m Mi M M': THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY 1 o N a! (J .- -i be ■i M * rt f t -4-> V vT Ih a; C o en u o. : J3 « i : be " 1 W PROBLEM OF THE PRISONER OF WAR 5 the Embassy in Berlin on February 27, 1915, and transmitted to the German Government. In the meantime the German public became very much concerned over the internment of German civilians in England and Ireland. 1 While reprisal action was immediately taken in Germany the force of public opinion and the very large numbers of German civilians involved, unquestionably influenced the German Govern- ment to accept the British proposition for a recip- i MR. GERARD TO MR. PAGE American Embassy, Berlin, November 8, 1914. Sir: Although it may already be too late to be of much practical effect, I feel it my duty, in the interest of humanity, to urge you to obtain some formal declaration on the part of the British Government as to its purpose in ordering the wholesale concentra- tion of Germans in Great Britain and Ireland, as is understood here to be the case. It is known here that many of the Ger- mans interned belong to the laboring classes, and that their posi- tion is actually improved by their internment, and it is recog- nised that the British Government has the right to arrest per- sons when any wellfounded ground for suspecting them to be spies exists. Great popular resentment has been created by the reports of the arrest of other Germans, however, and the German authori- ties cannot explain or understand why German travellers who have been taken from ocean steamers should not be permitted to remain at liberty, of course under police control, even if they are compelled to stay in England. The order for the general concen- tration of British males between the ages of 17 and 55, which went into effect on the 6th instant, was occasioned by the pressure of public opinion, which has been still further excited by the newspaper reports of a considerable number of deaths in the con- centration camps. Up to the 6th considerable liberty of move- ment had been allowed to British subjects in Germany, and, as you were informed in my telegram of the 5th, many petitions were received from them setting forth the favorable conditions under which they were permitted to live and to carry on their business, and urging the similar treatment of German subjects in 6 THE PRISONER OF .WAR IN GERMANY rocal inspection. As far as the prisoners of war were concerned the British Government had already permitted Mr. Lowry, an attache of the American Embassy at London to keep in close touch with all the British prison camps. He was permitted freely to visit and inspect them. Noth- ing was therefore to be gained from the German standpoint. The possibility of the withdrawal of this privilege, however, and the force of public opinion in Germany led to an eventual agreement. This agreement was as follows: " Principles for securing information concerning the condition of prisoners in belligerent countries : — "1. The belligerents undertake to transmit to those countries whose subjects are held by them as prisoners of war, whether combatant or non- combatant, a compilation of the provisions which they have adopted for the treatment of prisoners to include those relating to lodging, clothing, and food, as well as correspondence and the forward- ing of money and presents in kind. In case any supplementary regulations have been issued in single detention camps, such regulations shall be made known to the diplomatic or consular repre- England. I cannot but feel that to a great extent the English action and the German retaliation has been caused by a misunder- standing which we should do our best to remove. It seems to me that we should do all in our power to prevent an increase of the bitterness which seems to have arisen between the German and English peoples, and to make it possible for the two countries to become friends on the close of the war. I have, etc., James W. Gebaed. PROBLEM OF THE PRISONER OF ;WAR 7 sentatives who have charge of the protection of the prisoners when they inspect such camps. "2. General permission to inspect the deten- tion camps shall be given to the chiefs of the diplo- matic missions who have charge of the protection of the prisoners, as well as to the diplomatic or consular officers of their country who may be des- ignated by them. They shall announce visits to the commanders of the camp to hear their wishes and complaints. The conversations shall not, however, embrace other subjects than such wishes and complaints, except with the express permis- sion of the commander of the camp. Before leav- ing the camp, the diplomatic or consular repre- sentative will notify the commander of any wishes and complaints, and will not submit to the supe- rior authorities of the commander unless the com- mander declares himself unable or unwilling to consider the wishes or to remedy conditions form- ing the subject of complaint." In accord with this agreement permission was granted to certain members of the Embassy Staff to visit all places of internment provided that no- tice of the expected visit should be given in ad- vance to the commandant of the camp. This latter provision was not altogether acceptable to the British Government and was eventually modified so as to permit the inspection without previous no- tice. It will be seen later that while the idea that prompted this protest was that preparation for the inspection might be made it was afterwards 8 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY clearly proven that such notice did not militate against proper and complete inspection. The permission granted in form is as follows : AUTHORIZATION PERMISSION Dr. D. J. McCarthy "Is hereby permitted to visit without previous notice, all prison camps and hospitals in which English and Servian prisoners of war and civil- ians are interned. Working camps and prisons can likewise be visable after application to the Representative of the Army Corps without pre- vious notice. The local authorities are requested to afford the above named protection and assist- ance. "According to the official regulation for the in- spection of the camp the holder of this permit is allowed to converse with the prisoners alone out of hearing of the camp authorities. Conversa- tions with such prisoners of war who are under- going punishment can be held only in the presence of a near witness. Dr. D. J. McCarthy will before the beginning of the inspection present himself personally with this permission to the command- ant of the camp or his representative, in hospitals to the chef or surgeon in charge, in prisons and working camps to the officers in charge. This permission is not valid for the camps, etc., in dis- tricts under the Bavarian, Saxon or "Wurtemberg ministries of war. PROBLEM OF THE PRISONER OF !WAR 9 "He is requested to return this document to the Prussian Ministry of War, when the purpose for which it has been issued has been completed. "It will be here noted that four separate permits were issued by the Ministries of War respectively of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Wurtemberg. It was understood politics would not be discusssed and the inspection of the Embassy agreed not to discuss the war or subjects foreign to the matters directly concerned with the detail of inspection." Like privileges were granted to the American Embassy in London for an inspection and control of camps for the internment of German soldiers and civilians in Great Britain. A similar agree- ment was entered into between the Central Pow- ers in France under control of the Spanish Em- bassy. An understanding rather than an agree- ment existed, that the Spanish Embassy should do the same for Kussian prisoners of war. This was assumed on account of the fact that the Span- ish Government represented the Eussian interests in Germany. The Ambassador at Berlin immediately assigned several attaches of the Embassy to this work and requested some of the American consular agents