Sources

From one of our Muslim prison camps. Dolce far niente in the sunshine

The photo shows a group of North African prisoners of war, two prisoners of unknown origin, and an officer, all in front of barracks. The prisoners are arranged in a way that shows them to be…

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Themes: Religion; Race; Propaganda; Postcard; Photograph; Imperial Strategy; Captivity
Tags: anti-colonialism, anti-French, Colonial soldiers, Colonial Troops, German Revolutionary Program, Halfmoon Camp, Jihad, Muslims, Personal Encounters, Photograph, postcard, Propaganda, The Other

Trench Notebook of Indian Soldier

A couple of pages from the trench notebook of Jemadar Mir Mast, found in a sealed envelope marked 'His Majesty's Service'. It contains a hand-drawn trench map, a series of casual jottings and numbers,…

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Themes: Mobility; Language; Captivity

Love song performed by the Moroccan prisoner of war Kadr Ben Hamed at the Halfmoon camp in Wünsdorf

This song was recorded in the Halfmoon camp in Wünsdorf in 1918. Biographical details of the singer are in the PK-files. A translation was produced by Samir El-Moussati in 2014.

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Themes: Recording; Race; Propaganda; Captivity
Tags: Arabic, Halfmoon Camp, imperial strategy, Language, POW, pow-camp, Sound Recording

Zehrensdorf Indian cemetery

These photographs were taken at a commemoration event on 1 August 2014. The municipality of the small town Zossen, the Evangelical Church, together with inhabitants and guests came together at the…

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Themes: Religion; Photograph; Mobility; Captivity
Tags: Colonial soldiers, Colonial Troops, English, German Revolutionary Program, Halfmoon Camp, Hindi, imperial strategy, Jihad, Language, Memory, Muslims, orientalism, pan-Islamism, religion, Tatar

Hindostan and El Dschihad

Hindostan and El Dschihad were propaganda newspapers for South Asian, Caucasian, and North African prisoners of war in the Halbmondlager in Wünsdorf and the Weinberglager in Zossen. These periodicals…

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Themes: Religion; Propaganda; Newspapers & Magazines; Language; Intellectual Exchange; Imperial Strategy; Captivity
Tags: anti-British, anti-colonialism, Arabic, Colonial soldiers, Colonial Troops, German Revolutionary Program, Halfmoon Camp, Hindi, Jihad, Language, newspapers, official documents, orientalism, orientalists, Ottoman Empire, pan-Islamism, POW, pow-camp, Propaganda, religion, revolution, Russian, Tatar, Urdu

Five Arabic war songs by the famous war volunteer Fritz Klopfer

The document contains five songs in Arabic including a translation into German. The songs were performed by Hans Stumme (alias Fritz Klopfer) on 20 January 1915 on behalf of the Red Halfmoon…

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Themes: Religion; Poem; Language; Imperial Strategy; Captivity
Tags: anti-colonialism, Arabic, German Revolutionary Program, Halfmoon Camp, imperial strategy, Music, orientalism, orientalists, POW, pow-camp, Propaganda

Shipment from England for prisoners of war

Parcel label for a delivery of bread, addressed to Indian prisoners of war at Halbmondlager, Zossen.

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Themes: Neutrality; Captivity
Tags: Colonial soldiers, Colonial Troops, Halfmoon Camp, imperial strategy, India, POW, pow-camp

L’Echo du Camp de Rennbahn: Rennbahn-Münster’s prisoner camp newspaper

Collection of the newspaper L’Echo du camp de Rennbahn from issue 1 (10 June 1916) to the issue 85 (15 June 1918). Each issue contains 3 sheets (6 pages) with both texts and cartoons. The articles…

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Themes: Newspapers & Magazines; Captivity
Tags: English, French, newspapers, POW, pow-camp, western front

Shipment for prisoners of war

French parcel label addressed to Mohamed ait Menca from the 5th Algerian Tirailleurs Regiment who was imprisoned at Zossen.

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Theme: Captivity
Tags: Colonial soldiers, Colonial Troops, Halfmoon Camp, imperial strategy, Mobility, POW, pow-camp, western front

The Bayram Feast at the Muslim Internment Camps in Wünsdorf (1916)

Short German documentary showing religious celebrations at the end of Ramadan in the internment camps in Wünsdorf near Zossen. https://www.filmothek.bundesarchiv.de/video/2535

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Themes: Religion; Race; Propaganda; Neutrality; Imperial Strategy; Film; Captivity
Tags: Camp, film propaganda, Germany, Muslims, The Netherlands

Interned British soldiers in Groningen crafting picture frames from cigar boxes to sell to British companies

A photograph taken in the English camp at Groningen during World War I. Members of the British navy are depicted crafting picture frames from cigar boxes.

