The picture shows Polish prisoners of war in front of a camp mess. By the end of 1939, 15,000 Polish soldiers had been interned in the main camp of Nuremberg-Langwasser. After a short time, most unranked soldiers left the camp on work details across the region. On arrival, prisoners were subjected to a degrading registration process.

The Belgian prisoner of war Pierre Fourage recorded his impressions of registration in summer 1940: "Our particulars are noted and we are registered. This means that they hang a sign around our necks. We lose our identity and are now nothing but a number. From now on, I am prisoner 48007."

The experiences of imprisonment, work details and living conditions of the individual unranked soldiers varied. Frenchman André Vergnes recorded his some five years of imprisonment and work details in pictures. The Italian Angelo Cottinelli died after a short time as he was forced to work despite being ill, and the photographs taken by Eugene Murphy document the chaotic and degrading conditions at the camp shortly before it was liberated.