sommewalker Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 this post deals with the,pow camps/ internment camps in Holland in ww1first of all I must thank Frank Johnson for the photos,and Auratom Blok for the translation,we are all familiar with pow camps in Germany,but lets not forget the pow/internment camps ,in Holland , we know about Groningen and the RND,but there were a number of other internment campsthe words faintly visible on the box base are,Vluchtoord, which means in the Dutch language POW camp in WW1.the Second word could be Nunspeet( thanks Auratom)now Nunspeet camp seems to have been built after the beginning of ww1to cope with Belgian refugees and dangerous prisoners /340 men transferred to here thatwere released from Belgian prisons when Antwerp was bombed. They were handedover to the German occupying authorities at the start of 1915These poor refugees were divided into three categories: a. The dangerous or unwanted individualsb. The less wanted individualsc. The respectably needy individuals Camp Nunspeet was designed for the first two categories (for 'the scum of the earth') and was able to accommodate 13,000 peopleat the height of the internment at camp,Nunspeet a maximum of 7,050 people lived there,Each of these camps consisted of barracks with a living room and bedrooms with in addition to these the facilities that were present in any other village: church, post office, infirmary, shop, etc.they remained there until 1919 when they were repatriated ,to Belgiumin special trains paid for by the Dutch governmentthe box has been veneered with a swastika,an emblem that the Nazis perverted for their own use in ww2,BUT! lets not forget it is in fact a centuries old religious symbol The swastika (also known as the gammadion cross or cross cramponnée) is a symbol that generally takes the form of an equilateral cross, with its four legs bent at 90 degrees (as a Chinese character: 卐 or 卍).[1][2] It is considered to be a very sacred and auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism,and was also seen on ww1 german air craft The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte ("German Air Force"), known before October 1916 as Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches ("Imperial German Flying Corps"), or simply Die Fliegertruppe, was the air arm of the German Army (of which it remained an integral part) during World War I (1914–1918).not only the german airforce but also the Americans as well considered it a lucky signFritz Beckhardt flew a Siemens Schuckert fighter with a swastika on it. Pilots on both sides flew planes adorned with swastikasAn American flown WWI plane decorated with a swastika and Indian Chief head. The Chief being the symbol of the Espadrille. Lafayetteso the use of the swastika transcends generations before the Nazis hijacked itbut I bet that's what people remember it being used for ............. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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