Original German WWII Scrapbook Pages With Pictures from U.S. POW Camp Showing Theater Production - 33 Photos

Original Item: One-of-a-kind-set. Here we have a great set of pages and other items that we assume were once part of a scrapbook of some sorts, owned by a German Prison of War being held in the United States, most likely at Camp Swift, Texas. This area served as a military training base, and also housed 3,865 German prisoners of war. The pages of the book look to have originally measured 6 1/2" x 8 3/8", however many are torn and degraded, as they look to be from a simple notebook, which was not really designed to hold up as a photo album.

The photos give a rare glimpse into what life was like at P.O.W. camps in the United States for German prisoners. They are shown in what looks to be a mess hall, with the PW markings on their uniforms clearly visible, and there are some portrait photos of various people. There are however also many pictures of what looks to be a theater production put on by the prisoners, and even what looks to be a jazz band, as well as some type of concert band or orchestra. It was important to keep the prisoners occupied, both to help with their overall morale, as well as to prevent escapes. 

Of particular note is what we thought was maybe a program, but turns out to be a printed birthday card, which has some small illustrations and reads as follows:

Spruch des Konfuzius
Dreifach ist der Schritt der Zeit:
Zögernd kommt die Zukunft hergezogen,
Pfeilschnell ist das Jetzt entflogen,
Ewig still steht die Vergangenheit!

Fr. v. Schiller

This translates to:

Time's pace is threefold:
The future approaches hesitantly,
The present flies by like an arrow,
The past stands eternally still!

This is often attributed to Friedrich von Schiller, but is actually translation of Confucius, as indicated above. Below this is the following message:

Zur 41. Wiederkehr Dienes Geburtstags gratuliert Dir Dein Freund

On the 41st anniversary of your birthday, your friend congratulates you

Camp Swift, Texas, USA
1944

We also noted that some of the photographs have captions on them, however the way they are written makes them very hard to decipher. Really a great set from a German POW being held in the United States. Ready to research and display!