The Great Escape: from Tsingtao to Skipton

Anne Buckley recounts the little-known story of two German naval officers who escaped from the POW camp in Fukuoka, Japan, in November 1915, and spent a year on the run, almost circumnavigating the globe, before being recaptured by the Royal Navy and spending the final part of the war in Skipton.

A detailed diary of the journey has recently been found by the family of one of the men, providing a fascinating insight into the experiences of German officers in Japanese captivity during the First World War and into life in China a century ago.

About the speaker: Anne is an Associate Professor in German and Translation Studies at the University of Leeds, and a resident of Skipton. Her research focuses on the experiences of German prisoners of war in the UK during the First World War and the legacy of their captivity. Her book German Prisoners of the Great War. Life in a Yorkshire Camp was published in February 2021. It contains the translation of a book entitled Kriegsgefangen in Skipton, written by a group of German POWs, and an extensive introduction based on her research into the camp and the prisoners. She also co-translated Holger Afflerbach’s book ‘On a Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War’.