Fotos aus dem
Album des Kriegsgefangen Hermann Scha

Feinde | Brüder Deutsche Kriegsgefangene in Japan

Die Geschichte eines außergewoehnlichen Kriegsgefangenenlagers während des 1. Weltkrieges, die von Respekt und Annäherung erzählt. Kunst und Handwerk erleichtern nicht nur das Gefangenenleben, sondern werden an die japanischen Sieger weitergeben, und wurden dadurch zu einem bemerkenswerten Teil japanischer Lebensart.
1914: Die mit England verbu"ndeten Japaner greifen im 1. Weltkrieg die deutsche Kolonie Tsingtau in China an. Etwa 5000 deutsche und verbündete Soldaten geraten nach ihrer Kapitulation in japanische Gefangenschaft.
Bei der Rückkehr im Januar 1920 verabschiedet sich der Repräsentant der Kriegsgefangenen: "In Zukunft werden wir in irgendeiner Form an Menschen, die sich in unglücklicheren Umständen befinden als wir, Ihren Geist weitergeben. " Alle Menschen sind Brüder" ,...- Sayonara.

Enemies l Friends – German Prisioners of War in Japan

A documentary by Brigitte Krause, 78 min.

The story of an extraordinary prisoner of war camp where German soldiers passed on culture and crafts to their Japanese captors, which have since become part of Japan's own distinctive ways of life.

Hans-Joachim Schmidt from Kutzhof, Germany, finds in the attic of his new house photos and letters of German prisoners-of-war (PoW) in Japan during World War I. He starts a historical and biographical research project.

At the age of 24, Kazue Shinoda learns that she has a German grandfather, who was one of those PoWs in Japan. Her search leads to an unusual family reunion nearly 100 years after the Japanese set up the PoW camps.

Renate Bergner, daughter of a former prisoner of war, keeps the scripts and photos of her father for the future generations.

The Japanese took almost 5,000 German prisoners when they conquered Tsingtao, then a German colony in China.

In the PoW camps in Japan, such as Bando, German culture seeps into the local communities through crafts, exhibitions, lectures and numerous theatre and concert performances.

The first Japanese performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 took place here.

Bando was a starting point in Japan for a lot of German heritage that is now embedded in Japanese culture, for example the baking of German bread. Mr. Oka still bakes German bread four generations later.

Bando became a strong symbol for Japanese-German friendship and all this was enabled by the PoW Commandant Matsue treating his German prisoners with respect.

East-West-Visions e.V.
Große Brunnenstr.75
22763 Hamburg
Telefon:040-8515117
Mail: ewvev@aol.com
Vereinsregister Nr.13958, Amtsgericht Hamburg