Themes
Rupert Lonsdale
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Life at Marlag
Life at Marlag
Prisoners at Marlag worked hard to break the monotony of everyday life. They entertained themselves by playing games such as Ludo, chess, bridge and cribbage. Prisoners also held boxing contests and formed a sixteen-piece orchestra. HMS Seal’s former M ining Engine Room Artificer, Ernest Truman, helped to establish the Marlag Amateur Operatic Society, which performed productions of HMS Pinafore, The Gondoliers and The Pirates of Penzance.
Programme for the production of a pantomime performed at Marlag prisoner of war camp in 1943 (RNSM)
Another popular activity included learning languages, especially their captor's language, in order to bargain for better conditions from guards and civilians. On one occasion Rupert Lonsdale wrote a letter to the mother of Philip Boulnois, HMS Seal’s Lieutenant Commander, to let her know that Philip had been successful in his German and Spanish examinations at Marlag.
Postcard sent by Rupert Lonsdale to Mrs Boulnois (RNM)
In 1942, the Germans allowed exams for the first time in their prisoner of war camps. The Red Cross, in Geneva, had persuaded educational institutions and professional bodies to provide study facilities and to recognize examinations held in POW camps. They sent exam scripts to the camps. Education officers invigilated the examinations and then returned the papers to Britain for marking and grading. The library at Marlag, stocked over 2,000 books and held educational classes in many subjects including maths, engineering and shorthand.
To find out about the adoption of the prisoners by the villagers of Seal, select Next
