Bandō prisoner of war camp

Bandō prisoner of war camp was a prisoner of war camp that existed from 1917 to 1920, during and shortly after the First World War. It was located in the city with the same name. It housed about 1000 of the 3900 prisoners of war captured at Tsingtao, China, in 1914. Today, the camp is considered special, because of the liberal rules it had. Many of the prisoners were not professional soldiers, but had other jobs before the war. The commander of the camp, Matsue Toyohisa, saw this, and allowed the prisoners many liberties. One of these liberties was that they were allowed to follow courses to improve their skills. That way, Hermann Richard Hansen directed a choir and an orchestra of prisoners, to perform Beethoven's 9th symphony. This was the first performance of the symphony in Japan and in Asia. When the camp closed in 1920, 63 people chose to stay in Japan.