Kurume History Walks
ふりょNo.11 Remembering German POWs ドイツ兵俘虜の足跡をたずねてCould you guess where the photo
above was captured? They don’t seemto be Asian. Then is it anywhere inSasayama-jinja Shrine

Europe? But, if you pay attention toeach person, you may find someAsian, Japanese people among themand also a small shrine on the backleft.
It was at the Sasayama-jinjaShrine during the Taisho era (19121926) that they were photographed.
At that time, over 1,300 German
POWs* of World War I “lived” inKurume.

↓JR Kurume Station
ACCESS to the Sasayama-jinja Shrine:
10 min on foot to the north from JR Kurume Station*POW: Prisoner Of War
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Kurume History Walks / No.11 Remembering German POWs

 German POWs and Kurume
The reason why such many German POWs stayed in Kurume was that Japan had taken part in World War I.
On the grounds of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, Japan declared war against Germany. On October 31st, 1914,
Japanese forces opened to attack the German settlement at Tsingtao (China). It concluded with the surrender ofthe German forces. 4,791 of the soldiers were captured and 4,679 of them were sent to Japan.
Sixteen POW camps were established around the country. In Kurume, at first, they were separately sent to
the four different sites, such as temples, traditional restaurant, and arsenal building (1-4 on the map). And inJune 1915, a new camp (5) was set up by reusing military hospital facilities in order to merge the existing sites.
The Kurume POW camp interned all captives who had been in the other four sites, the Kumamoto and theFukuoka camp. It became one of the largest, which held 1,319 soldiers at most, until it was closed on March
12th, 1920.
The word “POW camp” evokes images of the concentration camp of Japanese forces or the Nazis during
World War II. However, the Kurume camp was managed under the Hague Convention, which regulated thehumanistic treatment of the captives. TheJapanese government paid them the salary
based on their rank and permitted them toexchange letters, to take a newspaper, toplay sports or music, and other activities
with some limitation. They held a concert
almost weekly and performed a theaterwith the real costumes.
People in Japan had learned thewestern culture and scientific technology
from Germany. So, that many Germanpeople, who were captives, stayed in thecountry, was a splendid opportunity tolearn their technology.
In our city, two manufacturers of
rubber-soled socks (tabi) and a flour
milling company employed them. Everymorning they went to work by train withJapanese guards.
The people were welcoming them not
only because they brought a positive
economic impact, but also because theLOCATION
1 Bairin-ji Temple
2 Kokaen Restaurant
3 Office of Shin Buddhism
4 Koradai Proving Ground Quarter
5 Kurume POW Camp

people admired their correct and smart
behavior and their culture.

2Kurume History Walks / No.11 Remembering German POWs Excursion
It is a great pity that the Kurume POW camp
had a poor reputation. The quarters and the grounds
were not enough spacious for many people. And it
was located in town, therefore German soldiers andthe Japanese force both had the psychological feelingof tension. In that kind of condition, the great
enjoyment for them was to go on an excursion as adiversion and exercise.

At the Kora-taisha ShrineThey went, almost of the time, to walk in themountain or to swim in the river, and sometimes, tosee the cherry blossoms or to do the sightseeing in
the towns near Kurume.
They took a lot of souvenir photographs. The
one on the first page at the Sasayama-jinja Shrine
was also one of these photos. A large tree in thebackground is always there.
Some photographers followed them, going on
the excursion for making and selling postcards.

In the Chikugo River

There is a photo which was taken when POWs
looked at a pond from the Mitarai Bridge on the way
to visit the Kora-taisha Shrine. The bridge and a housein the background still exist today.

On the Mitarai Bridge

ACCESS to the Kora-taisha Shrine:

They came to visit the memorial places of the POWs from10 min on foot to the east from the bus stop “Miimachi” ofNishitetsu Bus.

the Japanese Cultural Center of Frankfurt.

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Kurume History Walks / No.11 Remembering German POWs

 Cenotaph for the deceased German POWs
At the Kurume POW camp, eleven soldiers passed away during five years and three months of confinement
to prison. The first two died of the gunshot wound and the pyemia from the war in Qingdao, others were by theinfection disease such as pneumonia and tuberculosis. But there was no death caused by Spanish flu that had
been pandemic. It could say that the Kurume POW camp archived hygiene management to keep a level higher
than a definite level.
After the Christian funerals, the bodies were buried at the army cemetery of Mii-Hatazaki. When allGerman soldiers were released and returned to the country, they brought the bones of their dead comrades except two bodies which are still not known where those were buried.
This memorial monument seemed to be erected before their departure. German soldiers probably ordered
to some Japanese stonemasons. It bears an inscription of the deceased soldiers’ name and the condolences inGerman:
SCHWERT

ENTWUNDENSCHICKSALS

MACHT

DURCH

GEFANGENGEBUNDEN SANKT IHR ZUR NACHT(Sword wrested by fate makes the prisonertied up for the night)
ZUM GEDÄCHTNIS DEN KAMERADEN
DIE FERN DER HEIMAT STARBEN (Inmemory of the comrades who died far fromhome)
In 1997, the monument was transferred to by
the walking pass near the pond of the Shogen-ji

ACCESS to the Cenotaph:
5 min on foot to the south from the bus stop “Keijinjoguchi” of NishitetsuBus.

Temple. In 1998, a Lindenbaum tree from
Germany was planted next to the monument.

 The Naruto German House
The Bando POW camp, which was settled at Naruto City, Tokushima Prefecture, was said to be the most“exemplary” and is famous as the place where Beethoven’s “the Symphony No.9” was performed for the firsttime in Japan.
The German House exhibits the pictures, the materials, and other things about their life in detention. Thegrounds where the camp used to exist was transformed into “the German Village Park”. There is also “theGerman Bridge” and a cenotaph.
Cultural Properties Protection Department of Kurume
Address: 15-3 Jonan Kurume Fukuoka Japan 830-8520
Tel: 0942-30-9225
Date of publication: March 31st, 2008
Translated in July 2020
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