Camp Quedlinburg

Camp Quedlinburg was a prisoner-of-war camp 2 Kilometers north of Quedlinburg, Germany, during the First World War. The POW camp was built on the Ritteranger two kilometres north of Quedlinburg in September 1914. From 1914 to 1922, an average of 12,000 to 18,000 prisoners of war were accommodated here.[1] Around 27,000 people lived in the neighbouring city of Quedlinburg at that time. A second settlement was therefore established here in terms of size. There were three official branch offices in Staßfurt, Atzendorf and Aschersleben[2] as well as other unofficial offices in Egeln, Halberstadt, Schönebeck, Groß Rodensleben, Schadeleben and Hedersleben.

Memorial to the POW Camp Quedlinburg

The camp

The camp was built on 104 hectares with 48 barracks for the prisoners. Barbed wire fences were erected to prevent escape attempts. In eight double rows there were three barracks on each side of the gable. To the northeast there were eight barracks for the guards and on the western side of Ditfurter Weg a number of large administrative buildings. Northwest of the camp were three isolated sick shelters. Guard towers with machine guns stood in the middle of each long side and at strategically important points. The wooden barracks were about 52 meters long and 12 to 15 meters wide. The interior of the barracks was sparsely furnished. Each prisoner slept in an approximately 80 cm wide 2 metre long wooden bed on straw sacks covered with woollen blankets. The barracks were divided into halves by transverse walls, each heated by an oven in the middle. At the southwest end of a block of six barracks was a kitchen building.[3]

During the war mainly Russian, French, Belgian and English, since 1917 also Italian soldiers were interned. From the beginning they were used to build up the camp and later as workers in labour detachments, especially in agriculture.[4] On 9 December 1918 Theodor Cizeck Zeilau (1884-1970), a Captain in the Danish Army, made an inspection visit of the camp at Quedlinburg.[5]

Even after the war it was used as a transit camp. It was not until 1921 that the last Russian prisoners left the camp, whereupon it was burned down. 703 prisoners of war were buried on a special part of the Quedlinburg central cemetery.[6]

Personalities

Notable prisoners
  • W. K. Beaman, Captain [7]
  • W. E. Burrows, Sergeant, 3rd Worcestershire Regiment[8][9]
  • Wallace Roy Crichton, 46th Btn, Private, WIA & Captured Bapaume 11/4/1917-Interned Limburg/Quedlinburg Saxony-repatriated England 7/1/1918 RTA 30/6/1918[10]
  • Norman Cowan (1898–2003)[11]
  • Charles Darragh, 47th Battalion Private, Interned Quedlinburg- Arrived England admitted to 2nd London General Hospital 24/12/1918[12]
  • Harry Nutma Derrick, 37th Btn, Private, WIA & Captured-Died 12/11/1918 at Quedlinburg Hospital- buried Niederzwehren Cemetery Cassel[12]
  • John Gray Donn, [13]
  • Arthur Henry Fitt (1890–1954), [14]
  • Leonard Foust Hann, 33rd Battalion Private, WIA & Captured 7/5/1918-Interned Sachsen/Quedlinburg-arrived England admitted to King George Hospital 31/8/1918[15]
  • Norman Elliott Lampe, 32nd Btn Private, WIA & Captured Fromelles 20/7/1916-Interned Stendal/Quedlinburg-repatriated Ripon 12/1/1919[16]
  • Frederick R. Lavender (died 1918), D Bty. 250th Bde, Royal Field Artillery[17]
  • Jacques Messiant [18]
  • Reginald Charles Prow, 20th Btn, Sergeant, WIA & Captured Mount St Quentin 31/8/1918-Interned Quedlinburg-repatriated Ripon 30/12/1918[19]
  • Fred Purvis (1894–1918), Gunner, 1/5th battalion, the Northumbrian Fusiliers[20]
  • Théophile Radin (1889–1918)[21]
  • Marcel Riegel[22]
  • Ernest Simonsen, 47th Btn, Private, WIA & Captured 5/4/1918-Interned Quedlinburg-repatriated Ripon 30/12/1918[23]
  • Henry Strachan (1898–1918), 8th Batallion Durham Light Infantry[24][25]
gollark: There's no literal Cartesian theatre going on where it has to rotate the image again to project it onto our consciousness.
gollark: I don't think that particularly matters. We define our perceptual up and down and such based on vision.
gollark: Also merging together information from saccades (rapid eye movements to look at more of a scene with the fovea) and correcting for orientation/vibrations/movement.
gollark: And the brain does a lot of fancy stuff to pretend to have a coherent visual field despite the blind spot and the fact that only a small region (the fovea) can actually sense color well.
gollark: I read that somewhere, I forgot where.