to visit camps near their respective consulates. It is rather interesting to note that from the simple permission in Section 2 to visit army camps in order to listen to complaints, that there 10 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY grew out of this by degrees a full and complete military inspection, embracing not only a careful survey of all the physical conditions within the camp but a detailed inspection of the prisoners themselves ; a review of sanitary conditions, diplo- matic matters in reference to the exchange of wounded men, correction of hospital abuses and review of judicial matters in reference to court martials, etc. Once the principle of inspection was established surely the very military German commandant could not very well object to a mili- tary inspection. A military inspection included all of the above. When one glances over the early reports of camp inspection they appear fragmentary and in- complete ; this is largely due, however, to the dif- ficulties above mentioned and to the fact that the general idea had to be slowly developed against resistance and ofttimes refusal to make the in- spection complete. To develop and establish a principle of inspection to bring it up to its present status of scientific completeness, is I take it, a definite achievement ; a precedent for use in future wars, if unhappily there should be such. It will indeed relieve much suffering. I have no doubt that in the future this matter will be established as a principle of International Law, and be em- bodied in Conventions such as those established at the Hague. It was indeed fortunate that in this work the Embassy had the services of a military surgeon, an expert in sanitation, who with unsur- PROBLEM OF THE PRISONER OF !WAR 11 passed tact laid the foundations through two years of the development of this idea. I refer to Dr. Karl Ohnesorg, Assistant Attache at the American Embassy at Berlin. CHAPTER II THE AEMY CORPS AND THEIR PRISON PROBLEM WHILE the German Foreign Office in re- sponse to public opinion and as a result of protests based on the reports of Major V — (see Appendix) and others might agree to reciprocal inspection, the German Army Corps and Ger- man officers resented any inspection by a neutral and more particularly by members of the Diplo- matic Service, who were, with a single excep- tion, not even military men. One can well imagine the mental attitude of a general in the German Army towards a youthful attache who presumed to criticise anything that he did. During the first six months many problems were presented which gave rise to considerable friction between the inspection service of the Em- bassy and the German authorities. That some misunderstandings should develop was naturally to be expected. The problem was altogether new and the machinery for carrying it out was at first rather limited. It became evident, however, from the beginning that the decentralization of the Ger- man Government due to war conditions was re- sponsible to a large extent for not only a lack of harmony in co-operating with the idea of the in- 12 ARMY CORPS AND PRISON PROBLEM 13 spection but even to a greater degree in securing redress for evils existing. The Empire is divided into twenty one army- districts. In war time the government of each district is placed in the hands of a general and his staff, technically known as an army corps com- mand. For all practical purposes this represents the full governmental authority of the district as- signed to the army corps command. Under the military system and during a period of martial law the power of the general in command was practically absolute. While theoretically he is re- sponsible to the Ministry of War of the individual German State in which the army corps district is located and while this is responsible in a way to the Central Government at Berlin the army corps commander has so much authority that it would appear as if this authority were final. This is confirmed by the attitude of the army corps com- manders not only in a military but often in a general way. The attitude indeed of some of these com- manders became so bumptious that it became a matter of discussion in the Eeichstag. Notwith- standing the military government during the war, the Reichstag still holds its sessions to listen to the chancellor and to discuss matters which the speaker may permit open for discussion. Af- ter the Liebknecht affair this power was delegated to the speaker. In the discussion before men- tioned one of the delegates to the Reichstag read 14 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY a letter sent by one of the army corps commanders in reply to one of his constituents who protested to the injustice of the censorship in reference to business matters. The army corps commander replied that he and his delegate might protest as much as they liked but that he had the power and would do as he pleased in the matter. In this let- ter he stated: "We (the army corps commanders) are the ministry. We are the Bundesrat. We are the imperial chancellor. We are the Reich- stag. ' ' He only stopped short of saying : ' ' We are the Kaiser." This delegate stated: "I am not surprised at this sentence, for the Gotthanlichkeit (Likeness to gods) which these commanding gen- erals have assumed on the basis of the authority they have taken over, can scarcely be surpassed. This attitude of the army corps commanders found like expression in the attitude of the various State Ministries of War of Saxony, Bavaria, and Wiirtemberg towards the Central Prussian Minis- try of War in Berlin. While in theory the Ministry of War in Berlin is in supreme control, as a matter of fact, it was often found that orders issued by it were not car- ried out by the Ministries of War of the Individ- ual States or the army corps commanders in their district. A bureau existed in the Prussian War Ministry which was supposed to have control of all prisoners of war. This was found to be so only in theory. War Ministries of the individual states had direct control of all the prisoners within ARMY CORPS AND PRISON PROBLEM 15 the limit of their respective states. This prin- ciple was insisted upon to the extent that individ- ual permissions from the respective ministries of war had to be secured before prison camps in their districts were visited. The permission granted by the Prussian Central Minister of War was not sufficient and would not be honored. It was a matter of experience that where any conflict of authority arose the Central Minister of War usually conceded the point to the local state ministry or to the individual army corps com- 'mands. Matters often became so involved that one gathered the suspicion that problems pressed by a neutral embassy could be delayed or their solution prevented by this diffusion of authority. In matters of this kind one always had the feeling that the German Government was all arms and legs and no head. This was true not only in prob- lems concerning the prisoner of war but in diplo- matic matters generally. It was easy enough to get hold of an important member but when serious matters were at issue it was absolutely impossible to find the head. This condition of affairs was all the more serious in the prisoner of war situation. While the Central Government was at times sen- sitive to outside or at least neutral public opinion the army corps commands were often totally indif- ferent to it. Here the contrast between the mili- tary point of view and that of the German people as represented by their Central Government was very evident. Not only were the German people 16 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY like the Foreign Office sensitive to outside criti- cism of the prisoner of war situation but were of- ten at great pains to defend their treatment of the prisoner even when they knew nothing more about it than what occasional contact with those assigned to working on the farms and on the roads gave to them. While direct criticism was as a rule