THE MAIN PRISON CAMPS IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA In WW1
By Mrs. POPE-HENNESSY.
AIX or AACHEN.—A very ancient town (pop. 150,000) surrounded by gently . sloping, wooded hills. Once the favourite abode of Charlemagne, now a manufacturing city with over a hundred cloth factories and forty-five foundries, machine-shops, etc. There are nine hospitals in which British prisoners of war have been quartered, i.e., Reifmuseum, Maschinebauschule, Mariahilf, Luisen, Marien, Elisabeth and Garnison Hospitals, and Reserve Lazarets I and II. All British prisoners of war going to England or Holland are assembled here before leaving Germany. 8th Army Corps.
ALTDAMM, Pommern.—Small town (pop. 7,300) at the mouth of the Oder . opposite Stettin. Three camps; capacity 15,000. Built on a sandy drill-ground amidst pine woods. A few naval and civilian prisoners of war here. The centre of a large number of working gangs employed in the neighbourhood on estates, in forestry, factories, hotels, etc. 2nd Army Corps.
ALTENGRABOW (see GRABOW)..
AMBERG.—An old town (pop. 15,700) on the Vils, surrounded by a well-preserved wall and moat.The camp is built on rising ground near the new Bavarian Barracks on the outskirts of the city. Capacity 5,000. Many prisoners go out to work in surrounding country. 3rd Bavarian Army Corps.
ARYS.—Three-quarters of a mile from the town of Arys. Camp situated on undulating ground.Consists of fifty (barracks). Prisoners are employed in building, agriculture, etc. N.C.O.'s who do not volunteer for work are quartered there.The accommodation is of the earth barrack type. Winter climate very severe, 20th Army Corps.
AUGUSTABAD.—A hotel near the little town of Neu Brandenburg (pop. 12,300), which is enclosed by a wall 25 ft. high and ramparts.The hotel is situated on the slope just above the Tollensee; fishing and bathing are allowed in this lake.All British officers have been moved from here, 9th Army Corps.
BAD BLENHORST.—Eight miles from the station of Nieuburg on the Weser,not far from Soltau.The camp is situated in a Kurhaus in a good-sized park, partially wooded;tennis-lawns and fishing-ponds;surrounded by
the Liineberger Heide.10th Army Corps.
BAD-COLBERG (see COLBERG-BAD)..
BAUTZEN.—A town (pop. 32,800) situated on a height above the Spree.The prisoners are lodged in new artillery barracks completed just before the war. I2th Army Corps.
BAYREUTH.—Famous as the shrine of Wagner's operas. Camp situated on the outskirts of the town. A military manoeuvring ground. Barracks of wood to accommodate 5,000. There is a hospital in the town in a large stone drill hall in the garrison compound. American prisoners here.3rd Bavarian Army Corps.
BEESKOW.—An officers' camp.Prisoners housed in the old castle of the local Bishop, built in the sixteenth century.The buildings form a good-sized court.3rd Army Corps.
BERLIN.—The capital of Prussia (pop. 3,500,000), the third largest city in Europe. Several prison camps are established in the neighbourhood of Berlin, but none in the city itself. There is one large hospital. The Alexandrinenstrasse Lazaret, a special lazaret for prisoners of war established in the barracks of the 1st Guard Dragoons; these barracks are built round a yard, and four wooden huts have been added to the accommodation in the barrack-yard. There is also the Stadtvogtei, a prison to which British civilians from Ruhleben are sometimes sent. Guard Corps.
BEUTHEN.—Pop. 67,700.The centre of the important Upper Silesian mining industry.There are two large lazarets here.British prisoners first sent here in the spring of 1918.6th Army Corps.
BINGEN.—On the Rhine (pop. 12,000, the centre of a large wine trade, with good quays and embankments, and also a renowned technical college. British officers have recently been sent to this town.18th Army Corps.
BISCHOFSWERDA.—A little town (pop. 8,000).The officers' camp consists of new cavalry barracks situated some distance from the town on a hill near pine woods. Barracks not used before the war. For the moment abandoned. I2th Army Corps.
BLANKENBURG.—An officers' camp six miles from Berlin, consisting of three storied houses, well built, lighted and heated. Formerly a home for gentlewomen.Surrounded by well-kept grounds.3rd Army Corps.
BRANDENBURG.—A town (pop. 53,500) on the Havel, thirty-eight miles w.s.w.of Berlin.The camp consists of an abandoned terra-cotta factory. Prisoners here are naval and mercantile marine.3rd Army Corps.