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Themes: Photograph; Neutrality; Language; Intellectual Exchange; Captivity
Tags: Camp, Great-Britain, Neutrality, POWs, Soldiers, The Netherlands

Letter to the captain

Letter purportedly by two Christian prisoners of war interned in the Halfmoon camp requesting permission to go to church on Christmas Day in 1917. This forms part of Otto Stiehl's photographic…

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Themes: Religion; Propaganda; Letter; Captivity
Tags: Colonial soldiers, Colonial Troops, Halfmoon Camp, India, Letter, religion

'Camp Weinberg near Zossen' and 'Zossen 1914-17'

The first picture shows the inauguration of the Tatar memorial stone in the Tatar section of the cemetery in Zehrensdorf. Prisoners from both propaganda camps attended the ceremony, as well as Ottoman…

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Themes: Religion; Propaganda; Photograph; Imperial Strategy; Captivity
Tags: Colonial soldiers, Colonial Troops, Halfmoon Camp, imperial strategy, Jihad, mobilisation, orientalism, pan-Islamism, Photograph, postcard, POW, pow-camp, Propaganda, religion

German prisoners in Algiers

A postcard picturing German prisoners in Algiers. On the reverse are words printed in poor Dutch: 'One can see from the look of them that they have not suffered from their treatment' ('Men kan hat hem…

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Themes: Propaganda; Postcard; Neutrality; Language; Imperial Strategy; Captivity
Tags: Algeria, Camp, France, Germany, postcard, POWs, Propaganda, Soldiers

People who stayed at home and prisoners of war harvesting the hay

The picture shows a number of people helping to store the hay in a barn. On the right, an elderly man supervises. On the left, a man, presumably a French prisoner of war, holds a scythe and watches…

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Themes: Propaganda; Postcard; Captivity
Tags: Labour, painting, Personal Encounters, postcard, POW, The Other

Maurice Valette’s photo album from his time as prisoner of war during the First World War

These photographs were taken by a professional photographer who worked inside the camp Münster II. Maurice Valette bought the photographs and composed an album with scenes of daily life and portraits…

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Themes: Photograph; Language; Captivity
Tags: Halfmoon Camp, imperial strategy, Personal Encounters, Photograph, POW, pow-camp, western front

Camp of Gouda (Our Belgian Refugees in Holland)

Documentary made in 1916 showing a large group of Belgian refugees - women, men and children - in a camp in the Netherlands performing their daily activities…

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Themes: Propaganda; Neutrality; Mobility; Film; Captivity
Tags: Belgian refugees, Belgium, film propaganda, Netherlands, Neutrality

Bei uns in Deutschland

Cover and extracts from Bei uns in Deutschland (Brussels, 1919), First World War memoirs of the Flemish author Ernest Claes, based on his time in a German POW camp in Erfurt.

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Themes: Race; Propaganda; Mobility; Memoirs; Language; Intellectual Exchange; Imperial Strategy; Diary; Captivity
Tags: Belgium, Camp, Flamenpolitik, Flemish, France, Germany, Memoir, Muslims, Personal Encounters, Soldiers, writer

Personal information form related to sound recording no. 271

The so-called Personalbogen (personal information form) was created by the members of the Royal Prussian Phonographic Commission to assist in the process of recording the voices of POWs held in…

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Themes: Recording; Language; Imperial Strategy; Captivity
Tags: Colonial Troops, Halfmoon Camp, imperial strategy, Language, Mobility, POW, pow-camp

Halfmoon Camp in Wünsdorf

The sketch depicts the mosque which was erected in the Halfmoon Camp in 1915. In the foreground, human silhouettes are identifiable. They appear as if wearing traditional turbans and cloaks. Other…

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Themes: Religion; Imperial Strategy; Captivity
Tags: anti-British, anti-colonialism, anti-French, Colonial Troops, German Revolutionary Program, Halfmoon Camp, imperial strategy, Jihad, painting, POW, pow-camp, Propaganda

Second plan of work for Bangkok by Ernest Douwes Dekker

In this report addressed to the German Foreign Office, the anti-colonial Indonesian writer and politician Ernest Douwes Dekker (image 1) describes his secret mission to travel from Rotterdam to…

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Themes: Race; Propaganda; Neutrality; Mobility; Language; Intellectual Exchange; Imperial Strategy; Captivity
Tags: anti-British, anti-colonialism, Berlin Indian Independence Committee, colonial intellectual, Dutch East Indies, Ernest Douwes Dekker, German Revolutionary Program, Germany, Imperial identity, imperial strategy, India, Java, nationalism, Neutrality, The Netherlands

Camp Weinberg near Zossen

The first picture shows a group of prisoners sliding a rack wagon full of parcels in the camp.
The second picture shows a group of prisoners, probably Tatar, practising gymnastics.
The third…

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Themes: Propaganda; Photograph; Imperial Strategy; Captivity
Tags: Colonial soldiers, Colonial Troops, Craft, German Revolutionary Program, Labour, POW, pow-camp

Interned British Indian soldiers peeling potatoes in Townley Hall, The Hague

A drawing of interned British Indian soldiers with turbans and beards peeling potatoes in Townley Hall, The Hague.

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Themes: Race; Neutrality; Mobility; Intellectual Exchange; Imperial Strategy; Captivity
Tags: Camp, Great-Britain, India, Neutrality, POWs, Soldiers, The Netherlands

Drawings of Hindu deities made by an Indian prisoner of war in the Halfmoon camp

These three drawings made by Ganga Ram Gurung in spring 1917 in the Halfmoon camp are preserved in one of the photo albums of Otto Stiehl at the Museum of European Cultures in Berlin. They depict…

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Themes: Religion; Propaganda; Imperial Strategy; Captivity
Tags: anti-colonialism, Halfmoon Camp, Hindu, imperial strategy, India, painting, POW

Personal Information Form 325, Sound recording, Armenian-Georgian song

The voice of the Russian soldier Levon Altunov was recorded in a prisoner-of-war camp in Chemnitz on 16 June 1916. The recording, inventoried as PK 325, is of a song in Armenian that speaks of…

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Themes: Recording; Language; Captivity
Tags: Armenian, Colonial Troops, Folksong, imperial strategy, Mobility, POW, pow-camp, Propaganda, Race, Sound Recording