Between the Covers

Unbound. Five black and white gelatin silver photographs. Each image is 6" x 4.25". Wear or small chips in the corners not visibly affecting the images, very good. "POW Camp" written in ink on the verso of four of the images, the remaining image has "Officer Quarters" in the same hand on its verso. The images are all of the same group of POWs, both British and American, in their ramshackle barracks in a German POW camp. Two of the images are group shots of the men, in widely varied uniforms, and with several in silly costumes (French waiters, a Beefeater). Another shows prisoners playing a guitar and harmonicas, as other prisoners dance together, a fourth shows a man in a kilt playing percussion on a bottle accompanied by the guitarist, and the final image is of a man in a flannel robe wearing a Santa hat and a white wig handing another prisoner an American Red Cross Prisoner of War Food Package. In two of the images there is a sign reading "Merry Christmas 1944" (although there is a light penciled mark on the verso of one that reads "Xmas 43 Howe," but it seems likely they were all taken at the same time). The men are from both the army and navy, and are wearing several different uniforms: British, American, and possibly Australian, and French. Each man has a number affixed to the upper right of his uniform blouse. A few bottles, possibly of beer, are in evidence. Compelling images of men imprisoned during WWII.

Item #409257