BREMEN.—An important city (pop. 247,000) on both banks of the Weser; one of the chief commercial centres in north Germany and the headquarters of the North German Lloyd.There is a newly built garrison hospital in which prisoners are treated, also a working camp attached to Soltau. 9th Army Corps.
BURG.—A town (pop. 24,100) with cloth factories founded by Hugenots.The officers' camp was an artillery mobilisation centre, and consists of wagon-sheds, stores and stables.Wooden huts have been added to these buildings and some nine hundred prisoners can be accommodated here.The exercise ground is limited. 4th Army Corps.
BURGSTEINFURT.—There are no longer any British prisoners in this camp.7th Army Corps.
CARLSRUHE.—The capital (pop. 100,000) of the Grand Duchy of Baden. The streets spread out fan-wise from the Schloss. This town has become industrialised since 1870 and makes engines, railway carriages, furniture, plated goods, etc. There is an officers' camp to which the great number of newly captured British officers are sent. It consists of wooden hutments erected in the grounds of the Schloss. I4th Army Corps.
CASSEL (Niederzwehren).—This town (pop. 153,000) is the headquarters of the 11th Army Corps.The camp is place! on a hill overlooking the Fulda Valley, one mile from Niederzwehren, a suburb of Cassel. Barracks of wood accommodating some 20,000. Prisoners employed in factories and workshops. American prisoners here.
CELLE (Scheuen).—Camp a few miles from the town of Celle on the Aller, twenty-eight miles N.E. of Hanover.A training centre for German reserves.On sandy soil near pine woods.Camp broken up in the autumn of 1916,but Reserve Lazaret I (St. Joseph) reserved for eye cases.10th Army Corps
CELLE SCHLOSS.—A camp for civilians and ex-officers at Celle town established in the old castle, which is picturesquely situated on a hill amongst fine grounds.It is a large building, formerly belonging to the King of Hanover. 10th Army Corps.
CHEMNITZ.—A large and important manufacturing town (pop. 287,000) at the base of the Erzgebirge. The camp is on a hill above the town in newly built artillery barracks—the Friedrich August Kaserne. Central steam heating throughout, as in some other Saxon camps. British prisoners brought back from Russian Poland were, for the most part, brought to this camp. Many are employed in neighbouring salt mines, 19th Army Corps.
CLAUSTHAL.—The most important place in the Oberharz, and a mining centre.Country bleak and sterile. The mining output includes gold, silver, lead and copper. There is an officers' camp about two miles from the town, established in the Kurhaus Pfauenteich, 2,000 ft. above sea-level, in the Hartz Mountains. It is built of wood with brick foundations. 10th Army Corps.
http://themanchesters.org/forum/index.php?topic=1517.0COBLENZ.—The capital of Rhenish Prussia (pop. 55,000) in a beautiful position at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine.The centre of the wine trade.There is a hospital lazaret here run by Brothers of Mercy, in which prisoners are treated.8th Army Corps.
COLBERG (BAD).—The sanatorium for thermal springs is now an officers'camp, Temporary buildings have been added. Surroundings attractive and healthy. 11th Army Corps.
COLOGNE.—The largest town (pop. 500,000) in Rhenish Prussia and one of the most important commercial places in Germany, with extensive harbour works and wharves on the Rhine. A first-class fortress. There is no general camp for prisoners here, but there are several hospitals. The majority of the Britisli prisoners are treated either in the Garnison Lazaret I or the Kaiserin Augusta Schule Lazaret VI. There is also a prison for officers undergoing special punishment in the Schnurgasse, a massive old military prison. 8th Army Corps.
CONSTANCE.—Pop. 15,000. Situated on the lake of the same name. It is the place in which all officers and men for internment in Switzerland are concentrated.
COTTBUS.—A busy town on the Spree (pop. 48,600) containing wool, linen and yarn factories. Seventy miles S.E. of Berlin. The camp is situated on rising ground on the outskirts of the town. The buildings radiate from a central guard tower. There is a Y.M.C.A. hut. This is a coal-mining district, and the camp is under the same command as Merzdorf. 3rd Army Corps.
CREFELD.-—An important railway centre (pop. 130,000) containing the chief velvet and silk factories in Germany. Has now been abandoned as a British officers' camp.There is a lazaret for men here.8th Army Corps.
