F*** Hitler: Two words in Morse code show defiance to Führer of PoW who stitched up message that his henchman failed to spot

  • Nazi captors unwittingly put sampler on display in four prison camps
  • His message was stitched in Morse code and also read 'God Save the King'

By Emily Allen


They were the secret messages of resistance that Hitler’s henchmen failed to spot.

Held in a Nazi camp, Major Alexis Casdagli whiled away the long hours sewing samplers in cross-stitch.

His captors were so impressed by his pretty needlework they even put it on display in the camp. Yet not one of them spotted the coded messages he had stitched into his designs – which read ‘God Save the King’ and ‘F*** Hitler’.

Passive resistance: Major Alexis Casdagli created this stitched tapestry in captivity in Germany. The inner border reads 'God Save The King' in Morse Code while the outer border reads 'F*** Hitler'

Passive resistance: Major Alexis Casdagli created this stitched tapestry in captivity in Germany. The inner border reads 'God Save The King' in Morse Code while the outer border reads 'F*** Hitler'

The subversive samplers have since been displayed at the Victoria & Albert museum in London as a testament to a British soldier who never lost his fighting spirit.

 

Major Alexis Casdagli pictured during the war. The artwork was created using red and blue thread from a disintegrating pullover belonging to an elderly Cretan general

Defiant: Major Alexis Casdagli pictured during the war. The sampler was created using red and blue thread from a disintegrating pullover

‘It used to give him pleasure when the Germans were doing their rounds,’ his 79-year-old son, Tony Casdagli, said.

‘It also stopped him going mad. He would say after the war the Red Cross saved his life, but his embroidery saved his sanity.’

Major Casdagli, of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, began sewing six months into his time at a camp in Dossel-Warbung, Germany.

He made his seemingly innocent sampler using red and blue thread from the jumper of a fellow inmate, a Cretan army general.

Around the swastikas and a banal inscription, he also stitched a border of irregular dots and dashes – containing the messages in Morse code.

His work was displayed for years at the camps in Germany where he was held.

If discovered, the messages of resistance could have put his life in jeopardy, his son said.

‘He was so good at sewing the Germans had him giving classes to his fellow officers,’ he added.

‘But they never worked out his code.’

His son, a retired Royal Navy officer who lives in London with his wife Sally, told how another of Major Casdagli’s rebellious works featured a Union Flag.

On it he stitched a flap with ‘do not open’ written on it, as showing the flag was banned in Nazi Germany.

Major Casdagli created the sampler while in captivity at a prisoner of war camp in Dossel-Warbung, pictured, in Germany. He was in captivity at various camps for four years

Prisoner: Major Casdagli created the sampler while in captivity at a prisoner of war camp in Dossel-Warbung, pictured, in Germany in 1941. He was in captivity at various camps for four years

‘Each week the same officer would open the flap and say, “This is illegal,” and Pa said, “You’re showing it, I’m not”.’

Major Casdagli was held captive between 1941 and 1945, in four camps.

He continued to sew until his death in 1990, at the age of 90.

Tony Casdagli, Major Casdagli's son now has the sampler after it was displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London recently

Reunited: Tony Casdagli, Major Casdagli's son, now has the sampler after it was displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London recently

When Mr Casdagli was 11, he received this stitched letter through the post. His father had spelled out: 'It is 1,581 days since I saw you last but it will not be long now. Do you remember when I fell down the well? Look after Mummy till I get home again'

When Mr Casdagli was 11 his father sent him this stitched letter which read: 'It is 1,581 days since I saw you last but it will not be long now. Do you remember when I fell down the well? Look after Mummy till I get home again'

Morse Code: A History

Morse code is a way of communicating text in a series of on-off tones, lights or clicks.

Anyone trained to understand it can pick it up without needing special equipment.

The short and long signals are called 'dots' and 'dashes' and each letter or number is represented by a unique sequence of dots and dashes

A dash is three times the duration of a dot.

Letters of a word are separated by one dash length and two words are separated by seven dots.

Samuel F B Morse invented the first American telegraph around 1835 which sends electrical signals over long distance through wires.

It revolutionised long-distance communication.

He devised an early form of Morse code with Alfred Vail in the 1840s to communicate information,

Morse sent the first telegraphic message from Washington DC to Baltimore on May 24, 1844. The message was 'What hath God wrought?'


 

 

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The comments below have not been moderated.

I wish contributors would not type in Morse Code. I do not have a translator handy.

Click to rate     Rating   12

Do the DM really believe that people today are so stupid that they need an explanation of morse code. Hm. Yes, they're probably right in fact.

Click to rate     Rating   42

I find it hard to believe that other POWs wouldn't have noticed the morse dashes and dots, for anyone who's learned it, it becomes second nature to find them. - The Germans might have missed them, as they wouldn't have been signallers but I'm sure some other inmates would have spotted them, especially if they came from a Signaller background or were radio amateurs pre-war. Morse was widespread at that time and a lot of people knew it.

Click to rate     Rating   25

I found the sampler letter sent to his son very touching. What a wonderful family momento to have.

Click to rate     Rating   22

As a Flight engineer during WW2 in England, I could read Morse code , but I'm sure to have missed that work of art. Great job! The English were and are very smart when it comes to communicating!

Click to rate     Rating   25

How brave. Not! So small you can hardly see it. In morse so most can't understand it. In English so most Germans could'n't read it. WHY BOTHER? - el-nicko, hereford, herefordshire, 11/1/2012 21:55 I hope to god you are just trying to wind people up and you are not actually as simple as your comment would suggest.

Click to rate     Rating   20

wow a great skill, wish i could do the same instead of sitting at my pc all day - Novikov Elia, kamyshin Russia, 11/1/2012 20:50 Oh for crying out loud, adopt some British Bulldog spirit, get off your backside and do something about it then. This guy obviously had a great sense of humour - good on him! And a true hero.

Click to rate     Rating   17

there's a wall near our house that allegedly german POWs built, if you look at that closely allegedly they put the bricks in a certain arrangement so that the mortar spelt capital H's all over the wall i suppose in the same, subversive of getting their two penneth in. What ever keeps your spirits up and makes you think your contributing...

Click to rate     Rating   20

Novikov Elia, kamyshin, Russia. Perhaps you would rather be a PoW kept by vicious brutal people and not know if this was to be your last day or not and be able to do embroidery rather than be a free person who just has to earn their living at their PC? You have no idea what those men went through in the war and how dare you even wish for one moment that you could be doing this. They suffered greatly to give YOU YOUR freedom. Be thankful for that every day. Even when sitting at your PC.

Click to rate     Rating   23

How brave. Not! So small you can hardly see it. In morse so most can't understand it. In English so most Germans could'n't read it. WHY BOTHER?

Click to rate     Rating   76

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