Documentation relating to parcel transmission and receipt., 1915 - 1918

Prisoners in Ruhleben camp were only permitted to write a maximum of two letters to friends and family per month. These letters had to be written on A5 sized Ruhleben-issued stationery, which obliged writers to be brief. Letters also had to be checked by the camp's censor requiring writers to be circumspect and Albert Jones alludes several times to his communications being constrained. Mail between Germany and New Zealand was often subject to delays and in some cases was lost en route. Typically Albert Jones' letters contain: instructions and/or requests, receipt and/or non-receipt of letters and parcels with gratitude for their contents, a comment on the weather, a comment on his state of health, discussion of efforts to solicit official aid in obtaining release, greetings and messages to be passed on to family and friends. Descriptions of life in Ruhleben camp are limited to accounts of P.O.W.- initiated activities - sport, performances, craft, and so forth - rather than details of conditions in the camp.