Wooden plaque of internee in POW uniform

Rectangular wooden plaque with raised carving or wood cut of internee. Carving/cutting is adhered to the plaque with some kind of adhesive. Internee is shown seated on a wood stool and handling an unidentifiable object.

Internee is also shown wearing the camp uniform. On arrival at camp, internees received two sets of summer and winter camp clothing. This included a winter jacket, work boots, wool socks, undergarments, and one light and one heavy cap. The clothing was blue with the exception of a large red circle on the back of each shirt and jacket. These circles served as a sniper target in case of an attempted escape. An internee’s camp pants had a red stripe that ran down the pant leg from the hip to the bottom of the leg. A red stripe was also present on the caps provided to internees. The stripe began at the back of the cap and continued to the edge of the visor. P#378 appears in the red circle, but the internee with this number remains unidentified.

Internees were often lonely and bored. Some were single at the time of their internment. As the surviving letters and postcards show, the men often thought of their families and girlfriends back home. Denied newspapers or magazines, which were considered prohibited materials in the camp, an unknown wood carver still managed to create his own pin-up girls as well as this solitary depiction of life as an internee.

The provenance of the work is not known other than it is said to have been made by an internee during World War II by the current owners.