Germany: Prisoners, including: Reports of visits of inspection to the following internment...

FO 383/268

1917

Germany: Prisoners, including:

Reports of visits of inspection to the following internment camps:

• Ingolstadt, Forts VIII, IX and X.
• Bischofswerda.
• Clausthal.
• Colberg.
• Friedberg.
• Danholm Bei Stralsund.
• Furstenberg.
• Heidelberg.
• Neisse.
• Crefeld.
• Husaren-Kaserne.
• Städtisches Krankenhaus.
• Magdeburg prison, with a description of the court martial of Captain Graham Toler and Lieutenant Colin Campbell.
• Magdeburg Lazaret [Hospital].

Comments on the appointment of Dr Roemer as an inspector of prisoner of war camps.

Account of the sinking of SS Gravina and the subsequent treatment of the Spanish prisoners interned at Brandenburg.

Proposed meeting with General Friedrich at The Hague to discuss questions relating to prisoners, including:

• Opposition to the plan by the French authorities and subsequent postponement of the meeting.
• Arrival of General Friedrich at The Hague.
• Questions to be raised by the British delegates.
• Interview with Monsieur Cambon about the proposed meeting.

Notification of the closure of the internment camp at Crefeld.

Interviews with the following British and Canadian soldiers on their experiences while interned in Germany, some of which are annotated in manuscript by Edgar Wallace (in docket nos.118080, 118081 and 118082), who was working as a special interrogator for the War Office:

• Private George Cox.
• Corporal Frederick Thorne, with a list of names of British soldiers interned at Herzlake (in docket no. 118074).
• Private James Gilroy.
• Private Leonard Howard.
• Private Thomas Lever.
• Private W Coombes.
• Sergeant F G Hammersley.
• Lance Corporal J H Smith.
• Private George Hallan.
• Private Frank Callaghan.
• Private Samuel Blackshaw.
• Private William Wiltshire.
• Private Edwin Young.
• Private Percy Neale.
• Lance Corporal Arthur Fidler.
• Lieutenant G W Nelson.
• Lieutenant Cyril Meyer.
• Captain P H Lowe.
• Sergeant L Heath.
• Captain A Barron Allistone.
• Private George Young.

Summary of complaints regarding conditions at Clausthal and Friedberg Camps, from letters forwarded by Captain Godsal.

Mr Gilbert Insall: enquiry about the sentence of solitary confinement passed on his son, Lieutenant G S M Insall, at Crefeld.

Report by Dr E A Keuchenius on the refusal by the German authorities to allow him to carry out inspections of internment camps.

Memorandum from the Netherlands Legation in Berlin on the death of Chief Engine Room Artificier David Garrett at Langenmoor Camp.

Reduction of sentences passed on certain British prisoners (names in docket no.118336).

Proposed investigation into interference with parcels sent to Preussich-Holland Camp.

Permission for Jonkheer C G W F van Vredenburch to carry out visits of inspection to camps and hospitals containing British military or civilian prisoners.

Request for information concerning Private Johnstone, reportedly interned at Giessen.

German memorandum on the refusal by Corporal Robertson and Corporal Wilson to work on the construction of Zeppelin sheds.

Question of dental treatment for British prisoners, with a list of names of those requiring treatment (in docket no.118509).

Information from Mr van Vredenburch that only parcels sent to prisoners by their relatives were admissible.

Mr J A Paton: enquiry about ill-treatment of British prisoners, with an article from the Sunday Pictorial of 10 June 1917.

Extracts from interviews with various prisoners (names in docket no.119795) on long sentences passed on prisoners by the German authorities.

Extracts from interviews with various prisoners (names in docket no.119796) on the use of guard dogs at Hameln Camp.

Lance Corporal J H Smith: account of the circumstances of the death of Private Clancey at Sutrup Camp.

Private White: request for the appeal against his sentence to be reheard by a German court.

Mrs Lorna Dahl: allegations in a letter that prisoners at Crefeld, where her brother, Lieutenant Bellew, was interned, were forbidden to receive letters.

Report of an interview with Dr Roemer on his work as an inspector of prisons.

Request for an urgent inspection of Fort IX, Ingolstadt, following receipt of a coded message.

Copy of an article from The British Empire Union Monthly Record on the activities of the Emergency Committee for the Assistance of Germans and Austrians in Distress.

Receipt of a message on conditions at Westerhold Mine.

Report, with a number of extracts from interviews with British officers, non-commissioned officers and other ranks (names in docket no.122166), on the conditions which they encountered while being transported by rail from various towns in Belgium and Northern France to prison camps in Germany.

Mrs M R Krook: request for information on the internment camp at Schwarmstedt.

Code 1218 File 235 (papers 116671-122454).

File 235 (pp.116671-122454).

Public Record(s)

Open Document, Open Description

Topics

Internment

International

Army

Europe and Russia

Air transport

Disasters and emergencies

Armed Forces (General Administration)

Prisons