicate that some of them at Zossen were sikhs etc.

Doug

The fact that you are asking the questions makes you a researcher even if you are only a beginner!

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  • 10 years later...

Article in the Gurniard today has this photograph below of POW's there exercising in 19115, and also mentions the mosque there, but nothing more really

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jan/11/forbidden-city-inside-abandoned-soviet-camp-wunsdorf-east-germany

 

wunsdorf.jpg

 

 

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