Ruhleben Prison Camp - Panoramic View Art

Ruhleben internment camp was a civilian detention camp in Germany during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It was located in Ruhleben, a former ''

Vorwerk Vorwerk may refer to: *Vorwerk, Lower Saxony, a municipality in the Rotenburg district, Lower Saxony *a locality of Altenmedingen, in the Uelzen district, Lower Saxony *a subdivision of Celle, Lower Saxony *a Vorwerk (fortification), an advanced f ...

'' manor to the west of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. This area is now split between the districts of

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs of Berlin, boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence (geography), confluence of the Havel and Spree (river), Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smalle ...

and

Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf () is the fourth borough of Berlin, formed in an administrative reform with effect from 1 January 2001, by merging the former boroughs of Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf. Overview Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf covers the ...

. The camp was developed on the site of a

harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australia ...

track laid out in 1908 north of the Berlin-Hamburg Railway line.

Detainees

Ruhleben Prison Camp - Christmas Dinner Art

The camp detainees included male citizens of the Allied Powers who were living, studying, working or on holiday in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

at the outbreak of

. They also included the crews of several civilian ships stranded in German harbours or captured at sea. There were numerous fishermen captured from trawlers which had been sunk in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

in the first days of the war: they were mainly men from

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

, Yorkshire; and

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town in Lincolnshire, England with a population of 86,138 (as of 2021). It is located near the mouth on the south bank of the Humber that flows to the North Sea. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes dir ...

and

Boston, Lincolnshire Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. It lies to the south-east of Lincoln, east of Nottingham and north-east of Peterborough. The town had a population of 45,339 at ...

. Numbers in the camp varied between 4,000 and 5,500 prisoners, most of them

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

. Life in the camp was described in several books and essays subsequently written by detainees. They included '' To Ruhleben – And Back'' (1916) by

Geoffrey Pyke Geoffrey Nathaniel Joseph Pyke (9 November 1893 – 21 February 1948) was an English people, English journalist, educationalist, and inventor. Pyke came to public attention when he escaped from internment in Germany during World War I. H ...

, who had successfully escaped from the camp in 1915; and ''Life in Ruhleben, 1914–1918'' (1920) by

Frederick Keel James Frederick Keel (8 May 18719 August 1954) was an English composer of art songs, baritone singer and academic. Keel was a successful recitalist and a professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music. He combined scholarly and artistic inte ...

. Quarters were cramped: the stable blocks averaged 27 stalls, each housing six men, and the stable block lofts each housed about 200 men. The German authorities adhered to the

Geneva Convention upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...

and allowed the camp detainees to administer their own internal affairs. Gradually, a mini-society evolved. Letters, books, sports equipment and a printing press were all allowed into the camp, and the detainees organised their own police force, magazine, library and postal service. The latter, known as the Ruhleben Express Delivery, was organised by Albert Kamps and began operating in July 1915. Soon it was handling over 6,000 pieces of mail per month, and 16 different postage stamps were issued which have since become collectors items. In April 1916, however, the German postal authorities declared the service illegal and it ceased operating. Prisoners grew flowers beside their barracks to give a bit beauty; this later evolved into the Ruhleben Horticultural Society, which became a formal affiliate in October 1916 of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

in London (subscription fee waived). Later they grew their own vegetables in the centre of the race track as fresh produce became harder to acquire. In addition, a number of independent businesses developed within the camp, including a casino.

Arts and culture

The detainees arranged their own entertainment. Among them were several musicians, including Ernest MacMillan, later to become a conductor of the

Toronto Symphony Orchestra The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toron ...

. Other British musicians included

Edgar Bainton Edgar Leslie Bainton (14 February 18808 December 1956) was a British-born, latterly Australian-resident composer. He is remembered today mainly for his liturgical anthem ''And I saw a new heaven'', a popular work in the repertoire of Anglican c ...

, Edward Clark and the Australian-born

Arthur Benjamin Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893 in Sydney – 10 April 1960 in London) was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of ''Jamaican Rumba'' (1938) and of the '' Storm Clouds Cantata'', fea ...

. MacMillan was a prominent member of the Ruhleben Musical Society, formed in 1915, and directed performances of ''

The Mikado ''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...

'' (with orchestra and costumes) and a

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

version of ''

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

''. MacMillan transcribed the music for the former from memory with the help of four other musicians, including

Benjamin Dale Benjamin James Dale (17 July 188530 July 1943) was an English composer and academic who had a long association with the Royal Academy of Music. Dale showed compositional talent from an early age and went on to write a small but notable corpus of ...

