Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Postcards

 Kriegsgefangenenpost

Well it has been awhile since there has been a new blog post so I thought I had better change that! Today I would like to show some examples of Kriegsgefangenenpost, or Prisoner of War Mail, sent by German PoWs here in Canada to their friends and families back home. I briefly covered one example of PoW mail from a PoW that was at the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project but today I would like to show some of the lighter sides of postcards.

The standard issue postcard, an example of which I linked in the previous paragraph, were made available to all German PoWs in Canada. However, for those who found this postcard too simple or boring, PoWs had the option of purchasing different types of postcards to send home. Among these postcards made available for purchase were those printed by War Prisoners' Aid YMCA. These postcards were often sold at PoW canteens and featured images of the lighter side of internment life. The artwork was done by a German PoW and a series of approximately twenty of these postcards was produced. The following are some of the examples in my collection, all of which were unused. I hope you enjoy!