A photograph of the Ruhleben Concentration Camp in Germany during World War I. The photograph is captioned 'Wooden Barracks. East End.'

The camp for civilian prisoners of war was built in haste in 1914 at the Ruhleben racecourse near Berlin, and the majority of prisoners taken in stayed there until the end of the war. Life there was easier than in many other concentration camps. The Germans adhered to the Geneva Convention, and the prisoners were able to run internal matters themselves. Within a year the camp featured its own casino, tailor, bookshop, barbershop. Theatrical and sporting events were a popular outlet for the energies of the confined men.

Black bread and barbed wire: prisoners in the First World War, edited by Michael Moynihan, London: Cooper, 1978

Carlyon, Les The great war, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2006

Ketchum, John Davidson Ruhleben, a prison camp society, Toronto: Toronto U.P., 1965

Powell, Joseph The history of Ruhleben: a record of British organisation in a prison camp in Germany, by Joseph Powell and Francis Gribble, London: Collins, 1919

The Ruhleben Story

Australian War Memorial: Australians at War. First World War (1914-1918)

Prisoners of War 1914-1918 See: Section 4: Camp magazines and exchanged POW's for information about the civilian camp at Ruhleben

Ruhleben: A digital exhibit [Harvard Law School Library Historical & Special Collections]