.MacMillan, Sir Ernest (1997). MacMillan on music: essays on music, Carl Morey (ed.
pp. 25–29
Dundurn Press Among those who attended these performances were

James W. Gerard James Watson Gerard III (August 25, 1867 – September 6, 1951) was a United States lawyer, diplomat, and justice of the New York Supreme Court. Early life Gerard was born in Geneseo, New York. His father, James Watson Gerard Jr., was a law ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

ambassador. The detainees also presented ''

Trial by Jury A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial, in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are increasingly used ...

'', ''

The Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 3 ...

'', ''

The Yeomen of the Guard ''The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid'', is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888 and ran for 423 performances. This was the eleventh ...

'' and ''

The Gondoliers ''The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria'' is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances (at that time t ...

''. MacMillan gave lectures on each of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

's symphonies, which were followed by

piano duet According to the ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', there are two kinds of piano duet: " ieces of musicfor two players at one instrument, and those in which each of the two pianists has an instrument to themselves." In American usage th ...

performances played by him together with Benjamin Dale. MacMillan was also a member of the Ruhleben Drama Society and acted in productions of ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

'', ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'', ''

Lady Windermere's Fan ''Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman'' is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed on Saturday, 20 February 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London. The story concerns Lady Windermere, who suspects that her husband is ...

'' and ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, a Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde, the last of his four drawing-room plays, following ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1892), ''A Woman of No Importance'' (1893) and ''An Ideal Husban ...

''. The artist Charles Freegrove Winzer was interned at the camp, and provided illustrations for the camp magazine. His detention was contested, because he worked for the

French Red Cross The French Red Cross (), or the CRF, is the national Red Cross Society in France founded in 1864 and originally known as the ''Société française de secours aux blessés militaires'' (SSBM). Recognized as a public utility since 1945, the Frenc ...

, and had been visiting his sister in Germany with permission of the military authorities there. Some of his

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

s, depicting life in the camp, are now in the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial (AWM) is a national war memorial, war museum, museum and archive dedicated to all Australians who died as a result of war, including peacekeeping duties. The AWM is located in Campbell, Australian Capital Territory, C ...

collection.

Education

The British Government provided internees with books for educational purposes for free. A wooden hall erected by the YMCA, which housed the library of about 5000 volumes sent over from Britain, served as a place for reading. Detainees also arranged their own school and ′college′. A ''Ruhleben Camp School'' offered elementary and high school education to younger internees. Within the ''Arts and Science Union,'' organised by the British chemist and inventor Henry Stafford Hatfield, scholars from different fields gave lectures of university standard, organised in the open air. Among the lecturers were the physicists

James Chadwick Sir James Chadwick (20 October 1891 – 24 July 1974) was an English nuclear physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1935 for his discovery of the neutron. In 1941, he wrote the final draft of the MAUD Report, which inspired t ...

, Charles D. Ellis and

Henry Brose Henry Herman Leopold Adolph Brose (15 September 1890 – 24 February 1965) was an Australian physicist and translator. During the First World War, he was interned as a civilian prisoner in Germany. He was the first Australian to be awarded a Ph ...

, and the historian and author

John Cecil Masterman Sir John Cecil Masterman OBE (12 January 1891 – 6 June 1977) was a British academic, sportsman and author. His highest-profile role was as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, but he was also well known as chairman of the Twenty ...

Sports

Ruhleben Prison Camp - slaves of the ring Art

Sports also played a major role in the lives of the detainees. Among them were several former professional

footballers A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, including three former

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

internationals,

Fred Pentland Frederick Beaconsfield Pentland (29 July 1883 – 16 March 1962) was an English football player and coach. Pentland played club football in the Football League for Blackpool, Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough, in the Southern Football League f ...

, Samuel Wolstenholme and

Steve Bloomer Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem " Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played a ...

; a

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

international, John Cameron; a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

international,

Edwin Dutton Edwin Dutton (8 April 1890 – 24 May 1972) was an Anglo-German footballer and coach. Dutton played as a forward for Britannia Berlin 92, BFC Preussen, Newcastle United and Germany. During the First World War he was interned at Ruhleben, a c ...

; and

John Brearley John Brearley (October 1875 – 1944) was an English football player and manager. He played as a forward for several clubs, most notably Millwall Athletic, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur. He was able to play in at least five outfield position ...

, once of Everton and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. The Ruhleben Football Association was formed with Pentland as chairman and Cameron as secretary. Cup and league competitions were organised with teams representing the individual camp barracks. Around 500 prisoners played in the football competitions. Several thousand spectators attended the bigger games. A series of exhibition and "international" matches were also organised. On 2 May 1915 an "England XI" featuring Pentland, Wolstenholme, Brearley and Bloomer played a "World XI" captained by Cameron. Towards the end of the war an international triangular tournament called the ''Coupe de Allies'', featuring a "British XI", a "French XI" and a "Belgium XI", was organised. Other sports such as

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

were also popular within the camp. In May 1915 a "Ruhleben XI", featuring Bloomer and Brearley, played a " Varsities XI" in the Ruhleben Cricket League. In July 1916 a "Lancashire XI", featuring Bloomer, beat a "Yorkshire XI" that included Wolstenholme.

