Vortrag: Ein etwas anderer Alltag in einer Festungsstadt - Ingolstadt als Kriegsgefangenenlager im Ersten Weltkrieg

In the organizer's words:

by Maximilian Schuster

The state fortress of Ingolstadt never fulfilled the tasks for which it was built - no shot was ever fired here with malicious intent, no siege took place, no enemy armies attempted to conquer the "Schanz". Instead, it served a number of other purposes that are unknown to many Ingolstadt residents. Of these "subsequent uses", the lecture focuses on the best known: the prisoner of war camp during the First World War. With an average of 8,500 prisoners of war, Ingolstadt was the largest camp in the German Reich - measured against the population of around 25,000. In addition to later prominent prisoners such as Charles de Gaulle, many thousands of soldiers had to eke out their lives here, sometimes for years - but what was it like? How were accommodation, food, leisure activities, work assignments etc. organized? The lecture explores these and other questions and, above all, features original photographs that have never been published anywhere else.

Maximilian Schuster is a history teacher at the Ludwig-Fronhofer-Realschule. He is interested in researching and presenting Ingolstadt's history, especially the history of the fortress. Since October 2021, he has been the chairman of the Förderverein Bayerische Landesfestung Ingolstadt e.V.