Seven Years among Prisoners of War

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Hundreds of thousands of prisoners were incarcerated in camps around the world during World War II. And individuals from all walks of life joined international organizations like the Red Cross, churches, and other relief groups to help counter the hopelessness of camp life. One of these was Chris Christiansen, who had just graduated from Theological School at Copenhagen University when he took a position with the World's Alliance of the YMCAs to work with British, American, and other Allied prisoners of war in Germany. The next seven years were, for him, "an amazing experience." The prisoners faced cold, starvation, loneliness, deprivation, and cruel and arbitrary treatment. Those who served among them - unrecognized in the headlines or history text - worked tirelessly and patiently to relieve the conditions of the prisoners as much as possible. Christiansen, who was also arrested in Berlin and imprisoned in Moscow experienced this grim aspect of warfare from both sides. His story pays tribute to the prisoners, to the relief workers, to the churches and other service organizations, and to "that part of the human spirit" which sustained them through this dark period in our collective past.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Christiansen was a Danish field worker for the YMCA who spent World War II distributing baseballs, books, and Bibles to Allied POWs in Germany. His duties took him into the U.S., British, French, and Russian compounds, where he mingled freely with the battlefield prisoners. Ironically, after the German surrender he became a prisoner himself; the Soviets interrogated him for a year as a suspected collaborator. Finally freed, he then worked with the remaining German POWs in Britain until 1947. This is not only a fascinating and well-told memoir but an insightful view into little-known prison conditions. The Germans treated war captives very differently according to their nationality, and the Allies held German POWs as laborers long after the war was over. Highly recommended for public and military collections.-Raymond L. Puffer, U.S. Air Force History Prog., Edwards AFB

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