Postcard from an internment camp in Switzerland. Postcard sent in August 1942 to the interned Captain Andrzej Potoczek, on the front page a blank Militärpostkarte... with stamps: Directorate of the Field Post Office and Military Internment Camp Granges-près-Sion and handwritten details of the sender, on the verso a request to send 30 eagle pieces; st. bdb; dimensions: ca. 145x105 mm.
Polish soldiers interned in Switzerland. After the fall of France in 1940, about 13,000 Polish soldiers crossed into Switzerland, where they were interned. They were mainly soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Rifle Division. Initially concentrated in a few internment camps, they were dispersed throughout Switzerland. Groups of interned Polish soldiers could number up to a dozen or so. Such a state of affairs was caused by labor obligations imposed by the Swiss. Most often they were sent to build roads, which was a tradition since at least the Napoleonic wars, that captured soldiers of the enemy army were sent to such works. The treatment in Switzerland was different for those Poles who took up studies at the universities there. Dispersion created the need for mutual contacts. Correspondence served this purpose: special envelopes and cards of Swiss military mail. Stamped by the military and civilian post offices, they give a picture of how Poles were deployed in Switzerland. So do money orders. From them one can see how well organized the Poles were. A cursory analysis of them shows that the money, modest as it was, went to two purposes: the purchase of parts of Polish uniforms: eagles, buttons, etc., and the charitable work of helping children in occupied Poland. The coordinator of some of these activities was Captain Andrzej Potoczek, a sort of intendant of the internees and treasurer of the charity collections.
