Ruhleben
Records held by The National Archives, Kew, are mainly Foreign Office records but include Colonial Office, Treasury and Ministry of Transport records TNA Catalogue search for Ruhleben
The National Archives holds three complete directories of British civilian Prisoners of War at Ruhleben and an incomplete collection of “camp lists” providing weekly lists of changes. These are described on the home page of this website.
CAB 24/63 (Available free online at the National Archives website) refers to the case of Sir John IRVINE a prisoner at Ruhleben was transferred to Havelberg camp, which is described as “a very bad camp used mainly for criminals.” . The British Government threatened to send two (prominent) Germans from Alexandra Palace to Knockaloe unless Sir John IRVINE was returned within 4 weeks to Ruhleben. This was done the day before the 4 weeks elapsed. (See also FO 383/319, FO 383/422, FO 383/433)). The document also refers to the cases of Lambert and Balfour held at Ruhleben and of Captain Blaikie of the ship “Caledonia”.
References
- Ruhleben | A Prison Camp Society, J. Davidson Ketchum, 1965, University of Toronto Press
- Ruhleben Letters from a Prisoner to His Mother, Edited Douglas Sladen, 1917, Hurst and Blackett Ltd (reprint available via The Naval & Military Press Ltd)
- To Ruhleben and Back, Geoffrey Pike, 1916 (reprint available from McSweeney’s Books ISBN: 0-9719047-8-2}
- Note from the United States Ambassador Transmitting a Report, Dated June 8, 1915, on the Conditions at Present Existing in the Internment Camp at Ruhleben: Parliamentary Command Paper (Cd 7863) Miscellaneous No 13 (1915): HMSO
- Correspondence with the United States Ambassador respecting Conditions in the Internment Camp at Ruhleben: Parliamentary Command Paper (Cd 8161) Miscellaneous No 3 (1916): HMSO
- Report by Doctor A. E. Taylor on the Conditions of Diet and Nutrition in the Internment Camp at Ruhleben: Parliamentary Command Paper (Cd 8259) Miscellaneous No 18 (1916): HMSO
- Further Correspondence respecting the conditions of Diet and Nutrition in the Interment Camp at Ruhleben: Parliamentary Command Paper (Cd 8262) Miscellaneous No 21 (1916): HMSO
- Escapes and Adventures, Wallace Ellison, 1929, W Blackwood and Sons (this is a uncensored rewrite of his earlier work – Escaped! Adventures in German Captivity)
- The History of Ruhleben, A Record of British Organisation in a Prison Camp In Germany, Joseph Powell and Francis Gribble, 1919, Collins
- Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons, Henry C Mahoney, 1917, Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd
- The Ruhleben Prison Camp: A Record of Nineteen Months’ Internment; Israel Cohen; 1917; Methuen and Co
- In the Prison camps of Germany, a Narrative of My Service among Prisoners of War; Conrad Hoffman; 1920; Association Press
- My Four Years In Germany; James W Gerard; 1917; George Doran
- Die Kriegsgefangenen in Deutschland; Prof Dr Backhaus; 1915; Herman Montanus
- Correspondence Between His Majesty’s Government and the United States Ambassador respecting the Treatment of German Prisoners of War and Interned Civilians in the United Kingdom and Germany Respectively; Parliamentary Command Paper (Cd 7817)Miscellaneous No 7 (1915): HMSO
- Correspondence with the United States Ambassador respecting the Treatment of British Prisoners of War and Interned Civilians in Germany; Parliamentary Command Paper (Cd 7959) Miscellaneous No 14 (1915); HMSO
- British Civilian Internees in Germany: The Ruhleben Camp; 1914-1918; Matthew Stibbe; 2008
- In The Hands of the Huns; Being the Reminiscences of a British Civil Prisoner of War, 1914-15; Anon;1916
- My Visit To Ruhleben; Bishop Herbert Bury; A R Mowbray & Co Ltd; Oxford; c1917
- Round the Corner; Percy Brown; Faber and Faber; London 1934
- Prisoners and Captives; William O’Sullivan Molony; MacMillan and Co, London, 1933
- Ruhleben Poems; John Balfour; 1919
- Desperate Germany; Ernest Lionel Pyke; Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1918
- Poems Written at Ruhleben; Terence Philip; Grant Richards, London, 1920
External links