POW on Schwerin (Germany) 1919 census

[lisalisa]

Hello,

I was looking at the  (Oct) 1919 census for Schwerin, and the census page contains a column (far right of page) to indicate if any person in the household is a 'Kriegsgefangener' /POW.
Now in the household I was looking at, after the names of the family, there is a name (no first name given) which might be Polish or from the Baltic states, and this man is designated as a 'Kriegsgefangener'.  No further details are given, such as his dob or birthplace etc.

I expect this household to be a farm.

So what I'm wondering is what was the situation regarding POWs from the East in Germany at that time?
Would the person not have been repatriated by then? 
Or is it possible that they'd been resident/working at the farm as a POW, and had remained there after the war, but were still categorised as a POW?

thanks for any help,

Lisa

[barryd]

I am more familiar with World War II prisoners of war. I have in front of me a programme (two shillings) of a German P.0.W. Choir singing in Morpeth but from the German P. O.W.  Camp 105  in nearby Wooler, Northumberland. Date of concert 4 January 1948. The Russians released the last? German Prisoners of War in the mid fifties.


I would imagine a POW in Schwerin 1919 would be in modern terms be called a displaced person with his goverment not knowing (or caring) where he was.   

[lisalisa]

thanks for your reply barryd.

Yes, I'm more familiar with what happened with German POWs here after WW2.

I can see 'displaced person' as being likely given how the boundaries were changing over Poland, Eastern Prussia and further east at that time.

I suppose it is possible that having that 'category' on the census might be a way for the (regional?) authorities to see how many POWs were actually still on farms.
I wouldn't have thought that Germany at that time would've had a 'right' to continue to detain POWs (different to the situation here at the end of WW2), but it's something I don't know about. 

There must have been a lot of displaced persons.

Thank you,

Lisa

[barryd]

Another twist to the POW question would be farmer's daughters. Unmarried daughters and farmer's widowed daughters due to the carnage of WWI. A POW marrying I am sure would be fairly common.

[davecapps]

During the Russian civil war the White movement was supported by several western allies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_intervention_in_the_Russian_Civil_War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_movement

---------------------------------------------
1 WW
In the Armistice of 11 November 1918  the allied forces forbid the repatriation of  Russian POW´s
They feared that they would return home and join the Red Army.

The first official repatriation of Russian POW´s was in 1920

Maybe of some interest
www.versailler-vertrag.de/vv6.htm


Dave

[lisalisa]

Hi Dave,

thank you for your reply and the links, very interesting.

I've been reading about the 1917 revolution and then what was happening with the Imperial family, so these links will be an interesting read to follow on from that.

The POW appearing on the Schwerin census was connected with my genealogical research, so separate from my reading about Russia, but in the larger picture, all these events become connected or rather the events are not happening in isolation.

thanks again,
Lisa