Drawing by a Prisoner of War, Dr Heise, Lydiard Park Camp, 1946

Ink drawing of a German landscape entitled 'Kurisches Haff, East Prussia' by Dr Echert Heise, a prisoner at the Lydiard Park POW Camp. It was given to the camp's interpreter, John Bailey, as a Christmas present for his wife Sylvia. The message accompanying the drawing reads:

'Ich bin so gerührt, dass Mrs Bailey es gewagt hat, zu Weihnacht in unsere raue Männerhorde zu kommen - darf ich es wagen sie zu bitten dies kleine Geschenk - ein Stück meiner vertrauten Heimat - auszuhändigen. Es war doch wenigstens eine Frau hier bei uns zu Weihnachten in 1946!'

Translation:

I am so touched that Mrs. Bailey dared to come to our rowdy horde of men for Christmas. May I ask you to hand over this little gift - a piece of my beloved home. At least there was one woman here with us at Christmas in 1946!

Kurisches Haff is a freshwater lagoon on the Baltic coast of East Prussia. It was overrun by the Soviet troops in 1945 and about 600,000 of its inhabitants were killed.(Encyclopedia.com) It remains in Russian territory.

This then was a particularly poignant gift. The drawing was preserved by the Bailey's, stored in a German butter tube along with a colour print of an unidentified location showing a street scene with a church. It is part of a large quantity of material in the Lydiard House museum collection which relates to the Bailey's time at the camp.