| Catalogue Finding Number | WYHER/13117 |
| Office record is held at | Historical Environment Record, West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service |
| Held Outside WYAS | THE RECORD DESCRIBED IS HELD AND ADMINISTERED BY THE WEST YORKSHIRE HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT RECORD PLEASE CONTACT THEM ON 0113 535 0157 IF YOU WISH TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO VIEW THIS RECORD |
| Title | German Prisoner of War Camp, Methley |
| Description | German Prisoner of War Camp located on the north side of Park Lane near to the Lodge, Methley. Aerial photography (Google Earth 2009) still showed the possible foundations of the POW huts. The BBC ‘Inside Out’ television programme (5 December 2011) reported that Arthur Braun one of the German Residents within the POW camp produced a large painting (size 8 ft x 8 ft) entitled ‘Our Lady of the ruins’ during the winter of 1944/45. It featured the Madonna with child in a ruined city surrounded by desperate people appealing to God for protection from war. The painting is believed to depict the artist’s wife (as the Madonna) in the ruins of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau in Baden Württemberg, Germany (the painting clearly shows Freiburg Munster in the background). Braun may have produced the painting after hearing of the death of his wife during an allied air raid on Freiburg im Breisgau (Braun's home town) during November 1944 www.methley village,com/wartimemethley.html; BBC Inside Out, 5th December 2011) . The location of the POW camp, as well as the foundations of the prisoner's huts, are also shown in the television programme.
POWs were used as agricultural labourers on the Mexborough Estate as many villagers had been recruited into the armed forces. The POWs were invited to perform Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (Silent Night) in German during a Christmas Eve service at St Oswald’s Church – an event still remembered by some villagers (www.methley village,com/wartimemethley.html) |
| Date | 21st century |
| Extent | contact the West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service for information on what is available |
| Level | Item |