See also

References
  1. Wozniak, Thomas (2011): „... das Lager ist in jeder Beziehung musterhaft ...“ Kriegsgefangene des Ersten Weltkriegs in Quedlinburg (1914–1922). Jahrbuch für die Geschichte Mittel- und Ostdeutschlands (57): 125–154, here p. 125.
  2. Rapports des délégués du gouvernement espagnol sur leurs visites dans les camps de prisonniers français en Allemagne 1914–1917. Paris 1918, pp. 291-293.
  3. Demuth, Volker (2009). "'Those Who Survived the Battlefields' Archaeological Investigations in a Prisoner of War Camp Near Quedlinburg (Harz / Germany) from the First World War". Journal of Conflict Archaeology. 1 (5): 163–181.
  4. Dienemann, Martina; Wozniak, Thomas (2009): Das Quedlinburger Kriegsgefangenenlager des Ersten Weltkrieges in französischsprachigen Quellen. Quedlinburger Annalen (12): 139–148.
  5. Dorothy Jones (2018): Quedlinburg men’s camp – Christmas in Denmark, revised 16.1.2018, p. 2, 11.6.2018.
  6. Wozniak, Thomas (2008): Militärseelsorge für ausländische Soldaten von 1914 bis 1919. Tretschock, Christoph; Wozniak, Matthias; Wozniak, Thomas (Ed.): 150 Jahre Katholische Kirche Sankt Mathilde Quedlinburg 1858–2008. Quedlinburg, pp. 73–80.
  7. W. K. Beaman (1915): Some Experiences of a Prisoner of War in Germany, with remarks on four Prisoners' Camps. JR Army Med Corps: first published as 10.1136/jramc-25-05-02 on 1 November 1915, pp. 490–493.
  8. Germany - Prisoner of War Camp: Quedlinburg (2018, 19 December)
  9. November 20th 1916 - Postcard from Sergeant W E Burrows to Ethel Sladden (2018, 19 December).
  10. "World War 1 (A-C) | Prisoner of War Memorial Ballarat". www.powmemorialballarat.com.au.
  11. Richard van Emden (2000): Prisoners of the Kaiser. The last POWs of the Great War. Barnsley, p. 185.
  12. "World War 1 (D-F) | Prisoner of War Memorial Ballarat". www.powmemorialballarat.com.au.
  13. David G Scott: A Minute's Peace tells wartime story, in: John O'Groat-Journal from 29 March 2020.
  14. Peter Cox: Arthur Henry Fitt (1890 -1954) and his war (pdf, 2018, 19 December)
  15. "World War 1 (G-I) | Prisoner of War Memorial Ballarat". www.powmemorialballarat.com.au.
  16. "World War 1 (J-L) | Prisoner of War Memorial Ballarat". www.powmemorialballarat.com.au.
  17. LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWI Archived 19 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine (2018, 19 December)
  18. Jacques Messiant: Le prisonnier flamand: Le roman d'une vie pendant la Grande Guerre. Éditions Ravet-Anceau 2013.
  19. "World War 1 (P-R) | Prisoner of War Memorial Ballarat". www.powmemorialballarat.com.au.
  20. The Gaunless Valley in World War 1 (2018, 19 December).
  21. Thomas Wozniak (2011): „… das Lager ist in jeder Beziehung musterhaft …“. Kriegsgefangene des Ersten Weltkriegs in Quedlinburg (1914–1922), Jahrbuch für die Geschichte Mittel- und Ostdeutschlands 57 (2011), pp. 125–154, here p. 125.
  22. "SOUVENIRS DE GUERRE". souvenirsdeguerre.pagesperso-orange.fr. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  23. "World War 1 (S-U) | Prisoner of War Memorial Ballarat". www.powmemorialballarat.com.au. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  24. Migebert (6 November 2018), Deutsch: Am Denkmal zur Erinnerung an das Kriegsgefangenenlager Quedlinburg 1914-1922 ein kleines Gedenkkreuz für Henry Strachan (1898-1918), retrieved 13 January 2020
  25. Henry Strachan on Camp-de-Quedlinburg.fr

Bibliography

Photographs

Memoirs
  • Emden, Richard van (2000). Prisoners of the Kaiser. The last POWs of the Great War. South Yorkscher: Pen & Sword.
  • Richard Charles Patrick: A Minute's Peace: Finding my WWI Grandfather. 2020. ISBN 979-8614621735.

Secondary works
  • Demuth, Volker (2009). "'Those Who Survived the Battlefields' Archaeological Investigations in a Prisoner of War Camp Near Quedlinburg (Harz / Germany) from the First World War". Journal of Conflict Archaeology. 1 (5): 163–181., doi:10.1163/157407709X12634580640452
  • Wozniak, Thomas (2011). "„... das Lager ist in jeder Beziehung musterhaft ...". Kriegsgefangene des Ersten Weltkriegs in Quedlinburg (1914–1922)". Jahrbuch für die Geschichte Mittel- und Ostdeutschlands (57): 125–154., ISSN 2191-9909, ISSN 0075-2614, doi: 10.1515/9783110236651.125
  • Dorothy Jones: Quedlinburg men’s camp – Christmas in Denmark. Revised 16.1.2018.

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