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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: Andy_C on Thursday 28 May 20 12:12 BST (UK)
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I've come across a tin, dated 1944, that was possibly made in a POW camp. Can anyone help with confirming this (or otherwise) and maybe identify the camp and even the name of the person who made it? Or point me in the direction of other places to research.
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The style of the numerals 1 and 4 and the II (for February) are Germanic and the lettering above starts with a capital letter B in Suetterlin script but there I run out of ideas!
MaxD
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The style of the numerals 1 and 4 and the II (for February) are Germanic and the lettering above starts with a capital letter B in Suetterlin script but there I run out of ideas!
MaxD
Ah, that's interesting, so possibly made by a German POW in the UK?
Andy
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The word looks something like "Grossenbrode" - sounds German.
Added: Seems to be a place in Germany.
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There's a Grossenbrode 70 miles north-east of Hamburg, on the Baltic coast near (or on) the island of Fehmarn.
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The history of Grossenbrode says the barracks at the Naval Air Station at Grossenbrode were used by the British as a POW camp after the war so the date doesn't add up. Is it a POW tin or simply a souvenir made by one of the German troops stationed there at that time?
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro%C3%9Fenbrode.
MaxD
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On the first image the diagonal parallel lines end in what appears to be an arrow. Then outside the border is a W. Could the W refer to a westerly direction ie the UK?
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I was wondering if Grossenbrode might be the home town of whoever made the tin?
I thought it looked like trench art. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_art
I only had a quick on google but couldn't see a castle in Grossenbrode (as featured in the picture on the tin).
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I was wondering if Grossenbrode might be the home town of whoever made the tin?
That's a good thought. With a name like Toll he could have been from that area, near Denmark.
And if he was in somewhere like Tallinn (https://cdn.getyourguide.com/img/tour_img-1815192-146.jpg), that south westward (?) arrow would point to home.
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I see that long arrow as a flagpole, with a flag billowing below it, lowered to reveal that gleaming palace beyond.
Haven't a clue what any of that might signify!
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I see that long arrow as a flagpole, with a flag billowing below it, lowered to reveal that gleaming palace beyond.
Haven't a clue what any of that might signify!
Yes, it could well be a flag.
I had (wrongly I think) interpreted it as waves in an ocean, though I couldn’t make sense of the diagonal line.
Flag makes a lot more sense.
Images chosen could just mean that he was feeling nostalgic for his homeland, and that was the design he came up with. ;)
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The number 22 is written on the front of the tin (alongside a Roman numeral ll) and also beside his name. I think suggested as a date by Max?
There seem to be letters in each of the four corners on the “Grossenbrode” side of the tin. I can see an M and a K, maybe a U, but the other is not clear. Marks that look like an M, N or W appear all over so I think many of them are decorative rather than have any meaning ...
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I see 2200.. not 22
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You might be right ShaunJ. :)
Am I imagining seeing a “tail” on the last o? Not that it is relevant or likely to help identification.. :)
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22 II (I can't reproduce the slant of the lines above the two verticals) is an absolutely classic germanic way of representing 22nd February.
MaxD
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wondering could this Toll Barr be an airman Grosenbrodie
had a German luftwafte airbase
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attached info
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22 II (I can't reproduce the slant of the lines above the two verticals) is an absolutely classic germanic way of representing 22nd February.
I hadn't even spotted that
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Very many thanks to all who have contributed to the discussion, some interesting suggestions. I guess we'll never know the full story of who made it or how it got to the UK.
Andy