15. Allied prisoners of war received entertainment packages too
Those with the misfortune of being captured by the enemy, especially in the European theater of operations, were considered when entertaining the troops was undertaken. They were denied the use of radios by their captors (though many had them surreptitiously) and the Germans balked at allowing their films. But several Western organizations attempted to ease their boredom by providing books and magazines, board games, athletic equipment, educational materials, playing cards, scripts from which they could produce plays, and other items. The Germans inspected them for contraband, and though the inspections were thorough, much contraband got through. Though not in materials provided by the International Red Cross. Based in Geneva, the Red Cross refused to compromise their position by allowing what they sent to prisoners to be compromised by the Allies. The Red Cross packages were crucial for nutrition as the war went on.
Britain’s SAS and the American OSS set up sham relief agencies and routed packages through them to the prisoners. Inside there were board games with escape maps cleverly hidden, record discs which contained the tools for escape, including maps and currency, and coded addresses for safe houses run by the underground. Along with providing the means of escaping the boredom of the camps, they provided aids to escaping the camps themselves. In many of the larger POW camps, the Germans allowed the prisoners to build theaters and provide musical instruments. Prisoners presented programs which ranged from ribald parodies of prison life to full productions of the plays of William Shakespeare. They also entertained each other by learning to speak German, French, Italian, or other languages which could aid them in escaping the Third Reich and returning to their units.