Latest post: Was he downhearted? How a scientist dealt with four years of internment by Sarah Kimbell & Rowan Pease

Thousands of British civilians were held in the Ruhleben internment camp near Berlin during the First World War. They were allowed a large degree of self-determination and established a miniature version of British male society behind the barbed wire. This included a flourishing bureaucracy and organisations promoting educational, cultural, religious and sporting activities, alongside less worthy pursuits such as gambling and drinking. The centenary of the opening of the camp prompted an article in the BBC Magazine, to which readers responded with memories of relatives who were interned there. At that time Derek Richards published his transcription and interpretation of the... read more