On 17th May 1945, the Belfast Telegraph newspaper reported on a YMCA visit to Prisoner of War Camps in Northern Ireland. Members of the Young Men's Christian Association toured around many of the camps in Ulster.
The first representative of the International YMCA (Prisoner of War Aid) was Reverend Bieger Forell. He had been chaplain to the Swedish Embassy in Berlin for 13 years. The second was Reverend Ingemar Lindstam, a chaplain of the Lithuanian Church in Sweden. They visited German-speaking prisoners in several camps.
They noted the strong response by the prisoners to the teaching of the Gospel by German chaplains and visiting clergy. On top of this, prisoners were keen to partake in educational courses in the camps. The YMCA supported these efforts by supplying religious and educational books.