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P.O.W. Art


RedLegGI
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After looking at this thread (http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/199435-freedom-bird/) it got me wondering what other art objects were made by POW's in the states. Are these highly collected and are they varied?

 

 

Found this on the PBS website (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/201201A10.html) but wondering if anyone else has these types of items?

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vintageproductions

POW art is highly collectible. It is similar to Tramp Art, and is heavily collected not just in the Militaria circles but also the Folk Art circles.

You will see a lot more German & Italian POW made items then Japanese.

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Man, I was JUST thinking about posting a topic like this over the past couple of days... get outta my brain!

 

I only have a couple pieces of P.O.W. art, but I find the stuff fascinating -- I've always liked folk art, and this is folk art with a serious historical connection. Just to think of the thousands of Axis P.O.W.s having to fill their time, using found and discarded materials, and then selling the pieces to the guards or the curious public in order to get a little bit of money or extra food... it's a largely forgotten side of the homefront in WWII.

 

This piece is signed on the bottom "Kingston 3/9/44" so it must have been from P.O.W. Camp 31 at Fort Henry in Kingston, Ontario. It's about 6" long and the roof comes off so you can keep your trinkets or jewelry inside.

 

-- Jon

 

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And here's one more, my favorite of my P.O.W. / souvenir art. There are nail holes in the sides, so it probably came from a packing crate, originally. Also, it's signed on the back by the P.O.W. who made it. I hope the two pieces I've posted give you an idea of some of the more common P.O.W. art items out there -- those signs on the Roadshow were absolutely outstanding!

-- Jon

 

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Here are a couple of items made by the German POWs at Camp Clinton, Mississippi. I have two other paintings, a leather belt, and a fantastic wood carving of a POW dressed in work garb and armed with a shovel. It is mounted on an ashtray turned on a lathe.

 

The painting was removed from the wall of the German officers' recreation hall. It would have been on display for all the German generals (von Arnim, von Choltitz, Ramcke, and others) who were held at the camp. Note that the "frame" is actually part of the painting! The lead casting is of the German wound badge and was dug behind one of the prisoner barracks along with two others.

 

 

 

 

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They are very unique items.

I find it very interesting that the painting is of the Grand Canyon in Arizona and the camp was in Mississippi .

 

Semper Fi

Phil

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This is one of my favorite POW items in my collection. It is a painting C. Ross Greening did of fellow POW Harry Korger while in Stalag Luft 1 in Germany. It was later featured in a book Greening did after the war called " Not as Briefed"

 

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