Excursions

The Aonogahara Prisoner of War Camp usually held half-day excursions (walks to the outskirts of the city) every week and one-day excursions once a month. According to Kersten’s Diary, 200 prisoners participated in those excursions every time and 40 guardsmen and 20 police officers accompanied them to keep watch. Many of Hangstein’s photographs show the prisoners on such excursions.

Photo: The file of pilgrims and prisoners (courtesy of Mr. Dieter Linke)

Photo: The file of prisoners (courtesy of Mr. Dieter Linke)

Photo: The file of prisoners crossing the Horai Bridge (Nishiwaki City) (courtesy of Mr. Dieter Linke)

Image: The Horai Bridge in the late Meiji period (1868–1912) (picture postcard) (courtesy of Ono City Kokokan)

Around the time that the prisoners arrived, infrastructure development projects for modernization, such as railroads and electricity, were being conducted at Higashiharima. “The picture postcard in the late Meiji period” shows the absence of utility poles. Higashiharima Electricity Co., Ltd. was founded in 1911 and utility poles were installed in 1912, as confirmed in the photographs of prisoners who visited the place after 1912.

There remain some commemorative photographs that were apparently taken when prisoners went on excursions outside the camp, which suggests that there was some exchange between the prisoners and local residents.

Photo: A commemorative photograph taken with local residents (courtesy of Mr. Dieter Linke)

Photo: An exchange with local residents (courtesy of Mr. Dieter Linke)

Photo: A commemorative photograph taken with local residents 1 (courtesy of Mr. Dieter Linke)

Photo: A commemorative photographs taken with local residents 2 (courtesy of Mr. Dieter Linke)

Many photographs taken by prisoners show how the Japanese people lived at that time.

Photo: Japanese women (courtesy of Mr. Dieter Linke)

Photo: A village where utility poles are erected (courtesy of Mr. Dieter Linke)

Photo: A private house (courtesy of Mr. Dieter Linke)

Photo: Local children (courtesy of Mr. Dieter Linke)