Title	The Heater
Image Rights	Digital image © 2008, Tennessee State Library & Archives. All rights reserved.
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Subjects - TGM	Barbed wire Rooms & spaces Prisoners Playing cards Stoves Tables Stools
Education Tags	US.61 American Soldiers World War II
Subjects - LCSH	World War, 1939-1945 -- Europe; Prisoners of war; Diaries
Description	This page in Mitchener's diary from World War II includes a drawing of a group of prisoners who are passing time by playing cards. They are sitting next to a heating stove that, according to Mitchener, has a six-foot radius. He writes"There's at least one 'Ladies Aid' per room - - Underneath the drawing he explains that the men are playing bridge, staving off hunger, and using a small amount of coal to keep warm. They are actually using wood stumps as a substitute for coal.
Place	Zagan (Poland)
Date	1944-1945
Historical note	Mitchener was shot down and captured as a POW during World War II after a bombing mission in Germany. Each compound at Stalag Luft III (there were five) contained around a dozen barracks called blocks, a cookhouse, a shower building, a laundry, and a theater and a chapel building. The winters in Silesia were quite cold, and a chilly wind penetrated the cracks in the walls. The men were frequently cold and uncomfortable. Usually bored, they attempted to pass time by playing cards.
Creator	Mitchener, Hardy A., 1919-1957
Collection name	Hardy A. Mitchener, Jr. Journal, 1944-1945
Accession #	THS 760
Owning Institution	Tennessee Historical Society
ID #	33594
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Digital type	IMAGE
Digital format	TIFF