CROSSEN (see KROSSEN).
CUSTRIN.—A strongly fortified town (pop. 17,600) at the confluence of the Warthe and the Oder.Two of the forts forming part of the fortress surrounding the town are arranged to accommodate officers—Fort Gorgast and Fort Zorndorf.3rd Army Corps.
CZERSK.—Small town on the Danzig-Schneidemiihl Railway in West Prussia.A camp for Russians, to which British prisoners have recently been sent. 17th Army Corps.
DANZIG (Troyl).—Capital of West Prussia (pop. 170,000). Headquarters of I7th . Army Corps. One of the most important commercial towns in North Germany. The prisoners here are housed in barges four deep and four in length, moored to a flat stretch of land on the bank of the Vistula River opposite the city of Danzig. Some of these barges contain one hundred to five hundred men. The holds are lit by electricity. The administration, kitchen, store-houses, etc., of the camp are on land. There is a Y.M.C.A. hut.
DARMSTADT.—Capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse (pop. 87,000). The camp is four miles from the town and consists of brick buildings on the cavalry exercise ground. There are a large number of working commandos attached to this camp; there is also a camp hospital in which six Catholic Sisters, work. There is a lazaret in the town. American prisoners here. i8th Army Corps.
DEUTSCH GABEL.—A camp on the confines of Bohemia and Saxony for merchant seamen.Under Austrian administration.
DOBELN—A small town (pop. 19,600). There is an officers camp here established in barracks built of brick about a mile from the station, 19th Army Corps.
DOEBERITZ.—A large camp eight miles from Berlin in which prisoners of the Naval Division captured at Antwerp in 1914 were imprisoned.It is described as the Aldershot of Berlin and is close to an important military training centre.There is a Y.M.C.A. hut here.Guard Corps.
DORTMUND.—The largest city in Westphalia (pop. 300,000) and the centre of an important mining district. There is a modern hospital for prisoners on the outskirts of the town administered by Catholic Brothers of Mercy.There is also a working camp.Men are housed in large brick buildings and are engaged in mining and in iron foundries, 7th Army Corps.
DUISBURG.—An ancient town which has become a large manufacturing city (pop. 229,000).One of the chief depots of the Ruhr coal-traffic, and one of the finest river ports in Germany.There is an assembly camp for
prisoners here, and it is the centre of many working commandos.7th Army Corps.
DOLMEN.—A small town (pop. 7,500) with a castle surrounded by estates of the Duke of Croy-Diilmen, the centre of numerous working commandos.There is a large assembly camp placed on high heather ground five miles from the town.The barracks are good.7th Army Corps.
DUSSELDORF.—A centre on the Lower Rhine (pop.380,000) of great industrial importance.A great land port. There is a garrison lazaret newly built on the outskirts of the town in which prisoners are treated.
They also work in the town.7th Army Corps.
DYROTZ.—Seven miles from Dbberitz, near Berlin.Prisoners are housed in newly erected, well-ventilated barracks.There is a recreation hut built by the men themselves out of British funds.Guard Corps.
ERFURT.—A very ancient town on the Gera (pop. 111,500).The prisoners' barracks here are built in the exercise ground in the town.Capacity, 15,000.7th Army Corps.
ERLANGEN.—A university town (pop. 15,814).Hospital for officers.3rd Bavarian Army Corps.
EUTIN.—The birthplace of Weber.An old town (pop. 6,200) on a lake in Holstein. Officers' camp.
FRANKFURT A/M.—Important commercial city (pop. 410,000) on the Main with large Jewish colony. There are several hospitals here in which British prisoners have been treated.Reserve Lazaret II and H 65 are the principal ones.
FRANKFURT A/0.—Pop. 68,200.Formerly the seat of a university (1506-1811).The camp lies on a high sloping plain four miles from the town, with lovely views.There is a Y.M.C.A. hut. Formerly the site of the Grube Vaterland coal-mining works.Capacity, 18,000.3rd Army Corps.
FRIEDBERG.—Pop. 9,500.Once a free imperial city.It is twenty-five miles north of Frankfurt a. Main, within sight of Nauheim. Officer prisoners are quartered in stone barracks completed on outbreak of war.Situated
on extreme outskirts of town.There is a row of little gardens for the use of the interned, but no trees. 18th Army Corps.
FREIBURG.—A beautifully sHuated town(pop. 80,000)with views over the surrounding country.The officers' camp is in the old university building in the town, built round a quadrangle with trees in it.14th Army Corps.
