Quedlinburg prisoner of war camp

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Memorial at the site of the former prisoner of war camp
Memorial of the prisoners of war in the central cemetery
as spherical panorama view

The Quedlinburg prisoner of war camp was a medium-sized German prisoner of war camp during the First World War . It was built in 1914/1915 on the Ritteranger two kilometers north of Quedlinburg , had 48 prison barracks and three satellite camps in Aschersleben , Staßfurt and Atzendorf .

During the war mainly Russian, French, Belgian and English, and since 1917 also Italian team soldiers were interned. From the beginning they were used to set up the camp and later as workers in work details, especially in agriculture.

It was also used as a transit camp after the war. It was not until 1921 that the last Russian prisoners left the camp, after which it was burned down. 703 deceased prisoners of war were buried in a special part of the central cemetery in Quedlinburg .

A memorial erected by prisoners of war has been preserved at the former location of the camp. In the course of the preparations for the construction of the federal highway 6 , archaeological excavations took place in 2004, during which ground plans of buildings and utensils were found.

Camp infrastructure

The camp was built on 104 hectares with 48 barracks for the prisoners. To prevent escape attempts, barbed wire fences were erected. In eight double rows, three barracks stood next to each other on the gable side. To the northeast of it were eight barracks for the guards and on the western side of Ditfurter Weg there were a number of large administration buildings. There were also three isolated sick barracks northwest of the camp. Watchtowers with machine guns stood in the middle of each long side and at strategically important points. The wooden barracks were about 53 meters long, 11 meters wide, 3.5 meters high and contained 22 windows.

Personalities

Known prisoners

  • Norman Cowan (1898-2003)
  • Théophile Radin (1889-1918)

Sources and literature

Contemporary propaganda

  • Wilhelm Doegen, Theodor Kappstein: POWs peoples . Berlin 1921.
  • Joachim Kühn: From French war diaries. I. Voices from German captivity. With 16 facsimile supplements . Berlin 1918.
  • Josef Risse: The prisoner of war camp in the district of the IV Army Corps. At the instigation of the Deputy General Command, IV Army Corps . Halle (Saale) 1916.

Sources and Diaries

  • Reports des délégués du gouvernement espagnol sur leurs visites dans les camps de prisonniers français en Allemagne 1914–1917 . Paris 1918.
  • Martina Dienemann, Thomas Wozniak: The Quedlinburg prisoner of war camp of the First World War in French-language sources , in: Quedlinburger Annalen. Heimatkundliches Jahrbuch für Stadt und Region Quedlinburg 12 (2009), pp. 139–148.
  • Saskia Koch, Thomas Wozniak: The British prisoner of war Norman Cowan 1918 in Quedlinburg , in: Quedlinburger Annalen. Heimatkundliches Jahrbuch für Stadt und Region Quedlinburg 13 (2010), pp. 35–48.

Research literature

  • Jean-Claude Auriol: Les Barbelés des Bannis. La tragédie des prisonniers de guerre francais en Allemagne durant la Grande Guerre . Paris 2002.
  • Jens Brauer, Thomas Wozniak: The Quedlinburg prisoner of war camp in the First World War - The historical sources. In: Harald Meller (Ed.): Archeology XXL. Archeology on the B6n in the district of Quedlinburg (= Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt. Special volume 21 / I). State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Halle (Saale) 2006, ISBN 3-910010-99-7 , pp. 265–268.
  • Volker Demuth: From the battlefield on the Bode. Archeology of the prisoner-of-war camp in Quedlinburg. In: Harald Meller (Ed.): Archeology XXL. Archeology on the B6n in the district of Quedlinburg (= Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt. Special volume 21 / I). State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Halle (Saale) 2006, ISBN 3-910010-99-7 , pp. 269-274.
  • Volker Demuth: 'Those Who Survived the Battlefields' Archaeological Investigations in a Prisoner of War Camp Near Quedlinburg (Harz / Germany) from the First World War. In: Journal of Conflict Archeology 5, H. 1, (2009), pp. 163-181 (19) doi: 10.1163 / 157407709X12634580640452
  • Richard van Emden: Prisoners of the Kaiser. The last POWs of the Great War . Barnsley 2000.
  • Dorothy Jones: Quedlinburg men's camp - Christmas in Denmark. Revised January 16, 2018 (pdf, English)
  • Thomas Wozniak: "... the camp is exemplary in every respect ...". Prisoners of war of the First World War in Quedlinburg (1914-1922) , in: Yearbook for the History of Central and East Germany 57 (2011), pp. 125-154, ISSN  2191-9909 , ISSN  0075-2614 , doi: 10.1515 / 9783110236651.125

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Wozniak: "... the camp is exemplary in every respect ...". Prisoners of war of the First World War in Quedlinburg (1914–1922) , in: Yearbook for the History of Central and Eastern Germany 57 (2011), pp. 125–154, here p. 126.
  2. ^ Richard van Emden: Prisoners of the Kaiser. The last POWs of the Great War. Barnsley 2000, p. 185.
  3. ↑ Thomas Wozniak: "... the camp is exemplary in every respect ...". Prisoners of war of the First World War in Quedlinburg (1914–1922) , in: Yearbook for the History of Central and Eastern Germany 57 (2011), pp. 125–154, here p. 125.

Coordinates: 51 ° 48 ′ 38 "  N , 11 ° 10 ′ 58"  E