Tore’s Tuesday. I had planned to make a blog about an obscure British piece of kit, but when Sabine Declercq published her blog on the internment camps in the neutral Netherlands I decided to follow up on that theme.
Now, Sabine has already told the story of how many crossed the border and how, the problems of putting interned soldiers in the same camps as deserters and so on, so I will simply refer to her blog for more about that.
But, I just wanted to show a couple of pieces from my collection, things made by internees. With the lack of manpower due to the mobilization in the Netherlands, many internees were allowed to work in Dutch companies. Also, the camps were set up with shops, schools and workshops. Surely to make sure that they could have a meaningful existence in the camps, idle hands tend to lead to problems and grumbling…
So, here are two very well made items made by internees, probably made by Walloon (French speaking) Belgian internees.
The box is a beautiful piece of intarsia work, showing the barracks of camp de Zeist. Made in 1918.
The bayonet letter opener is made of bone, and of quite intricate construction. It was clearly made in 1917.
Those who made these items obviously had great skills. Enjoy the sight. I sure do.
Some call this POW work, some call it trench art, it is actually neither. It is internee art.