not published, articles in the public prints concerning reprisals and other matters always led to a certain amount of information leaking out which gave a clue to foreign criticism. The Central Govern- ment with more information as to neutral feeling and opinion was disposed in a general way to avoid the occasion for increasing resentment over the treatment of the prisoner of war. The army corps commanders on the other hand representing as they do the principles and methods of thought of the German Army were concerned wholly with obtaining results in the most direct way, and did not care what the outside world thought of them or their methods. The shortest distance between two points was the shortest line to them. It was quite immaterial that human rights and human be- ings should stand in the way of such a line of action. The German military mind is trained to effi- ciency. Efficiency means results. The prisoner of war problem is a military problem. The mili- tary idea of the shortest line to results irrespect- ive of human rights and human feeling was ap- plied to the prisoner of war problem even when The littlest Russian soldier prisoner with his Prus- sian " a;uard of honor" ARMY CORPS AND PRISON PROBLEM 17 the industrial complications made the working problem predominate over the military aspect to such an extent as to make the latter negligible. When it became necessary to make the prisoner of war work, a failure to obtain results would be a reflection on their military efficiency. Here the same principle was evolved as that in the Belgian deportation; methods harsh, brutal and often in- human were justified in order to secure results and good practice. If a deported Belgian or a prisoner of war was starved to exhaustion and died in the process, he was still to be forced into a position where he would work, otherwise their military system was wrong, and how could that be? I have no doubt that facing an identical sit- uation where their own men were involved, they would have had as little hesitation in using similar measures. Officers high in rank were placed in charge of prison camps, the rank of general was not uncom- mon. The commandant of the camp was there- fore very often the same military grade as the army corps commander, who was the military gov- ernor of the district over which he presided. He represented the military idea and enforced it throughout his entire staff. It was not surprising therefore that the prisoner of war problem was properly or improperly handled just in so far as it gave military results and not in accord with any humane principles. It was stated to me on one occasion by a German army inspector of high rank 18 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY in excuse for the flagrant violation of almost every; human consideration in one of the German prison camps, that the military authorities had placed a general in charge of this camp and had expected him to produce results. They had left the admin- istration of the camp to him, assuming that he had the rank to enforce authority over his own sub- ordinates and the brains to do it properly, but that unfortunately he followed too closely the letter of the regulations, etc. The commandant of the civilian camp at Ruhle- ben in a personal reply to a published report con- cerning his camp when it was stated that criti- cism was not aimed at him personally but to the food conditions in charge of an officer of the min- istry of war replied : " I am my camp ; any criti- cism of my camp is a criticism of me personally." Many of the commandants of the German prison camps like Graf Schwerin at Ruhleben were men of kindly impulses and sincerely interested in the welfare and comfort of the men assigned to their keeping and for whom on the part of the prisoner of war there was sincere affection. They were, however, a part of the military system and could not entirely escape it. Such men were often handicapped by the military regulations, some- times by the facilities at their disposal for the care of the prisoners, sometimes by the organiza- tion, as in the food situation at Ruhleben and sometimes by their own lack of executive ability ARMY CORPS AND PRISON PROBLEM 19 to properly use materials at hand or to force their own organization through the military red tape. Phe commandant at Parchim in charge of a camp of thirty five thousand men stated to me that, ' ' re- called to military duty from his own business he had firmly resolved to come out of this difficult and disagreeable duty with a clean conscience.' * He succeeded in infusing this spirit through his en- tire staff with the end result that care and con- sideration for the prisoner of war was evident throughout the camp. It may be stated that as a rule that not only the staff but the noncommissioned officers and the members of the guard all take their cue as to the treatment of the prisoner of war from the com- mandant. If the commandant is influenced by humane principles and a kindly spirit one may ex- pect to find the entire camp with this atmosphere. If, on the other hand, the commandant is a mili- tary martinet with brutal and inhuman instincts the whole atmosphere of the camp even down to the lowest positions is harsh and inhuman. "Alles hangt von commandant ab" (Everything depends on the commandant), was a frequent say- ing on the part of those who had the work in charge. As a matter of experience one could al- most tell from his estimate of the commandant at the time of the formal call before the inspection of the camp what sort of a camp he had to ex- pect. Strangely enough when one looks over the 20 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY history of the prisoner of war one is impressed with the fact that not only now but far back into the middle ages that "Alles hangt von command- ant ab." CHAPTER III THE MILITAEY ORGANIZATION OF THE PRISONER OF WAR AUGUST 1st, 1916, the number of prisoners of war officially given out by the German Gov- ernment was as follows 1 : OFFICERS MEN" French 5947 348,731 Russians 9019 1,202,871 Belgians 656 41,751 British 947 29,956 Servians 22,914 Total 1,646,223 These prisoners were distributed in 105 prison camps. In addition to these camps for men and noncommissioned officers there were camps for commissioned officers. In addition to this there were three camps for civilians interned and one camp for reserve officers. Inasmuch as the prob- lem must be considered as essentially a military problem and inasmuch as the dictum of the Ger- man officers, ' ' That good soldiers make good pris- oners," we will consider these phases of the prob- i On July 1, 1917, the number of prisoners of war in Ger- many was held to be about 1,700,000, only a few prisoners hav- ing been taken since August, 1916. 21 22 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY lem. As a military problem one would naturally expect like other military matters it would be or- ganized and treated with the greatest efficiency. That it was not handled with complete efficiency, that certain glaring defects developed from time to time was due largely to the fact that it was an entirely new problem, and in its magnitude, was unexpected. Evidently no forethought or provis- ion had been made for it ; like other military oper- ations it could not have been a part of military manoeuvres or military practice. To house and provide food and guard one and a half millions of men, at a time when all the forces of the nation were centred on the destruction of the opposing army will I think be admitted to be a rather large problem. Just as soon, however, as the problem of housing and care in concentrated camps was worked out in a fairly satisfactory manner, the labor and food problem in Germany led to the em- ployment of at least 80 per cent of the prisoners of war in mercantile and agricultural pursuits with the creation of entirely new problems, much more complex and with more possibilities for trou- ble than was met with in the concentrated camps. In the concentration