WW II LOGBOOK OF A WEST AFRICAN PRISONER OF WAR
Beginning in 1943, the War Prisoners Aid - dedicated to the spiritual, educational, and recreational needs of POWs - supplied blank journals for inclusion in Red Cross Aid packages bound for Europe.Only 25,00 of these logbooks were printed and its not known how many of these survived the camps, the forced marches and the intervening years. Wartime logs came with a cover letter containing the instruction to let the book be a "visible link between yourself and the folks at home." This logbook belonged to Kojo Aboah, an African from the Gold Coast (now Ghana) who was a seaman captured by the and imprisoned at Marlag und Milag Nord, a German prisoner-of-war camp complex for men of the British Merchant Navy and Royal Navy. The POWs occupied themselves in various ways. There was a camp theatre in Marlag and the POWs performed concerts and plays The camp had its own sports field and library. There were African prisoners in the camp from Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, and Nigeria. According to official figures in April 1944 there were 4,268 men held there. Initially the camp was guarded by German naval troops who were later replaced by Army reservists. Kojo Aboah was imprisoned in Marlag for four years.
