Prisoners of War During World War 1 I THE GREAT WAR Special

Millions of men were captured during World War 1 and most of them spent years in prison camps as pawns of the nation that captured them. However, their experience was a taboo in the post war society. We take a look at the hardships of being a prisoner and how the world powers used the POWs as leverage.

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» WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WORLD WAR I AND WHERE ELSE CAN I FIND YOU?
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Of course! Tell your teachers or professors about our channel and our videos. We’re happy if we can contribute with our videos. If you are a teacher and have questions about our show, you can get in contact with us on one of our social media presences.

» WHAT ARE YOUR SOURCES?
Videos: British Pathé
Pictures: Mostly Picture Alliance
Literature (excerpt):
Gilbert, Martin. The First World War. A Complete History, Holt Paperbacks, 2004.
Hart, Peter. The Great War. A Combat History of the First World War, Oxford University Press, 2013.
Hart, Peter. The Great War. 1914-1918, Profile Books, 2013.
Stone, Norman. World War One. A Short History, Penguin, 2008.
Keegan, John. The First World War, Vintage, 2000.
Hastings, Max. Catastrophe 1914. Europe Goes To War, Knopf, 2013.
Hirschfeld, Gerhard. Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkrieg, Schöningh Paderborn, 2004
Michalka, Wolfgang. Der Erste Weltkrieg. Wirkung, Wahrnehmung, Analyse, Seehamer Verlag GmbH, 2000
Leonhard, Jörn. Die Büchse der Pandora: Geschichte des Ersten Weltkrieges, C.H. Beck, 2014

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» WHAT IS “THE GREAT WAR” PROJECT?
THE GREAT WAR covers the events exactly 100 years ago: The story of World War I in realtime. Featuring: The unique archive material of British Pathé. Indy Neidell takes you on a journey into the past to show you what really happened and how it all could spiral into more than four years of dire war. Subscribe to our channel and don’t miss our new episodes every Thursday.

» WHO IS REPLYING TO MY COMMENTS? AND WHO IS BEHIND THIS PROJECT?
Most of the comments are written by our social media manager Florian. He is posting links, facts and backstage material on our social media channels. But from time to time, Indy reads and answers comments with his personal account, too.

The Team responsible for THE GREAT WAR is even bigger:

- CREDITS -
Presented by : Indiana Neidell
Written by: Indiana Neidell
Director: Toni Steller & Florian Wittig
Director of Photography: Toni Steller
Sound: Toni Steller
Sound Design: Marc Glücks
Editing: Steven Roberts
Motion Design: Philipp Appelt
Research by: Markus Linke
Fact checking: Markus Linke

A Mediakraft Networks Original Channel
Based on a concept by Spartacus Olsson
Author: Indiana Neidell
Visual Concept: Astrid Deinhard-Olsson
Executive Producer: Spartacus Olsson
Producer: Toni Steller & Florian Wittig
Social Media Manager: Florian Wittig

Contains licenced Material by British Pathé
All rights reserved - © Mediakraft Networks GmbH, 2016

[bigchungus]

This Channel is Everything the History Channel should be.

[suarezj]

"Most of them wouldn't come in contact with women for years."
Reminds me of high school

[coventryboy]

my great grandfather was shot in the head during the Somme. He was treated by a German surgeon who had trained in Britain. The doctor wrote to my Great Grandmother to tell her that he was alive and recovering. He was then assigned to work on a farm in Silesia and once the war was over, he slowly made his way home - it too him months. There is a photo of me on his lap.. He had a divot in his skull from the bullet wound.

[calebshonk]

My great-grandfather was a German national serving on an american merchant ship when WW1 broke out. The ship was boarded by the British and he was taken captive, being the only German on board. Interestingly, the ship later sank off of Newfoundland with all hands lost. His misfortune turned out to be his salvation.

[reesercliff]

6:19 that is a nice "vegetable" garden bro

[gallendugall]

The words "woefully unprepared" seem to describe every aspect of every nation entering this conflict.

[trytojustify]

My great grandfather was a french prisoner and he was send to a small village in the middle of germany to help as an agricultural worker. There he met my great grandmother. Even though he was brought back home after WW1, he came back travelling 1000km to marry her.

[thecourierNCR]

This channel has brought me to realize just how big this war was. I read All Quiet in 10th grade and have been interested for a very long time thank you for all this cool information.

[jacobkaram]

Is it bad that I learn more from this guy then I do my history teacher.

[donnythompson]

My great-grandfather was a “doughboy”, serving in France during The Great War. He was wounded ( I still have his Purple Heart and the piece of shrapnel that was taken out of his leg), but he did make it home alive. I never knew him, so I never had the chance to hear about his experiences. As a history buff, I’ve studied WW1 over the years, but have learned far more about it from watching your videos than I have from any other resource. Your channel is a tremendous historical resource for WW1 facts. You present them very well, and in a way that keeps the viewer interested. I wish my history teachers back in school had been as engaging as you are; it’s obvious that you are passionate about this period in history, and that you enjoy teaching it.
Well done, Sir. 😊🙏

[pac]

just came across this channel. great content

[valentinpedersen]

Hey I just want to throw in a story, that is maybe a bit different and probably pretty lucky too. My Grandmothers father was a German soldier in French imprisonment, I am not quit sure when, but it was early in the war, where he was put into work at a farm. The farmer did at first not like him, but as time passed by they became excellent friends, and he had almost free hands at the farm where he lived. He ended up loving France, but as a site note the war hat had some serious inflictions on his mental- & physical-health, because he had lost a good friend on the western front, which disabled him from fighting in the second world war and led to that he died at an age og 45 or 55 (I don't quite remember)

Great show btw, I just wanted to give a bit of an unusual story.

[archstanton]

Yesterday I finally finished binge-watching all the episodes but now a voice in my head always repeats 'hello, my name is Indy Neidell' :p

[VladTevez]

Interesting topic, excellent episode!

[atonomical]

My Great Grandad on my mum's side had been fighting (I'm pretty sure it was half of the war) in WW1 and was gassed and captured. He was sent to a German prison camp, but though it was boring (but much better than the front), his German camp commandment gave him his request of paper and art material. It's beautiful to know that even in the terrible prison camps of WW1, art never was defeated! Sadly a few years after my grandad was born he died of Spanish flu. He never talked of his times at war though, and he never recovered from shell shock. (Well nobody really does do they?)

[JG]

If anyone is interested, the great French film, "La Grande Illusion" from 1937 is great portrait of French officers who are prisoners of war during World War I.

[joeturner]

I met a chap in 1977 who had been captured in 1915. He was just 15. He said the Officer who interrogated him spoke better English than he did. The old chap came from Birmingham. When the war ended, the guards abandoned the camp and he walked to Holland. His mate ate a raw rotten potato as it was all they could find. He died.

[pvjg]

you guys have one of the best channels in youtube... congrats.

[jameskipp]

I remember seeing some photos of Tsar Nicolas daughter's working at the red cross camps.  Perhaps you could do an episode about the red cross.  Also wasn't Hemmingway an ambulance driver?  These is a great channel!

[parvuspeach]

yup, its ganja at 6:18 but you got to remember uniforms, ropes, numerous stuff was made from hemp at the time...then again, you could also smoke it...during WW2 my grandfather (Portugal) was ordered to burn his vineyard and grow hemp to sell to the british and true story, the water system was powered by an old WWI german submarine engine bought at auction in the 20's :D
great channel, keep it up!