The article reproduces the history of the creation and activity of several camp organizations in Wetzlar (Germany) during 1917 — the first months of 1918. Each of them (“Volya”, “I. Mazepa Association of Senior Barracks”, “Ukrainian Art”, “Farmer”, “Relief and Distribution Committee”) contributed to the process of social and national awareness of Ukrainian prisoners, primarily thanks to their involvement in the life of the general camp community. Having received primary education in the camp school, its students preferred to expand their knowledge, gained experience in community work, learned new standards of collegial solutions to their urgent problems in the camp dimension. In turn, this created a basis for the formation of their political worldview, which was characterized by a distinct Ukrainian centrism. Camp societies created for their members all opportunities for their own self-realization — in accordance with the natural or acquired inclinations of prisoners, helping them successfully overcome all the hardships of camp life. Community work became a real school of personal development for many camp inmates, instilling in them the foundations of democratic values and instilling in some of the prisoners a willingness to take up arms and defend the newly created Ukrainian People’s Republic in a duel with Bolshevik Moscow.