30/11/92

Press Release

Eden Camp:

23rd March 1999

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF

It was an eerie, cold, damp and misty morning in 1986 that inspired Stan Johnson, owner of Eden Camp, to develop former Prisoner of War Camp No. 83 into the Worlds First Modern History Theme Museum.

Forty Four years earlier the first group of shabby and pathetic looking prisoners had been marched up from the railway station in nearby Malton and encamped in tents whilst helping to build the huts into which they were interned.

Those first prisoners were Italians but, with Italy agreeing to surrender to the Allies in September of 1943, they were slowly allowed more freedom and were sent out from the Camp to live on the farms where they were employed in food production.

June 1944 would see the first German prisoners marched up through the town. They were more arrogant, more defiant and more hostile to the locals who lined the streets to see ‘the enemy’ at close hand.

Fifty five years later Eden Camp and the streets of Malton will once again resound to the tramp of hob nailed boots and inquisitive onlookers.

Approximately one hundred re-enactors are due to descend on Eden Camp over the Bank Holiday Easter Weekend.

Sixty German troops and forty members of the Allied forces will arrive on site on Friday, April 2nd, and will then stay over the weekend until Bank Holiday Monday, April 5th. Each day both groups will be drilled and issued with ‘site duties.’ Both groups will also alternate in the roles of captors and captives.

The ‘March through Malton’ re-enactment will take place at approximately 1.00pm Sunday, April 4 when the entire troop of Germans will form up on the platform at Malton Railway Station and be marched (escorted by British guards) the 2 miles up through the town to the gates of Eden Camp.

The re-enactors will be travelling from all over the country, with the largest contingents coming from the South Coast(Germans) and the North West(Allies).

If you require any more information about this unique event, please do not hesitate to contact Nick or Steve at the address and telephone number above. Alternatively you can visit our web site and e-mail us at http://www.edencamp.co.uk

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