camps, known technically as parent camps, the prisoner of war was treated in the best camps on a complete military basis. While this was contrary to the military regula- tions, the right type of commandant was found to get the best results by this method. The prisoner of war was held to the same military discipline THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION 23 under his own noncommissioned officers as in ac- tive field service in his own army. The ranking noncommissioned officers, a sergeant-major or the senior noncommissioned officer placed therein, was held responsible for the discipline and control of the men assigned to him. Orders for camp duty for outside work were issued to the noncom- missioned officer and transmitted by him to the battalion or barrack sergeant. The noncommis- sioned officers were held responsible for the mili- tary bearing of the enlisted men, for their clothes and appearance for the proper attitude towards the German officers in the matter of salute, etc. In this way discipline could be obtained and the authority of the noncommissioned officer upheld. The enlisted men receive various types of pun- ishment suggested by the noncommissioned offi- cer and ordered by the German staff officer in com- mand of the camp. The noncommissioned officer in such a camp occupied an important and dignified position. He had the welfare of his men at heart and when efficient, instilled an attitude of pride and mili- tary bearing under adverse conditions. Such a fighting spirit "to see it through" as a member of his army should, was a great help in keeping up the morale and in the prevention of mental de- pression. In the majority of the German prison camps such a complete organization was not only not in- sisted upon but not even permitted. In such 24 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY camps there was an increase of friction, and a lack of co-operation not manifested in the com- pletely organized camps. The attitude of the commandant of these camps was that the guard placed in each barrack was in complete command and that the noncommissioned officer had no rights over the enlisted men which he was bound to re- spect. The temptation to such a guard who al- ways had a musket with bayonet fixed in his hand to enforce his authority with unnecessary violence was often too much to be resisted. In many camps an intermediate position was taken with limited authority given to the noncom- missioned officer. While in some instances the excuse given that the prisoner noncommissioned officer did not show the right spirit of co-operation might be true it is only fair to state that in my ex- perience, the noncommissioned officers, and more particularly the British officers, were a fine body of men actuated by the highest principles not only in the care and the comfort and the welfare of their own men but also in the maintenance of dis- cipline and the full co-operation with the German camp authorities, when the attitude of the latter was half reasonable. On the other hand they had the courage to insist upon the rights of the prisoner of war as men and as soldiers and to maintain this attitude even under terms of severe punishment. For the Canadian noncommis- sioned officer too much cannot be said in praise of him. THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION 25 Under the German system it was, therefore, pos- sible for a commandant to treat his prisoners as criminals without any rights, he was bound to re- spect guarding him from day to day at the point of the bayonet and permitting these guards to use un- necessary brutality in enforcing their commands. Under these circumstances one was not surprised to find that occasionally severe injury and at times the death of the prisoner of war resulted from some action of the guard. The commander at Schneidemuhl stated that, "it was better for the guard to use his musket or bayonet on the pris- oner, rather than the prisoner should be tried by court martial and sentenced to long years of im- prisonment." To this naturally we were com- pelled to disagree, both as to the principle and the necessity for it. In one of the deaths reported at Limburg, to be considered in detail later, one of the Irish pris- oners was shot by the guard, according to the statement furnished us by the commandant when there were a sufficient number of people in the room to control the prisoner who was under the influence of alcohol, permitted by the same guard. In practically all such cases serious consequences could be traced to the attitude of the commanding authorities of the camp towards the prisoner and the natural reaction attitude of the guard to a reckless and brutal point of view of the officer over him. It is sufficient that the harsh and brutal treatment of the Irish prisoners led to the shoot- 26 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY ing of the prisoners by the guard following the failure of the attempt of the German military au- thorities to convert this camp into a political camp and to seduce the prisoners from their allegiance to Great Britain. While such conditions were bad enough in parent camps under almost the direct supervision of the commandant and his staff when these prisoners were removed to working camps at some distance from the parent camps and when the guard, an enlisted soldier and not an officer, had unlimited authority, conditions often became unbearable and serious consequences not infre- quently ensued. On the other hand the command- ant when he was so disposed evidently had the right to treat the prisoner of war in an entirely different manner, to regard him not as a criminal but as a brave man who had put his life in jeop- ardy for his own country and what he believed to be right. Such a commandant in treating the prisoner of war as a soldier not only permitted but encouraged the complete military organization of the prisoners under his charge, but also gave to the noncommissioned officer that respect for his position which made his own men respect and obey him. In working camps under his jurisdiction he assigned whenever possible and when the num- ber of prisoners justified it a prisoner noncom- missioned officer to take charge of his own men under orders from the German guard and to ef- fect that co-operation so essential for the welfare of the prisoner and for effective results from their THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION 27 labor. It will therefore be seen that military or- ganization of the prisoner of war according to his own standards could under a properly thought out scheme be maintained even in the working camps. The general principle that the prisoner of war was always a military problem was insisted upon by the inspection of the embassy. We assumed and acted upon the theory that even when the pris- oner of war was assigned to work he was to take orders only from the German guard either di- rectly or through his own noncommissioned of- ficer; that the foreman or other officers of working corporations in industrial plants had no right to give orders to the prisoner of war except through the German guard. It was found that when this principle was violated that it always led to trou- ble. The feeling of hostility of the German work- man to a prisoner of war and more particularly towards the British led him when permitted to give orders to do this harshly and often to enforce it with actual brutality. "A good soldier is a good prisoner of war." This is unquestionably true under a proper mili- tary organization of the camp and the working camp. It is not true under improper organiza- tion and maladministration. The good prisoner of war trained to efficient organization reacts properly and in a favorable way to an organiza- tion that is along right military lines ; when he is treated as an interned soldier and not as a crim- inal. The prisoner of war as a rule has a keen 28 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY sense of justice and right action and