Bandō prisoner of war camp
The Bandō POW camp ( Japanese 板 東 俘虜 収容所 , Bandō Furyoshūyōjo ) was a Japanese POW camp during the First World War . It was near the place of the same name (1959 in Ōasa and this incorporated in 1967 in Naruto ), 12 km from the prefecture capital Tokushima , on Shikoku , the smallest of the four main Japanese islands.
From April 1917 to December 1919 around 953 German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers were interned there. The Bandō camp deserves special attention due to its liberal character and creative prison life.
prehistory
On November 7, 1914, the German troops surrendered to the Japanese troops after the siege of Tsingtau . About 4,700 Germans (as well as some Austro-Hungarian prisoners) went into Japanese captivity. Since at the beginning of the First World War none of the parties involved expected the conflict to last for a long time, the German prisoners of war in Japan were initially housed in temporary public buildings such as temples, teahouses or barracks. However, when the end of the fighting was not in sight, twelve large camps were gradually set up on the outskirts of twelve Japanese cities (between Tokyo and Kumamoto ). The Bandō camp was created by merging three older facilities ( Marugame , Matsuyama and Tokushima ) in 1917.
Construction of the camp
The total area was 57,233 m². Ordinary soldiers were housed in eight barracks, each arranged in groups of four; the officers occupied two wooden quarters of their own north of it. In the south-west of the camp was the business district with numerous shacks; further stands were spread over the entire rest of the area.
Conditions in the warehouse
The conditions and conditions of detention in the individual camps were quite different. In some prison camps, prisoners enjoyed relatively liberal and humane treatment, while in other locations there was physical abuse. Bandō owes its fame to the fact that it was the most liberal and philanthropic prison in Japan. The decisive factor for the particularly good conditions was the policy of the camp commandant Matsue Toyohisa (former head of the Tokushima camp), who showed a great deal of understanding and tolerance for the needs of the prisoners and encouraged them to be productive.
Prisoners' activities
Due to the liberal camp management, land could be leased for sporting or agricultural purposes. Wooden booths served as stalls and public spaces in which u. a. Handicrafts, food and luxury goods, cosmetics or pharmaceuticals were produced. Shower and hot baths provided for physical well-being, and even massages were offered. Camp life was therefore more like that in a small town than in a war prison.
Reasons and effects of the multifaceted life in the camp
A large part of the prisoners consisted not of professional soldiers , but of reservists or volunteers with a wide variety of professions (baker, cook, butcher, carpenter, locksmith, plumber, shoemaker, tailor, painter, watchmaker, pharmacist, hairdresser or barber, photographer, washer) . This constellation ensured a lively exchange among the prisoners, who trained each other in courses (economics, geography, art, culture, fortifications, shorthand, bookkeeping, language courses, electrical engineering, instrument making, etc.). Through this transfer of knowledge, many prisoners acquired useful qualifications even after the war.
Some camp activities in detail
Warehouse printing
In the warehouse there was a lithographic printing shop and the so-called warehouse printing shop, in which printed products of all kinds (event programs, cards, postcards, lecture slips, entry tickets, certificates, notes, advertising slips, maps, plans, technical drawings, books, postage stamps for warehouse use) were produced were. The most important publications included the “Bandō Daily Telegram Service” and the “News Service” (daily information leaflets) and the camp newspaper “Die Baracke ” (initially published weekly, then monthly).
Music and theater
In the Bandō prison camp there was a high number of music circles (the Kiautschou sailor artillery band , the Tokushima orchestra , the Schulz orchestra or a mandolin band) and theater groups. The quality of the performances ranged from simple amateur pieces to professional performances and concerts (orchestra and choir concerts, chamber music and recitals).
All in all, over 100 concerts and musical lecture evenings as well as several dozen plays and entertainment programs were presented during the approximately 32 months of imprisonment. In many cases these were organized by the missionary Hermann Bohner . The only long break in the camp's cultural life was caused by the Spanish flu , which also reached Bandō in November 1918.
The musical highlight and lasting legacy was the Japanese premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony on June 1, 1918, which is being sung in many Japanese cities today for the New Year celebrations.
Exhibitions
The extensive exhibitions of the inmates, which were primarily aimed at visitors outside the camp, made an important contribution to the dissemination of German cultural assets in Japan beyond the Bandō prison camp. The first suggestion in this regard was given by the Protestant pastor Emil Schröder, from whom a toy exhibition consisting of eight tables arose in December 1917.
In March 1918, the Bandō community made public rooms available to the prisoners, in which the “Exhibition for Visual Art and Craftsmanship” was held specifically for a Japanese audience for one month. The exhibits in the exhibition included paintings, drawings, metal, wood and handicrafts, apparatus, models, theater props and costumes, musical instruments, and German food. The 50,095 visitors, including several school classes from the area, filled the prisoners with pride and continued motivation.
