Indian Seamen in World War I Prison Camps in Germany

This article deals with the experiences of internment, camp life, and work in the labour corps of Indian civilian prisoners of war in Germany during the First World War.We still do not know exactly how many civilian colonial prisoners were interned during the war, but the number of Indians among them exceeded 860 out of a total 2.5 million prisoners approximately in German camps (Oltmer 2006: 68; Davis 1977: 623).This may seem like an almost negligible number in terms of quantity but a study of these men can enrich our understanding of the German 'campscapes' and of the structures that were constitutive in forming the experiences that Indian prisoners communicated to those outside the camps during and after the war. 2 Among these are