is willing to obey when he understands what is expected of him and the command is just according to the prin- ciples under which he is interned. When the Ger- man military authorities posted a notice on the barracks of the prisoner of war camps and claimed for its justification the principles imbodied in the Hague Convention, the prisoner of war has a right to assume and does assume that the other princi- ples imbodied in that document, if it govern his own action should govern the attitude of the Ger- man Government towards him. It was found necessary in a proper inspection of the prisoner of war camps for the members of the inspection to maintain always a military point of view towards the problems presented to them. No other position could be taken in matters of con- flict between the prisoner of war and German mili- tary authority, that the prisoner of war was in the first place a prisoner and in the second place a soldier. That he was always expected to obey or- ders no matter what the orders were. Third, that if he considered the order unjust that he had the right to appeal to the American Embassy in Ber- lin, who would then take up the matter with the Central German Government and have it rectified. While the German Government had every right to expect that the American Embassy having charge of British interests and expected us to take this attitude in the interests of harmony and avoid- ance of conflict, we on the other hand had the right THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION 29 to expect the German Government to live up to their assurance that the right of a prisoner of war to communicate with the embassy should in all cases be respected. As a matter of fact, this right was not only not respected, but in so many in- stances violated not only indeed in reference to the common soldier but even to the officer prisoners of war that it may be stated that it was more hon- ored in the breach than in its observance. The German military authorities hid behind the quib- ble that they had the right to censor all communi- cations sent out from prison camps and when they found that when complaints addressed to the Em- bassy were without foundation, in fact, they de- clined to transmit such complaints, in other words they were judges and jury in matters often of life and death and they themselves were the accused. The attitude on the part of the German military authorities led the American embassy to take the position that a rigorous and frequent inspection of every prisoner of war camp in Germany was not only advisable but absolutely necessary if in- justice to the prisoner of war in his rights and in his person was to be avoided, and this notwith- standing the fact that the German Government had its own inspection of the prisoner of war camps and by all rules of the popular idea of German efficiency, as applied to military matters, should have been satisfactory and efficient. As we proceed we shall see why this inspection failed and how far the inspection by the military govern- 30 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY ments was successful in compensating for this failure. In dealing with this subject I have not been led and will not consider whether the treatment of the prisoner of war in other countries was better or worse than that meted out to him in Germany but will face this problem as a scientific and humane problem along sociological and social service lines. CHAPTER IV TECHNIQUE OF INSPECTION THE information upon which the statements in the succeeding chapters have been founded are either matters of personal ex- perience or this combined with the records of the inspection for prisoners of war for the American Embassy. Before entering upon a consideration of the various matters in connection with the pris- oner of war situation I will state the method used by the inspection for the actual inspection of the various camps, the collection of data and the dis- position made of it. During the first five or six months of the inspection the various attaches of the Embassy were assigned to this duty. While all of these men were members of the diplomatic service and imbued with the idea of doing this work in an honest and conscientious manner the complexity of the problem was such that at first reports were incomplete. This was due largely to a lack of system, and survey of the prob- lem and to a certain extent to a lack of train- ing to consider the matter from a scientific standpoint. One of the attaches, however, Dr. Karl Ohnesorg, passed Assistant Surgeon of the United States Navy who was connected 31 32 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY with the Embassy as Assistant Naval Attache, for a period of almost two years devoted his time al- most exclusively to this work, and in spite of the limitations placed upon his activity by his military status he did exceptional work in the organization of the Inspection Service. His medical and mili- tary training especially fitted him for this work. His associate in the Embassy, Ellis L. Dresel, by profession an attorney at law, carried into this work a legal training which proved of great im- portance in complementing the qualifications of Dr. Ohnesorg. Too much cannot be said in praise of the results obtained by these two men under adverse circumstances. It is well to bear in mind that both these men were of mature age and of exceptionally good personality. It was unfor- tunate that in the early days of the inspection service and at times even to the termination of it that young men, on account of the dearth of as- sistance in the Embassy were assigned to this ser- vice. It will be recalled that those placed in charge of prison camps were men of high rank in the German Army. For a young man just out of college to presume to tell a general in the German Army how to run his camp was naturally looked upon as presumptuous. Such a younger man was often, if not always, in awe of these officers and unless they had that assurance which comes from exceptional knowledge or exceptional training, were not warranted in taking a firm position in reference to either abuses or violations of the c o I/) 'u a XI -4-» bo bo 3 TECHNIQUE OF INSPECTION 33 rights of the prisoner of war. As a matter of fact unless such qualifications existed many matters, which a more experienced man would detect could easily be overlooked if the commandant so willed it. For this and other reasons in my report to the Embassy I insisted that such younger men should be used as assistants or secretaries to men of more mature years, insight or judgment who would have charge of the inspection. I further recommended that such other men having charge of the inspection should be trained physicians with the working knowledge of large social service problems, hygiene and hospital or camp inspec- tion, with some knowledge of military form and procedure and with sufficient assurance and tact to stand firmly for their rights in the inspection and for the correction of evils wherever they ex- isted. It would appear that these were high qual- ifications to expect in one man. After the organi- zation of the inspection a man fulfilling all these qualifications, C. L. Furbush, was assigned to this work. It was the intention of Ambassador Gerard to assign two other men of this caliber to this work, but diplomatic relations were broken before this could be accomplished. It was evident that with such a complex problem, there must be a system- atic and detailed inspection of the individual camps with a follow up principle added if com- plete results were to be obtained. 