Bando was not a typical prison camp. Formed in 1917 by merging three older facilities at Marugame, Matsuyama, and Tokushima, the camp sprawled across 57,233 square meters and held just under a thousand prisoners. Its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Matsue Toyohisa, took an approach that the International Red Cross would later praise highly. Under Matsue's direction, prisoners could lease land for farming or sports, set up market stalls to sell handicrafts and food, and organize their own educational courses. Many of the prisoners were not career soldiers but reservists drawn from civilian professions -- bakers, carpenters, watchmakers, photographers, pharmacists. They taught each other skills in economics, electrical engineering, stenography, and languages, and some acquired qualifications that served them well after the war.

The cultural life of Bando was extraordinary. The camp supported multiple orchestras -- the Kiautschou Sailor Artillery Band, the Tokushima Orchestra, the Schulz Orchestra, and a mandolin band -- along with theater groups that staged everything from amateur skits to professional-quality performances. Over the camp's 32-month existence, the prisoners presented more than 100 concerts and dozens of plays, some at the nearby Buddhist temple Ryozen-ji. The performances ranged widely in quality, but the June 1918 rendition of Beethoven's Ninth stood apart. It introduced the symphony to Japan and planted a seed that grew into one of the country's most distinctive musical traditions. Every year, the city of Naruto commemorates the event with a concert at the Naruto Bunka Kaikan on the first Sunday in June.

Bando had its own printing shop, which produced an impressive range of materials: event programs, maps, postcards, lecture notes, entrance tickets, sheet music, advertising leaflets, technical drawings, books, and even stamps for internal use. The camp's most significant publication was "Die Baracke" -- "The Barracks" -- a newspaper that began as a weekly and shifted to monthly production. It documented life inside the wire with a thoroughness that now serves as a primary historical source. A daily information sheet called the "Daily Telegram Service Bando" kept prisoners informed of news from the outside world. These publications, handwritten in German and since translated into English, reveal a community that organized itself with remarkable energy despite the fundamental fact of its captivity.

When the camp closed on February 8, 1920, most prisoners returned to Germany. But sixty-three chose to remain in Japan. Their decision speaks to the unusual bonds that formed between the prisoners and their hosts. In 1972, the city of Naruto opened the Doitsu-kan -- the German House -- as a museum preserving the camp's history. Two years later, Naruto established a sister city relationship with Luneburg, the German town that many of the prisoners had called home. A larger museum building, designed in the style of Luneburg Town Hall, replaced the original in 1993. The camp site itself was designated a National Historic Site in 2002, and two original barracks buildings survive as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties, though they have been moved from their original locations. A stone bridge built by the prisoners during their captivity still stands near the site.