Notable detainees

* F. Charles Adler *

* John Balfour *

Winthrop Pickard Bell Winthrop Pickard Bell (May 12, 1884 – April 4, 1965) was a Canadian academic who taught philosophy at the University of Toronto and Harvard. He was best known for his work as a historian of Nova Scotia until his work as a spy for MI6 was uncov ...

Roland Bocquet Roland Bocquet (3 June 1878 – 16 October 1956) was a British composer, pianist and teacher who for most of his career was based in the city of Dresden, and is chiefly associated with the composition of German Lieder. For the most part his wor ...

* John Cameron * Sir James Chadwick * Edward Clark * Israel Cohen *

Sefton Delmer Denis Sefton Delmer (24 May 1904 – 4 September 1979) was a British journalist of Australian heritage and propagandist for the British government during the Second World War. Born in Berlin and fluent in German, he became friendly with Erns ...

*Dr Arthur Henry Douthwaite *William Huntley Drummond, 6th

Earl of Perth Earl of Perth is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1605 for James Drummond, 4th Lord Drummond. The Drummond family claim descent from Maurice, son of George, a younger son of King Andrew I of Hungary. Maurice arrived in Sc ...

* Harry Edward, first British black Olympian and medalist (1920) * Sir Charles D. Ellis *

Charles Fryatt Charles Algernon Fryatt (2 December 1872 – 27 July 1916) was a British merchant seaman who was court martialled by the Imperial German Navy for attempting to ram a German U-boat in 1915. When his ship, the , was captured by the Germans off o ...

* Francis Gribble * Percy Hartley *

Percy Hull Sir Percy Clarke Hull (27 October 1878 in Hereford, England – 31 August 1968 in Farnham Surrey) was an English people, English organist and composer who revived the Three Choirs Festival during his time as organist of Hereford Cathedral fro ...

* Nico Jungmann *

* John D. Ketchum *Peter Carl Mackay, alias

Prince Monolulu Ras Prince Monolulu (26 October 1881 – 14 February 1965), whose real name was Peter Carl Mackay (or McKay), was a horse-racing tipster, and something of an institution on the British racing scene from the 1920s until the time of his death. He ...

* Ernest MacMillan *

Thomas Humphrey Marshall Thomas Humphrey Marshall (19 December 1893 – 29 November 1981) was an English sociologist who is best known for his essay " Citizenship and Social Class," a key work on citizenship that introduced the idea that full citizenship includes civil ...

* George Merritt *

Michael Pease Michael Stewart Pease (2 October 1890 – 27 July 1966) was a British classical geneticist at Cambridge University. Michael Pease was the son of Edward R. Pease of the Pease family, a writer and a founding member of the Fabian Society. Michael ...

Matthew Stewart Prichard Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * Matthew (album), ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chinese Elm ''Ulmus parvifolia'' Christianity * Matthew the ...

* R. M. Smyllie * Fred Spiksley *

Jascha Spivakovsky Jascha Spivakovsky (18 August 1896 – 23 March 1970) was a Russian Empire-born Australian piano virtuoso of the 20th century. He was hailed as a child prodigy in Odessa but almost murdered by Imperial Guards during the 1905 Pogrom. He fled to ...

* Tom Sullivan * Samuel Wolstenholme

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * (contains a section on

's memories of Ruhleben) * * * *

External links

Maurice Ettinghausen Collection of Ruhleben Civilian Internment Camp Papers, 1914-1937 at Harvard Law School LibraryJohn Masterman Collection of Ruhleben Civilian Internment Camp Papers, 1914-1937 at Harvard Law School LibraryJohn Davidson Ketchum's archival papers related to Ruhleben internment camp
held at th
University of Toronto Archives and Records Management ServicesRuhleben Internment Camp - A British community in war-time Germany1936 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 2. pp. 827–36.
The Ruhleben Story

Ruhleben at National Library of ScotlandThe prisoners of war who grew 33,000 lettuces
BBC News Magazine 29 July 2014
The prisoners of Ruhleben
BBC 24 August 2014
Sunday Feature: The Ruhleben Legacy
BBC Radio 3, 12 April 2020 {{Authority control Venues of the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic modern pentathlon venues German Empire in World War I Prisoner-of-war camps in Germany World War I internment camps World War I sites in Germany Wartime association football Internment camps in Germany

Detainees

Arts and culture

Education

Sports

Notable detainees

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links