34 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY DIFFICULTIES OF THE PROBLEM Perhaps the greatest difficulty encountered was the attitude of the German military authorities to the inspection of their camps. While as a rule polite and considerate to the members of the Em- bassy it was evident that they resented an inspec- tion as a reflection on their camps. This was due in part to the attitude taken by the British Gov- ernment that inspection should be made without previous notice and in part to the practice of the Embassy of making an immediate inspection of the camp whenever a complaint reached the Brit- ish Government or the Embassy that conditions in the camp were unsatisfactory. Commandants as a result of this came to look upon an inspection as an investigation and naturally took a resistant attitude. When, however, they came to realize that an inspection was an inspection and nothing more and that good conditions were praised with the same fairness that bad conditions were con- demned and that the inspection was to become a routine matter to be made at regular stated inter- vals, this attitude largely disappeared. The same effect was noted when a right of surprise inspec- tion was not insisted upon and previous notice of the inspection was actually served on the com- mandant. What little value there might be to an inspection without notice was not compensated for by the resistance created by notification. While this latter might be of some value to an amateur TECHNIQUE OF INSPECTION 35 inspector it was of relatively little or no value to an inspector of experience, training and judg- ment. In a camp of from ten to forty thousand men even if it were possible to change conditions so as to prepare for an inspection it would disturb the routine of the camp too much, in order to ef- fect this and be inconsistent with the routine meth- ods of the German mind. Inasmuch as prisoners could be examined out of hearing of the guard it was a perfectly easy matter to determine whether the food exhibited on the day of inspection was of a different quality or quantity than that of the pre- vious week or even month. Careful questioning of the noncommissioned officers, examined sep- arately, and of the enlisted men prisoners of war, would give accurate information not only as to this but as to other matters in connection with the camp. In order therefore to eliminate the necessity for previous notice and in order that each and every prisoner of war might have the opportunity to make a complaint or to give information of value for the inspection, the following routine outline of inspection was developed. In the early days of the inspection it was not considered polite or re- spectful to the German authorities to make writ- ten notes either of conditions or complaints regis- tered by the men. When, however, a detailed and printed form of inspection with certain spaces to be filled in were exhibited at the beginning of the inspection and filled put as the inspection pro- 36 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMAN? gressed this had not only the contrary effect, but rather impressed the camp authorities with the idea that the inspection was to be routine and thorough. (See Appendix.) RULES FOR CAMP INSPECTION" If previous notice has been decided upon a call is made at army headquarters, the general com- manding the army corps is called upon and a card left for him. A visit is then made to the depart- ment of prisoners of war of the army corps. The officer in command of this division, after the au- thorization papers have been presented, is then told what camp or camps the inspector intends to visit; he is then requested to detail an officer to accompany the inspection party of the Embassy. This latter is advised and is found to work out well in practice. The officer detailed from the army corps does not feel any particular camp to be his personal responsibility and can be made to see unfavorable conditions from the view point of the neutral; complaints as to harsh and brutal treat- ment can be investigated on the spot and remedial measures immediately ordered without too much delay. At the beginning of the camp inspection an official visit is paid to the commandant of the camp where the authorization papers are again presented. The commandant is requested then to furnish from his records the following informa- tion: A. Total number of prisoners in the camp. TECHNIQUE OF INSPECTION 37 B. Total number of prisoners for which the camp was constructed. C. Total number of British prisoners. Total number of French prisoners. Total number of Eussian prisoners. Total number of Servian prisoners. D. Number of prisoners confined in the hos- pital. List of prisoners who have died, and cause of death. E. Number of prisoners assigned to working camps, with the list of the various working camps under the control of the parent camp in which British or Servians are found. F. Number of British or Servian prisoners of war, if either, a, in punishment barracks, b, in the camp jail. G. A plan of the camp if such plan is not already on file at the Embassy. The commandant of the camp should then be asked if he has any statement to make in reference to the British or Servian prisoners in the camp or working camps. If such statements are made in reference to particular cases, careful note should be made at the time or if this is deemed in- advisable detailed notes should be made imme- diately after the inspection. It was usual for the commandant and his camp officer and sometimes his entire staff to accom- pany the inspection party. At the outset of the inspection a request was made that the senior British noncommissioned 38 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY officer should be sent for and permitted to assist in the inspection. This was usually permitted without question and in those cases where it was objected to, it was insisted upon. Upon his ar- rival the senior noncommissioned officer was asked to make a report of the British prisoners under his command. This was done advisedly in order to assume that a military organization of the prisoners of war existed and that he, a senior noncommissioned officer would naturally be ex- pected to know of conditions of the men under him. He was asked specifically to report on the general treatment of the men, discipline, clothing, shoes, housing, etc., and to any knowledge he might have of working camp conditions either from direct observation or from reports of pris- oners having returned from such camps. After these matters were noted the inspection of the camps was begun, taking each battalion in suc- cession. Each barrack in which prisoners of war were confined was then inspected. Prisoners of war were lined up in military formation outside the barrack under the command of the noncom- missioned officer of the barrack. Clothing, shoes, and general appearance was then individually noted. The senior noncommissioned officer an- nounced to the men that the inspectors were from the American Embassy in Berlin, and that they represented the interest of the British Govern- ment. If any one had any complaint to make he would be permitted to do so in private. Any pris- TECHNIQUE OF INSPECTION 39 oner having such a complaint was ordered to step out of the ranks. Each complaint was heard sep- arately out of hearing of the German officers and of the other prisoners. After recording the name and number of the prisoner of war, careful notes were made of the complaint. After all the com- plaints had been registered a short address was made to the men in which their attention was called to the fact that they were still under their own military discipline and that they were ex- pected to take orders from their own noncom- missioned officer in command. Their attention, when necessary, was also called to the necessity of maintaining a strict military bearing and a neat soldierly appearance in order to maintain the tra- ditions of their own army. The barracks were then inspected ; measured as to cubic air content, the number of windows, ven- tilation, cleanliness, the type and arrangements of beds, nature of the bedding, number of blankets, heating and lighting arrangements and any details such as tables for eating, rooms for noncommis- sioned officers, etc., noted. Each successive barrack with its man content was inspected in the same way. After all the bar- racks had been inspected