Can anyone help with any details of German PoWs at Longtown, in particular any who might have remained in the area up to 1948.
Welcome aboard. If you serach this website you might find some information and pointers. So from a 2015 thread on German POW camps, citing an English Heritage report via Wikipedia: From: German POW camps in the UK. There are no specific posts on any POW Camp @ Longtown. I note it was an active military base in WW2, although only a reference to a Royal Engineers railway training establishment. I have driven past a few times and it remains a large MoD logistics base. now with a new agency name: Longtown, Cumbria - Wikipedia and Secret Scotland - Longtown Munitions Depot Mixing explosives and German POWs seems a little odd, so I expect any post-war POWs would be working on local farms, in England or across the river in Scotland. The ww2talk thread cited refers to farm labourers being scattered across the UK due to the manpower shortage, during and after the war. I found this (there is more): Link: https://www.devilsporridge.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/FAR-FROM-HOME-FINAL.pdf A German paratrooper who stayed in Cumbria: BBC - Cumbria - A young captive in a foreign land Somewhere in 125 pgs is a reference: https://systonimagesblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/pow-camps-details-issue-pho702.pdf There is a general article in this local history journal (pgs 314-331), the focus is not Longtown, though it is mentioned: 25962 TLH 40/3 Inside - British Association For Local History or Vol. 43. It lists how many German POWs were working on farms, over 100k. Might thgis place help, though in Scotland (Longtown is an extension of a factory @ Eastrigg): www.devilsporridge.org.uk
I'm very grateful for all this info! Im going to delve into it all, and come back, no doubt, with more detailed questions. One question immediately: do experts in this field ever have LISTS of invidual PoWs held in a camp, like No 692 - or DPs in the years after the war?
Only as an interested amateur, if you look through Martin Hughes's Syston Images site module of TNA records he has posted, plus looking through others myself at Kew, I think you will find that full lists of names for POWs are rarer than your chance of winning the Lottery. You do however, in official inspection reports, find the names of individual Germans and other nationalities imprisoned in camps. They are camp leaders, librarians, newspaper editors, study group leaders, youth group leaders, English teachers etc etc who the inspectors come across in their checks. In this context the results of English language proficiency tests sometimes remain in the files of individual camps and hostels in the FO 939 series. This all applies to camps run by the army but inspected by the Foreign Office, hence the FO marking. I have done no work on camps run by the RAF but I understand from allusions to them in FO records, they existed or took in men billeted out from army camps. FO 939 records are the most voluminous. War Office inspections from Whitehall of their own camps for the military aspects (for example: guarding, hygiene, staff performance, maintenance etc.) rather than the re-education of prisoners are an area that I think no one has really looked into. Camp diaries kept by the commandants of each camp are in the WO 166 series. Precious few files remain in the archives for them. See discussion in thread on War Establishment of POW camps for a bit more on this. ICRC (Red Cross Geneva-1929 Convention of POW treatment) reports I have seen do not have lists. I can't remember the detail on this, but I think all personnel records of German prisoners are now with the German govt. Good luck on getting anything out of them. There were 1,600 Polish POW Camp guards of the Polish Army, guarding POWs in Britain in spring 1945. Their records held at RAF Northolt. Many of them later entered the Polish Resettlement Corps and went on to go into Displaced Person or National Assistance hostels camps, along with many of the PRC. Families I know have been greatly helped by the kind staff at Northolt. If you succeed in your task let us all know how you did it, or equally where you were stymied.
Thanks Osborne2 ! Yeah, I feel the prospects are not great for my hunt. 692 Longtown does seem to be underserved historically in terms of individual PoW records of any kind (not least the Holy Grail of a list of names). I'll take up your suggestions and keep digging - have already approached German sources for help. Will report here as I go along.
Osborne2 wrote: The German law on data protection is much tougher than ours, privacy is higher up their national list of issues.
