World War I prisoners of war in Germany

Starting in 1915, the German authorities put in place a system of camps, nearly three hundred in all, and did not hesitate to resort to denutrition, punishments and psychological mobbing; incarceration was also combined with methodical exploitation of the prisoners.

However, the captivity organised by the German military authorities also contributed to creating exchanges among peoples and led a number of prisoners to reflect on their involvement in the war and relation with their homeland.

The Hague Conventions’ dispositions entered into force in the German Empire and France on 26 January 1910, but these agreements turned out to be unsuitable in the tumult of World War I.

[7] The camps mixed a large number of nationalities sharing the same quarters: French, Russian, British, American, Canadian, Belgian, Italian, Romanian, Serbian, Montenegrin, Portuguese and Japanese prisoners were found there, as well as Greeks and Brazilians.

The camps also included barracks for guards, a Kantine (cafeteria) where prisoners could sometimes buy small luxuries and supplementary food, a parcels office, a guardhouse, and kitchens.

[11]Prisoners on work details often spent longer or shorter periods of time away from their parent camp: those engaged in agriculture, for example, might be housed in village assembly halls.

Reprisal camps for officers existed, too: the fortress at Ingolstadt held Charles de Gaulle, Georges Catroux, Roland Garros, the journalist and World War II Resistance member Rémy Roure, the editor Berger-Levrault and the future Soviet Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky.

In effect, they were either too old: "Saw the general commanding the camp: old fogey with black red-striped pants […] and a big iron cross, he limps"[25] or unfit due to alcoholism or war wounds.

The prisoners dreaded the latter: "Finally the fourth German corporal, the youngest, Red Baby, a worthy student who did honour to Savage and Steel Mouth, only sought to do harm, always provoking, having several acts of savagery to his name.

According to official directives concerning nourishment issued at the beginning of 1916, each week the prisoner was to have 600–1,000g of potatoes, 200-300g of vegetables at lunch, meat three times, fish twice and 150g of legumes.

Only parcels and shipments from charitable bodies including the Central Prisoners of War Committee (in Britain), the Vetement du Prisonnier (in France), and the Red Cross, allowed them to hang on.

[36] As the blockade increasingly affected the Germans, and as the system of food parcels became established, prisoners – especially the British, and especially officers – were sometimes better fed than the military personnel guarding them and the local civilian population.

Roger Pelletier motivated his comrades: "Doesn't it fall to us, who have known them, to all of us here who are their great family, to raise, in the cemetery where they rest, a monument of the French soul that, spreading above them like an aegis, will be above our dead, when we have left, as a memory and a goodbye?

Also according to Doegen, Russia suffered the heaviest losses (perhaps explained by the poorer nutrition of Russians, most of whom did not receive packages from their families) with a little over 70,000 dead, followed by France with 17,069 deaths, Romania with 12,512, and then Italy and the United Kingdom.

The principle was simple: the prisoner was attached to a post, a tree or against a wall, hands behind his back, and had to remain in this position, which prevented him from moving, for a certain amount of time, without eating or drinking.

Prisoners far from their country were, by definition, easy prey for propaganda which, partly oriented toward them, could be classed into two types: that made among the German population; and that distributed inside the camps, which was meant to take effect in France.

Little by little a relationship built on understanding developed, as Charles Gueugnier, a simple zouave, noted in his daily diary: "Beautiful day, many visitors around the camp; among this crowd black dominates: grief has driven away their insolent smugness.

[80] The French and the Belgians had their own analogous newspaper: La Gazette des Ardennes,[81] founded in 1914 at Charleville and described by Charles Gueugnier as "true German poison".

A prisoner had to blend in, adopt local mannerisms so as not to appear suspicious, know how to speak German and have credible civilian clothing: "The state of an escapee's soul?

The latter did not denounce him, instead helping him leave the city that night: "[…] then he guided me across a maze of back-alleys and yards, through which I would never have found my way alone, until the entrance to a street where he left me, not without first vigorously shaking my hand and wishing me good luck.

"[3] The Red Cross, not content merely with helping prisoners, also lent assistance to families who did not know where their loved ones were being held, by ensuring that the latter received mail or money intended for them.

From 1914, both male and female civilians aged 14 and over[96] from the occupied zones were forced to work, quite often on projects related to the war effort,[97] such as the rebuilding of infrastructure destroyed by fighting (roads, rail tracks, etc.).

"[109] By 10 October 1918, 1,434,529 Russians had been made prisoner since the start of the war, as had 535,411 Frenchmen, 185,329 Britons, 147,986 Romanians, 133,287 Italians, 46,019 Belgians, 28,746 Serbs, 7,457 Portuguese, 3,847 Canadians, 2,457 Americans, 107 Japanese and 5 Montenegrins.

The poor condition of accommodations in France was noted by a number of men, including Charles Gueugnier: "Entering there, the heart tightened; one was caught by an irrepressible disgust.

The Ministry of War gave instructions meant to lend more warmth to the former prisoners' return: "The people should give them a cordial welcome, to which the sufferings of captivity have given them the right.

Nicolas Beaupré cites the letter of one of Éditions Berger-Levrault's directors in which he insists on giving a direction to the publication of war stories, more for vainglory than a depiction of events: "Currently we, more than any other publishing house, are editing, as much at Nancy as in Paris, with very restrained means.

"[128] Politically, they managed to secure several rights, notably the ability to repatriate the bodies of soldiers who had died in captivity and especially to have them benefit from the distinction Mort pour la France, which they obtained in 1922.

[133] Jacques Rivière, a prisoner since 24 August 1914, took an entirely different approach, developed in L'Allemand: "I must confess frankly: a relationship is described here, rather than an objective, rather than an appearance […] The subject of my book is Franco-German antagonism.

The story does not portray negative characters: soldiers or guards, the Germans are good guys, while the Allied prisoners perform their duties conscientiously but without excessive heroism.

[138] Le voyageur sans bagage is a play by Jean Anouilh written in 1937 (reprinted in 1958) and deals with the true story of the Anthelme Mangin (Octave Monjoin) affair.