Maurice Valette’s photo album from his time as prisoner of war during the First World War
Description
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 of his comrades. Some portraits bear a dedication addressed to Valette. Among the images are numerous portraits of colonial soldiers indicating that many POWs were interned not only in the Halfmoon camp, but in other German camps too.
Context
Maurice Valette (Sarlat, 18 July 1885 – Le Mans, 5 January 1979) was a French poet, playwright, and insurance agent. As part of the 1905 military class, he was called at the end of 1914 to serve in the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment. He was captured near Maubeuge (along the Belgian border near Mons) in November 1915 and sent to the Rennbahn Münster II prisoner camp in Lower-Saxony, where he remained for the rest of the war.
Themes
Tags
Halfmoon Camp, imperial strategy, Personal Encounters, Photograph, POW, pow-camp, western front