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POW art

Belgian POW art made from an aluminium canteen

one side reads " remember Munster Lager 1914 "

the other side " remember Soltau 1915 "

13 x 11.5 x 5 cm

 

Munster and Soltau were POW camps in Niedersachsen; Lower Saxony in Germany.

 

The first Belgian POWs arrived in Munster after the Battle of Liège. They were housed in wood army barracks. Within a few weeks tents were used to accommodate new batches of prisoners.

 

Soltau was known as ' The camp of the Belgians ' . The first Belgian POWs arrived in August 1914. There was no accommodation for them; they slept under the stars. A first camp was built by the POWs [ as far as I know both from Munster and Soltau ] in the course of the autumn and then a second camp was built, right next to the first.

In late autumn 1914 the prisoners of Munster Lager were sent to this 2nd camp while it was still under construction.

 

Soltau became the largest of the POW camps in Germany. Over 70.000 POWs were interred there during WWI.

 

link to a [ French language ] page with info on the early days of Munster and Soltau :

horizon14-18.eu/emile-houchon-1.html

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Uploaded on April 10, 2017
Taken sometime in 2017