GREATWAR-L Archives

Archiver > GREATWAR > 2001-11 > 1004768757


From: Iain Kerr <>
Subject: Re: [WW1] POW's (WW1)
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2001 06:25:57 +0000
In-Reply-To: <000001c162d3$5126bfc0$21a46fd4@q9z7a9>


At 12:47 PM 01/11/01 +0000, trev-hazel wrote:
>Iain ­ thank you so much for that. We have a starting point now.
>
>But, one puzzle, all we have to go on is ‘salt mines’ ­ this being
>something you hear from childhood which exists as somewhere ‘over there’
>until you realise one of your kith and kin died in such a place. Another
>relative who escaped said on his return to the UK that the man we are
>trying to trace had white hair down to his shoulders and looked as old
>as the hills in captivity, and when he left his home here he had been
>around 19! There is no-one around in the family to ask now.
>
>I know this is pure ignorance to our shame, but are we talking about
>Russia?
>
>Hazel

Hazel,

The Germans established a number of Prisoner of War Camps in Germany and
elsewhere to hold the men that were taken prisoner on the Western Front and
in other theatres of operations. The soldiers in those camps were expected
to work on farms and in factories, often in difficult conditions with poor
food and limited medical support. While some of the work may have been in
salt mines, which do exist in Germany (as there are salt mibnes in the UK),
it may have been an apochryphal phrase referring to the hard conditions
suffered by the men in the camps.

There is no way that a German PW Camp could be in Russia. Germany and
Russia were at war!

Yours aye,

Iain Kerr in Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom
Web Page at: http://home.clara.net/iainkerr/index.htm
RootsWeb Sponsor and Listowner for the WORLDWAR2 Mailing List.

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