The National Library of Wales
Welsh Prisoner of War magazine now online
Mon, 24 Aug 09 10:29:00
70 years after Britain declared war on Nazi Germany, The National Library of Wales has unveiled online copies of the 'Cymro' (Welshman) magazine, created by Welsh prisoners of war in the wooden huts of the notorious POW camp Stalag IVB in Germany during the Second World War.
The prisoners were members of the ‘Cymric Club’ in the Stalag IVB camp near Mühlberg, Germany and produced the magazines between July 1943 and December 1944, under the editorial eye of William John Pitt from Treharris (1920-1988), affectionately known as Archie. Although most of the issues are in English, 2 pages are in Welsh, which makes the magazines unique for their time.
The National Library collection includes 3 issues of the Cymro, a special Christmas edition and three supplements. The magazine comprises of pages from school exercise-books that carried hand-written articles with colour illustrations from whatever ink the editorial team could produce from stolen materials, like quinine from the medical room; these were stuck into place with fermented millet soup, kept from the meagre camp rations. Only one copy per issue of the magazine was produced which would be circulated throughout the camp or stuck to the walls of one of the cabins for further reading.
Each wooden hut in Stalag IVB had a representative who was responsible for transferring any material to be included in the magazine to the editor William John Pitt. Pitt was very keen for the soldiers to report back any news they had in their personal letters from home as a way of keeping up moral in the ever deteriorating conditions in camp. He states that prisoners should, ‘comb those letters for news from home. The rest of the club wants to know it as well.'
The magazines included news and articles of interest to Welsh soldiers, such as articles on the actors Emlyn Williams and Stanley Baker, and the boxer Charlie Bundy. Also included are versions of Welsh mythology, such as the tale of Gelert by Dai Davies, and Arthur’s tale by Emrys Evans, as well as the histories of different regions such as the history of Pumlumon by Idwal Pugh and the Lleyn peninsular.
The magazines give a wonderful insight to life at Stalag IVB. Headlines include ‘St. George beats the dragon again’ as the Welsh team loses 3-0 to England in a camp football match, on a pitch that was more adequate for aquatics than football according to the magazine. Another rugby headline announces Welsh lessons were also offered and in typical Welsh fashion a camp choir was established with 45 members, which added to the camp entertainment and ‘awakened slumbering memories of Wales’.
According to D. T. Davies, held captive in Stalag XVIII in Wolfsburg, Austria, among other camps
‘Some prisoners created magazines, others learnt musical instruments and gave concerts. Although there wasn't a magazine in Stalag XVIII, as far as I know, I do remember people learning to play musical instruments.’
According to Morfudd Bevan-Jones from the National Library of Wales,
‘The magazines give us an insight into the lives of the prisoners of war at Stalag IVB. It’s awe-inspiring to think that the prisoners could create such attractive and interesting magazines under such hard conditions. The magazines remind us of the pivotal role played by Welsh soldiers during the Second World War.
The ‘Cymro’ magazines reflect the importance of Welsh identity to the prisoners. Although they were far from Wales, by writing about Welsh news and articles to do with Wales, they felt they were much closer to home. Camp life was all about surviving – and in their own way these magazines are also survivors and we are very fortunate to have the original copies here at The National Library of Wales and the digital copies available to be enjoyed online.’
When the Soviet Army arrived at the camp in April 1945, there were about 30,000 crowded into the facilities, of these 7,250 were British. About 3,000 died, mainly from tuberculosis and typhus. They were buried in the cemetery in neighbouring Neuburxdorf, 8km NE of Mühlberg.
Links
Further information
Sion Jobbins, NLW Press Office: 01970 632 902 sion.jobbins@llgc.org.uk