a detailed inspection of the hospital was made. Careful notes were made as to the size, ventilation, heat, lighting, bed con- tent, bathing facilities and general hospital equip- ment. This inspection is made with the physician in charge. Each British prisoner in the hospital 40 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY was then visited, his name, regiment and diagno- sis noted ; his condition inquired into and any com- plaint or request noted and registered. A note was also made of the number of physicians in charge, their rank and nationality, number of or- derlies, etc. The camp jail was then inspected and any pris- oners confined therein were examined and careful note made of the charges against them, their state- ment of the case, etc. (The examination of men under arrest in the jail and in the punishment bar- racks had to be made in the presence of the Ger- man officers according to the agreement stated in the authorization. Punishment barracks were then visited and the inspection carried out as in that of the jail. In this way every prisoner confined in the camp had the opportunity of making requests or complaints as to his condi- tion, his food, his treatment, etc. Inspection was then made of the kitchens and the meal prepared during the inspection was inspected in prepara- tion and tested. Food stores were inspected and in those camps where bread was baked, the bakery was also inspected. Sanitary arrangements were carefully noted as to type, size, cleanliness and po- sition with reference to the barracks, etc., oppor- tunities for exercise and amusement, for religious services, library, the censoring department of let- ters; the department of and censoring of food packages, arrangements for bathing, etc. C E u TECHNIQUE OF INSPECTION 41 When this inspection was completed a confer- ence was held with the commandant in reference to any matters that might have developed during the inspection. A request was then made that all matters agreed upon as valid complaints should be corrected. The commandant was then told that it was a matter of definite routine and the Embassy expected to reinspect the camp in four months. If conditions were bad an inspection was to be made within a month. Inspection for officer prisoners of war was made very much after the same fashion; it was, how- ever, found difficult to keep such inspections sys- tematic on account of the differences in housing, etc. The senior officer usually reported for his camp and the officers under him ; he also reported for the enlisted personnel of war serving as order- lies. The inspection of quarters both for officers and men followed the same routine as in the large parent camps. As far as possible all the officers found in quarters were given the privilege of mak- ing complaints or filing requests to be trans- mitted by the Embassy. It was found, however, that the senior commanding officer was in close touch with all his men and his report was usually so comprehensive that little was added to it from the individual interviews. Inspection of the work- ing camps followed in a general way the inspec- tion of the parent camp. The detail of this will be considered in the chapter on working camps. 42 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY DISPOSITION" OF REPORTS At the termination of a day's work of inspection reports were drawn up of each individual camp and elaborated in despatch form used in the dip- lomatic service. The notes taken at the time of inspection were used as a basis in this report. Matters under discussion with the commandant or the army corps in the absence of stenographic notes were reported as far as possible in the exact words used in the interview. Complaints of pris- oners, however, were always taken down verba- tim. The early reports were arranged in narrative form. It became evident, however, that reports like the inspection itself must be systematized and arranged in some definite order for easy reference and compilation of statistics. This arrangement followed in a general way the form used in the de- scription of the parent camp and the working camps. The report and more particularly the diplo- matic matters contained therein were passed upon by the ambassador. Two copies were sent to the German Foreign Office, two copies to the British Foreign Office through the American Embassy in London, two copies to the State Department in Washington, and two copies kept on file at the American Embassy at Berlin. The copies sent to the German Foreign Office and later to the Ger- man Ministry of War, were eventually sent TECHNIQUE OF INSPECTION 43 through the army corps command to the command- ant of the camp inspected. According to the rules of the inspection depart- ment of the Embassy only matters of fact were to be included in the reports. The personal opinion of the inspector was not to be expressed. This naturally limited the report both as to form and substance. While it had certain disadvantages it always kept the reports more than fair to the Ger- man Government and avoided giving offense. Matters of fact could be substantiated and con- trolled. During the first year of the war certain adverse matters were withheld from the reports with the hope that the evils could be more easily corrected and possibly with the idea of placating the Ger- man officials and to relieve the irritation produced by the report of adverse conditions. The German official does not, however, appreciate this form of courtesy. They rather looked upon it as weak- ness and lack of experience. To an officer high in the staff of the German army corps I stated that, "If I had his assurance that certain evils would be corrected, I would include his assur- ance in my report but that I would nevertheless make a report of the conditions as found." He replied that he understood this perfectly; that a report was a report and unless it included every- thing observed it was of no value. The determin- ation to report adverse conditions in this case was the most important factor in securing the re- 44 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY forms demanded. Any weakness in this regard would have been met with a reluctance to make any changes; even when it was found that reforms were later effected any reply to criticism and ad- mission to wrong doing was never secured and the changed conditions were often noted in subsequent inspections. By the above method of disposition of reports the German Government was kept al- ways in close touch with the work of the inspec- tion and its point of view. In a survey of all the reports submitted I cannot recall a case where an attitude was taken which was at all unfair to the German Government. On the contrary, reports were often mild expressions of conditions which could very easily and justly have been made to appear much worse than stated. KARTE mil dm Stammlagern Krie^sgefangenen Aufgasltilt Jmuir 1916 '■'•■4 f'- s Sp/t*t/ \J "'"^ StfrVpft/ ^T\p*"* lb*r« ft.