Military Prisoners in Southern Jutland during World War I

Historian Egon Weber Paulsen presents his book "Military Prisoners in Southern Jutland during World War I" at a lecture at Bov Library.

The book tells the story of men - Germans, Danish-minded South Jutlanders, and refugees - who were branded as dishonorable and placed in military penal camps for attempting to evade military service through illegal absence, desertion, or disobedience. From 1916 to 1918, around 10,000 prisoners labored under inhumane conditions to construct what became known as the Northern Fortification Line, including the gun battery in Lerskov plantation. Conditions were reportedly worse than those they fled from at the front - and the local population witnessed it all. This is the first time this history has been told comprehensively for the region, which one prisoner himself called "German Siberia".

Egon Weber Paulsen holds a master's degree in Danish and religion from Odense and Aarhus universities (1982) and has taught in Greenland and at A.P. Møller School in Schleswig. He currently works at the Danish Central Library for South Schleswig in Flensburg.

The lecture is organized jointly by Bov Library, the Local History Association for Bov and Holbøl, and the Historical Society for Southern Jutland, Aabenraa branch. Members of the two associations attend free; non-members pay 50 kr. Registration and payment are open from June 1 to September 15 at 12:00 on hssdj.dk under events or via https://place2book.com/da/sw2/sales/kfumquo4wm