Christmas in Ruhleben - the POWs story

The following post was made a year ago on my Walking in Eternity blog, but is reproduced here for those who may be interested!


On Friday 6th November 1914, the mass internment of British civilians living in Germany began. For the next four years, some 5500 British and Commonwealth citizens were imprisoned at the camp, a converted racecourse just a few miles from Berlin, with many not seeing release until the end of the war. Whilst the common belief was "it will all be over by Christmas", few would have realised just how many Christmases would pass until that statement would finally ring true.

My own great uncle, John Paton, was interned at Ruhleben in late 1916, and not released until the end of 1918. I have spent several years trying to find out more about the prisoners at the camp, with so far the stories of some 2000 identified at my site, The Ruhleben Story, at http://ruhleben.tripod.com/. Along the way I have accumulated some interesting cards concerning the camp, portrayed below.




And there's a bit more about the camp in the following film!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d82DmA5mFw

Chris