Prisoners of War
About the 'Tiki Times'
Cover of first issue
The 'Tiki Times' was a hand- printed and illustrated newspaper produced weekly at prisoner of war camp E535, Milowitz, Poland from August 1944 to January 1945. Milowitz was a coal mining camp where 500 New Zealand POWs worked alongside Polish miners, together with a few English, Spanish and Cypriot prisoners.
The editor and driving force was Jack Gallichan, a journalist for the Manawatu Evening Standard after the war. The 'Tiki Times' included snippets of information gleaned from prisoners letters from home, humorous (and otherwise) incidents in the life of POWs, verse, political discussions and beautiful artwork. This was originally the work of Max Wallace, but towards the end of its publication, John Phillips drew some magnificent illustrations.
When the POWs at Milowitz were sent on a forced march westwards as the war drew to a close, Jack Gallichan packed up all the issues of the 'Tiki Times' in a backpack and carried them for three months until he was able to hand them to a wounded POW who took them to England. After the war Gallichan oversaw the printing of the 'Tiki Times' and distributed it to the men who had been prisoners at E535.
Next: Tiki Times Vol.1 >