Exercise and physical exercise
In front of the camp there were nine sports fields on which all imaginable sports ( soccer , batting , fistball , netball , hockey , tennis , gymnastics , fencing , athletics , boxing , wrestling , weight lifting, etc.) could be exercised. Within the facility, the use of the two lakes as a rowing and sailing area was permitted. From May 1918 onwards, the prisoners practiced “typically German” forms of physical fitness such as forming human pyramids or other sculptural groups as part of gymnastics.
In the summer months, bathing in nearby rivers was allowed and from July 1919 even trips to the sea in Kushiki ( 櫛 木 ).
In addition to sport, activities such as felling wood and building bridges ensured physical balance.
Contacts with the local population
Japanese traders regularly visited the warehouse. In addition, there were relatively frequent encounters during activities such as wood felling, bridge building, excursions, demonstrations, exhibitions, etc.
The keen interest of the local population in the abilities of prisoners of war led to courses and longer employment. The knowledge imparted (western vegetable growing, cattle breeding, dairy, butchery and bakery, German culinary art, schnapps distilling, European architecture etc.) created a long-lasting positive image of the German prisoners of war and their home country in Japan.
Bandō's "afterlife" and influence
"Afterlife"
Most of the prisoners were released in December 1919 and January 1920. The majority returned to Germany, but some settled in Japan and East Asia. The camp was officially closed on February 8, 1920, after which the site was used as a training ground for the Japanese army . After the Second World War , it was used to accommodate Japanese returnees from overseas.
The resumption of relations between former prisoners and locals did not succeed until the 1960s.
In 1972 the Museum Deutsches Haus Naruto was opened; Two years later, the town twinning Naruto - Lüneburg followed (residence of some prisoners). As part of the events between the twin cities, the solemn performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony has been the highlight since 1982.
In 1993 a larger new building - in the style of the town hall of Lüneburg - replaced the "German House Naruto" as a museum for the Bando prisoner of war camp.
In 1997, a bronze Beethoven statue was erected on the square in front of the “Deutsches Haus” to commemorate the premiere of the 9th Symphony . The German artist / sculptor Peter Kuschel from Etzelwang (Bavaria) created this remarkable figure in months of work. For several years now, the 9th Symphony has been played in the “Deutsches Haus” on the first Sunday in June with the participation of choirs from all over Japan.
On October 27, 2011, the then German President Christian Wulff visited the "German House" in Naruto.
influence
The extremely good treatment of prisoners of war in Bandō contributed to the rapid normalization of German-Japanese relations in the 1920s.
filming
In 2006, the German-Japanese historical drama Ode to Joy ( バ ル ト の 楽 園 , Baruto no gakuen ), with Bruno Ganz and Ken Matsudaira in the leading roles, was directed by Masanobu Deme . This film deals with the Bandō prisoner of war camp and is intensely dedicated to the good relations between the former war opponents. In 2007 the film was also released in German.
See also
literature
- Tour guide through the Bando prisoner of war camp. Edited by the Bando warehouse printing company, 1918 ( digitized in the Berlin State Library )
- Hermann Bohner : Conversations about painting: Sketches for Thursday evenings - Bando March 1918/19. Camp printing of the POW camp, Bando 1919.
- Charles Burdick: The German Prisoners-of-War in Japan 1914-20. Boston 1984.
- Contributions to East Asian studies, collection of literary and scientific works by German prisoners of war in Japan 1914-20. Tōkyō 1922 ( OAG ); Sert .: Communications from the OAG. XVIII.
- Hermann Jacob u. a .: The angel orchestra. Its creation and development. 1914-1919. Prisoner of War camp printing press, Bando, Japan 1919.
- Hartmut Walravens: Captivity in Japan . In: News of the Society for Nature and Ethnology of East Asia . Issue 139–142, year 1986–87. Hamburg, S. 43–70 ( uni-hamburg.de [PDF; accessed on February 21, 2014]).
- Friedrich Solger : Homeland and ancestral blood. A reminder of the "Lectures on local history" held in the Bando camp from January 1918 to June 1919. Printed in the camp printing house of the POW camp, Bando 1919.
Individual evidence
- ↑ newspaper for d. Bando POW Camp, Japan. - Bando 1.1917 / 18.1 (Sept 30th) - 26th (March 24th); 2.1918.1 (March 31) - 3.1918 / 19 = No. 27-79; 1919, April-September; so that adjusted
- ↑ How the Ninth Came to Japan. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . October 26, 2011, p. 3.
Web links
- Information from the German Institute for Japanese Studies
- "The German House" - information from the city of Naruto
- The Choir of Prisoners The defenders of Tsingtau in Japanese camps
- "Tsingtau and Japan 1914 to 1920 - historical-biographical project"
- "Project Bandō" (PDF; 3.3 MB) (exhibition 2010)
Coordinates: 34 ° 9 ′ 32 " N , 134 ° 29 ′ 47" E