Pursuit of an 'Unparalleled Opportunity'
The American YMCA and Prisoner of War Diplomacy among the Central Power Nations
during World War I, 1914-1923.
by Kenneth Steuer

Appendix 5b

Quelques Vues des Camps de Prisonniers en Autriche-Hongrie

(Some Views of Prisoners in Austria-Hungary)

image This thirty-one-page book is a collection of high quality photographs of prison life taken in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War. The publication itself is interesting due to the simple binding job (which suggests that it was some kind of special collection) and the lack of publishing information. Many of these photographs are now in the collection in the Kriegsministeriumarkiv (Ministry of War Archives) in Vienna. The limited text suggests that the compilers intended to distribute the photograph collections outside of the Dual Monarchy since the table of contents is in Russian and the photograph captions are in German and French. The photographs depict various scenes of prison camp life such as medical care (operating room, hospital wards, pharmacy, and medical staffs), sanitation (baths and showers), daily life (food distribution and dining halls), camp infrastructure (bread storage and butchers), sports (gymnastics, soccer, wrestling, and swimming), work (meal preparation and carpentry), entertainment (music, dancing, letter distribution, and free time), and spiritual comfort (chapel). Nine prison camps are featured in the photo collection (Freistadt, Grödig, Josefstadt, Kaschau, Kreuzstein (Bezau), Milowitz, Nagymegyer, Reichenberg, and Wieselburg), but, contrary to the title, all of these camps were located in Austria, with the exceptions of Kaschau and Nagymegyer in Hungary. The bulk of the photographs depict Josefstadt (eight), although Nagymegyer (five), Reichenberg (four), and Wieselburg (four) receive strong representation.1

Appendices to Chapter 5:
Appendix 5a:
Appendix 5b:
Quelques Vues des Camps de Prisonniers en Autriche-Hongrie (Some Views of Prisoners in Austria-Hungary)

Notes:

Note 1: Quelques Vues des Camps de Prisonniers de Guerre en Autriche-Hongrie, ca. 1915. Armed Services Records Box-55, Folder: "Prisoner of War-Miscellaneous Publications-ca. 1914-1918," Kautz Family YMCA Archives, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. back