It remains important to me that I make a record of all items of the collection. This can at times present more questions than answers.
This is one of those times.
It is my hope that some of the more curious items will be better understood in time and I must trust in this process to provide answers at a later date.
It is with this in mind that I present the following photos. What is striking is their similarity to those viewed and described in The Prisoner Of War Magazine of my previous post. They appear to depict a somewhat staged and inaccurate account of life in the camps. What's more, they do not note those captured in the images or for what purpose they were taken.
The real mystery however, is their link to Edward. Held in a collection dedicated to his wartime experience, collated by his parents and kept by Edward himself, each item appears to have held a meaning; a purpose. Yet these photos do not record Edward's camp. Neither do they capture his regiment or image. So why are they present?
Posing for the camera in what appears to be civilian clothing it is not initially clear that this image captures 12 prisoners of war. However behind their shoulders to the right of the image, two uniformed individuals provide a hint that all is not as it seems.
The reverse confirms this. Stamped by what appears to be Stalag XVIII A, the image is indeed that of a prisoner of war camp. This image appears to have been a postcard used by a prisoner to communicate with and reassure his family back home. Whether Mr Woodward is captured in this image is unknown.
This was a camp located to the South of the town of Wolfsberg in Southern Austria. As alluded to earlier in this post, this card is not directly related to Edward but rather addressed to a Mrs F Woodward of 236 Adderley Road, Saltley, Birmingham. Wrong camp, but right home City.
The next photo, I believe to be related to the last, depicts a football team. Appearing in a mix of differing military uniforms and sports wear, this is again reminiscent of those provided to the Red Cross by a camps German authorities.
I presume this to be connected due to a small pencil note on the reverse, "Woodward". This is accompanied by a different stamp which appears to read "G Kompanie" in the classic German font of the era.
It is this stamp which is replicated on the reverse of the following two further images below, which suggests to me that they are all part of a set sent to the Woodward family. The text below G Kompanie and part of the purple ink stamp is not legible at this time.
The photos capture the cast of a performance very common in such camp photos of the time. Shows were performed by the prisoners for the entertainment of their comrades and were commonly used to present a positive image of camp life.
Whilst providing an undoubtedly interesting insight into both the life of a prisoner of war and a method of communicating with ones family, the question still remains. Why did Edward have these photos and for what reason were they kept with records of his own war?
Given the family are also from Birmingham I could only presume Mr Woodward to be a family friend. Maybe Edward himself inherited these images and his own collection seemed the natural place to keep them. Maybe they were given to Edward by his friend as a means of documenting his own similar experience, which at this time appears to be absent from record. Either way they do provide a fascinating more personal example of those images captured in the magazine in my previous post.
Now recorded and presented, I hope that a name or a photo may provide some insight from a reader as to the reasons for these images being in the collection. I hope to also establish who Mr Woodward was to Edward.
Recording the documents is as stated at the beginning of this piece, a key aim of this site. But making them available to those who may know more is where I believe its real benefit lies.
If you have any knowledge to share, both family or historically speaking, please get in touch.
There are more images to follow:
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