POW ID Cards?

[Rand]

Hello Gentlemen, I was doing some research and came across the following link....

http://www.wartimememories.co.uk/pow/stalagixc.html

So my natural question would be, where exactly would these POW indentity cards be held now?

Would I have to contact the War Pensions Agency? There I imagine that the doors would be closed to individuals that are not next of kin, the same as service records.

Or would these cards be held at the Red Cross Headquarters in Switzerland? I know that the Red Cross charges 80 Swiss Francs per hour for research into a POW, but would they come up with an ID card, or just a simple print-out that "POW Smith was held at Stalag-A then transferred to Stalag-B on this date, etc"?

I would be interested to learn more about this subject, since I'm sure that some other researchers on this forum have a POW or two that they would like to get a photo of.

Thank you, Rand.

[statemachine]

As far as I know,you need to be very close to the soldier,with all relevant info,to receive anything from ICRC,Rand.

[Rand]

Thanks for the answer.

[Jacky]

I obtained my father's POW card (actually it was a sort of folder) from the Ministry of Defence. At the time I had to sign the Official Secrets Act as they had not been released but they have now. Lots of mens details are missing. I turned up at the Government Office lugging a massive German dictionary, loads of paper and pencils only to find the inside was missing. The cover contained his personal details (DOB, address, parents - his photograph and fingerprint were missing) They showed me his medical records when I hit the roof so gave me a copy of them instead. I should not have had it at the time.

My father had to give his permission which he did. I wrote the letter and he scrawled what passed for a signature. I never told them he was not with it. They also wanted to know his name (obviously) regiment, and they asked a few details to ensure I was who I claimed to be. If he had not signed I would have been charged but they regarded my application as his request.

I am sorry I do not have the address of the MOD department to write to but the main London address will send it to the proper department. .
Jacky

[Rand]

Thanks Jacky, but it's too bad that the photo was missing from your father's card.

[phylo_roadking]

Rand, if you find your way to the ICRC home site - you''ll find it also keeps copies of a HUGE number of international treaties and lists of the what nations signed up to what and when - or reneged on or withdrew from LOL...

BUT - buried away in there is IIRC a copy of the pro forma that was supposed to be filled in for each prisoner by the combatant nation that captured them and which was to be forwarded to Geneva for THEIR records. I can't remember if it's tagged on as an annex to the 1929 Geneva Convention - the one that covered POWs...but I remember searching for it again recently, and although the site is HUGE, it's not well linked internally, and the search function is a bit poxy So it might take you a while to search for it...but the blank pro forma will give you an idea of the minimum level of information Geneva ideally got supplied to them for each prisoner. The ONLY circumstances that would mean there's anything MORE than that bare minimum would be if something had happened during his captive years that the Germans were obliged to report to the Red Cross. It's worth checking that blank form to see if it'll actually mean you don't get anything from Geneva you didn't already know...