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Background history
Religion played a very important role in POW camps: it allowed many prisoners-of-war to survive the captivity. Prayers offered hope, belief in a better tomorrow and facilitated bearing hardships of everyday life in the camp. Almost every soldier fighting in the Polish Defensive War in 1939 had a religious symbol with him: a picture featuring the image of a saint, a gorget, a prayer book or a rosary. Soldiers prayed in an organized way: in the morning, in the evening, before going into battle and after fighting, and also for their companions who got killed in action. Soldiers were accompanied by army chaplains who were doing their military service by organizing church services and when soldiers were taken captive – clergymen in army uniforms shared their fate. In the Wehrmacht-run POW camps – circumstances permitting – the interned endeavored to organize at least a substitute of religious life. This was easier in oflags, but the situation presented itself in a worse light in stalags – camps designed for private soldiers and non-commissioned officers. Parcels sent in by POWs’ families, acquaintances and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which contained objects of religious cult proved a most helpful element in organizing the religious life. While building altars, creating prayer books, organizing the Eucharist or during common services, POWs revealed talents and inventiveness. Numerous photographs and relations of former POWs testify to the profound religiousness of Polish soldiers. Among the officers interned in Oflag VI B Dössel, which the presented exhibit comes from, there were priests of different denominations, who were animators of the religious life in the camp. Each year, officers of this oflag organized Christmas. In 1942, especially for this occasion, they prepared a prayer book so that the season could be lived through together in an exceptional and ceremonious way. The lack of the nearest ones was to be compensated to the POW community by praying and caroling within the circle of companions in captivity. The first pages of the prayer book presented Nativity according to the Gospel of St Luke. In turn, there followed the lines of the carol Bóg się rodzi (God is being Born) by Franciszek Karpiński, and further – texts of prayers and carols. One of them, Zbudźcie się żołnierze (Wake up soldiers), was written in Oflag VI B Dössel. The workmanship on the prayer book is exceptionally elaborate. Obviously, prior to its editing, the book had to pass through the censor’s hands who was to approve the looks and the content of the work prepared by the Polish POWs with a special stamp.
Prepared by: Bartosz Janczak
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Prayer book
Source of acquisition
The prayer book was presented by Józef Kobylański, a former POW in Oflag VI B Dössel.
Description of the item
The prayer book of 15cm x 22.5cm edited on paper. The cover features the inscription Bóg się rodzi. 1942 XII (God is being Born. 1942 XII) and a drawing of sunrays, wafer and Christmas-tree branches, with a visible stamp of the camp censor. The texts of prayers and carols are typewritten. The content is enriched with drawings exploiting Christmas themes.
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