The Newspaper as an Institution

The newspaper played an important co-ordinating role in the camp. It also functioned as an important channel for information to friends and relatives in Germany. The process of censoring individual letters from prisoners was laborious, so as a result the size and number of letters which could be sent was restricted by the British authorities, and prisoners were unable to write long discursive letters describing their circumstances. The newspaper set out to overcome this problem by describing the camp environment and the activities of the prisoners. Donations to the camp were also managed by the newspaper, and any profits which accrued from the sale of the newspaper were used in various ways for the welfare of the prisoners. When the work camps were established, the newspaper encouraged the people in the camps to stay in touch - and to go on reading the newspaper!