FRIEDRICHSFELD.—Sixty miles morth of Cologne near Wesel. Capacity, 35,000.There is an open space in the centre of the camp for football and tennis; also gardens with flower-beds between the barracks; large vegetable gardens and potato field run by the prisoners. It is the centre of many working commandos, mining and otherwise. It is also a postal station for a large number of prisoners who have never been in the camp itself. 7th Army Corps.
FURSTENBERG.—A small town fifty miles north of Berlin.The officer prisoners are quartered in a well-known summer hotel or Erholungsheim, with a good view over the surrounding country and lake, a mile from the town. It has a glass verandah and the grounds are considerable. Walks are permitted. Close to the main road. 9th Army Corps.
GARDELEGEN.—An old town with dilapidated walls (pop. 8,500) near Stendal on the line Hanover-Berlin.A large camp, to which prisoners have been sent since September,1914.The centre of many workin commandos.4th Army Corps.
GERMERSHEIM.—Pop. 6,000.Situated at the confluence of the Gneich and Rhine.The camp is a mile from the town, which contains eleven hospitals. 2nd Bavarian Army Corps.
GIESSEN.—Chief town in Upper Hesse, on the Lahn (pop. 31,000), the seat of a university. The prisoners' camp stands on a hill a mile and a-half above the town flanked on one side by main highway and on the other by pine-woods, surrounded by a high board fence. Barracks are raised two to three feet from the ground. Library, good prisoner of war band and Y.M.C.A. hut. A great many Canadians concentrated here at one time. American prisoners here. 18th Army Corps.
GLEIWITZ.—Pop. 66,900. Situated in a mining and manufacturing district of Silesia. British prisoners sent there after March, 1918. Accommodation in cavalry barracks.
GNADENFREI.—A Moravian Colony in Silesia, near Neisse. Officers' camp situated in a school for boys belonging to a religious brotherhood.6th Army Corps.
GORLITZ.—A busy town (pop. 85,800) with extensive cloth and machinery factories on the Neisse.The camp, with a capacity of 14,000, is situated near the town.It is liable to become muddy, and plank walks and roads have been made throughout the enclosure.18th Army Corps.
GOTTINGEN.—Old university town (pop. 37,500).The prison camp is situated on the side of a hill on the outskirts of Gottingen.British prisoners sent away from here November, 1916.Library. Classes and lectures
held in the camp under Professor Stange of the University,10th ArmyCorps.
GRABOW.—A great working camp centre.Prisoners employed on estates, in forestry, on railway line between Berlin and Liibeck, in factories, etc. Camp consists of eight compounds of six barracks each. Formerly a military camp.4th Army Corps.
GRAFENWOHR.—In Bavaria.Lazaret on the outskirts of the town near the new military drill ground;also camp for prisoners.Buildings modern with stucco walls and tiled roofs.Bavarian Corps.
GRAUDENZ.—A strong fortress town (pop. 40,300)on the Polish frontier,picturesquely situated on the right bank of the Vistula.British officers have been sent there since March,1918.It was used as a prison in the
war of 1870. American prisoners here.
GRIESHEIM.—A village ten minutes by rail from Frankfurt a/M.Officers are quartered in school buildings. 18th Army Corps.
GUBEN.—Pop. 387,300).Pleasantly situated on the Neisse,with extensivs cloth and hat factories.As at Krossen, the prison camp is arranged round a central guard tower with barracks radiating from it.It is five miles from the city.3rd Army Corps.
GUSTROW.—A cathedral town in Mecklenburg (pop. 17,800) with an old ducal castle.The prison camp is situated in pine-woods three miles from the town.It consists of wooden barracks holding some 25,000 men. The camp carries on its register over 50,000 names, which proves that it is a centre for a great number of working commandos,9th Army Corps.
GUTERSLOH.—A silk and cotton centre (pop. 18,300).The camp consists of brick buildings originally erected for a sanatorium.Situated in pine-wood district on sandy soil.Never before occupied.Large exercise ground,hockey, football and tennis. 7th Army Corps.
HALLE.—On the Saale (pop. 180,500), with a university of great repute.It is an industrial place of some importance with manufactures of machinery,sugar and starch.The prison camp for officers is a disused factory in the manufacturing district of Halle.Built round three sides of a square. Exercise ground,too by 50 yards.Disused in 1917, now once more in use.4th Army Corps.
