A German Prisoner-of-War in Colsterdale, Yorkshire, in 1917-1918

In 1916-1919 the former 'navvies' camp' or village of Breary Banks, Colsterdale, west of Masham in North Yorkshire, was given over to the War Department for use as a P.O.W. camp for officer prisoners captured in the Great War which was raging across Europe at that time.

This site presents the experiences of one such prisoner, first in Colsterdale and then in Holyport, Berkshire, as recorded in a volume of his diary covering the period November 1917 to August 1918. The diary was recovered by a British soldier, passed down through his family, and returned in 2004 to the descendants of the diarist. Their permission has been obtained to publish the text here.

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