*} BCRLl: Map showing locati X. • Army Corps Headquarters o=Officertt' Camps for P. 0. W. o — — Camps for Men P. 0. W. oeiv. Camps for Civilians on of prison camps CHAPTEE V THE PARENT CAMP THE statement has already been made that "the commandant was his camp." This was due in large part to the latitude given to the commandant in regard to practically all matters of discipline, preparation of food, organization of the camp, etc. There were, however, certain gen- eral regulations issued by the Central Ministry of War which gave rise to much trouble, and were responsible for the flagrant violation of the rights of the prisoners. The most important regula- tion in this respect or, to put it in a different way, the regulation most potent for trouble from their own standpoint and from pain and suffering and discontent on the part of the prisoner, was that issued to the effect that all prisoners Russian, French, British, Belgians and Servians should be confined in the same camps and share the same barracks. When to this mixture was added the French Colonial, Negro, Mussulman and the British Colonials from India, the possibilities of social inconvenience can be imagined. This was true of both officers as well as men. The explana- tion given was "in order to demonstrate to these prisoners that they were not neutral allies." It 45 46 THE PRISONER 07 WAR IN GERMANY was evident, therefore, that this inconvenience was intended by the German authorities. Such an act was followed by just retribution. The American Embassy insisted from the beginning on a separa- tion of the different races. It made representa- tions to the Foreign Office that the British be con- fined in separate camps. This request was always met by a refusal. The Germans said they were allies, and if they could fight together they should be quartered together. The difference in customs and habits of life, more particularly in reference to food and ventilation, produced dissatisfaction and accentuated discontent. In overcrowded bar- racks the Eussians insisted upon having every- thing closed tight. The French, while sensitive to odors, were mortally afraid of a courant d'air. The English Tommy, after the open life of the campaign, insisted on fresh air and often went to the trouble to fight for it, even though he had to suffer punishment in a stuffy jail after he got it. In matters of food and recreation, in methods of both work and play, racial differences led to ir- ritation and were often subversive of discipline. This led to peculiar atmospheres in various camps. In some camps the English despised the French but were sympathetic towards the Eussian; in the other camps the reverse was true. The same was true in the attitude towards the Belgians and the Belgians towards the other groups. The Allied feeling of dislike for the Germans was a bond, however, which united all and served to a certain THE PARENT CAMP 47 extent in keeping the interallied antipathy from becoming too acute. This attitude was aptly put by a British soldier who, after a violent diatribe against the Russians in which he stated they were not civilized, in reply to my statement they were his allies, said, ' ' They did not have to be civilized to be his allies. " This indeed was a point of view of those who found it hard to live cheek by jowl. The soldier may picture to himself the discom- forts of trench life, the possibility of being wounded, of loss of limb or eyesight ; he may have discounted the possibility of death in battle ; but, strangely enough, one rarely comes across in the prison camps a prisoner who had ever considered the possibility of being taken captive. One can readily picture the sense of discouragement and depression that overtakes these men when they find themselves isolated in the quarantine of a large prison camp. Without freedom of move- ment throughout the camp, forced to subsist on the camp ration foreign to their taste, and huddled together in barracks with other strange nationali- ties whose language they do not understand, the depression and resentment once thus begun rarely completely leaves the prisoner of war. I never expect to see more utter desolation and hopeless- ness pictured on human faces than that of some French prisoners recently taken at Verdun. From the care-free life in the field, with all that fine feeling of enthusiasm which came with the successful defense of Verdun, from a proud mem- 48 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY ber of a victorious army, here they were after an ill-advised counter attack suddenly transferred to sordid surroundings of a not too good prison camp. Here, confined to a very small area by the high barbed wire surrounding their quarantine barracks, they sat and brooded from day to day with hardly a change of position and without a motion unless ordered into their barracks by a pompous and blustering German noncommissioned officer and his guard. There they sat, woe per- sonified, apparently looking through the barbed wire, but with that vacant look which could only mean a refusal to accept as real the things they saw and to look through and beyond it to what might have been. The general atmosphere of the prison camp is one of depression, and when to this is added un- just treatment, a dangerous mental attitude is en- gendered which is dangerous both for the men and the camp. The little social traits and habits which different races find irritating, to say noth- ing of the larger and more serious differences which sometimes exist, as between the blacks and whites, produced a condition of hypersensitive- ness and hyperirritability. This continued from day to day, from week to week, from month to month, and the uncertainly of its duration mag- nified it many times. This order of mixing the races had only one advantage: it led to repeated inspection by the American and Spanish embassies. Had all the THE PARENT CAMP 49 British been confined in one camp or a series of camps, the problem of handling the men as well as the inspection would have been much simpli- fied. As it was, the American Embassy in its in- spection of the British prisoners insisted upon certain camp reforms which necessarily benefited the total number of prisoners. The Spanish Em- bassy inspecting the French had the similar ef- fect for the good of the British. While the dis- advantage of this regulation must have been obvious to the German authorities, the feeling against the British was so intense that segregation was not considered. The reason for their action becomes all the more obvious when it is recalled that the Irish prisoners were segregated in one of the best constructed camps of Germany, but not from humane but for political considerations. The discontent and friction in the camps, while a sufficiently bad effect, was as nothing compared to the eventual great evil of epidemic disease that resulted from this administrative error. The Eussian soldier brought into these camps the germs of typhus, and in Eussia typhus is epidemic and occurs in such a mild form as to be easily over- looked. The epidemic of typhus fever which broke out in the German camps and gave rise to such serious consequences could have been en- tirely avoided, as far as the French and British were concerned, had these nations been segregated in separate camps. Had this been done, the Ger- man Government, the German people, German 50 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY science would not have had to face for many gen- erations the stigma of Wittenberg and the other plague camps. Before taking up the consideration of the un- favorable type of camp, it would be well to con- sider the transport of prisoners to camps and the general organization of these camps. It is usual, after taking prisoners of war, to transport them immedately into the interior of Germany. When facilities exist, a detention in the military zone is sometimes practised for the purpose of steriliza- tion, so to speak, in order to prevent the importa- tion of disease. Dr. Ohnesorg, who inspected these hospitals back of the front, reports that at Montmedy five hundred French prisoners of war were quartered in an old fortress in the town. Here they were given a careful medical examina- tion, with more particular reference to typhoid, typhus, smallpox and cholera. They were vac- cinated against all these diseases. While this was being done their clothes were sterilized, and when this process was completed they were then transported to large prison camps. When large numbers of prisoners were taken, these methods' were found to be impracticable, prisoners then be- ing transported directly. In this event a certain portion of the camp to which they are sent is designated as quarantine. When it was found that Russian troops were suffering from typhus and an epidemic of the disease had broken out in the German camps, detention of Russian prison- A picture that tells its own story .Hit The guard with bayonet is always there THE PARENT CAMP 51 ers back of the line, where fumigation could be practiced, was made the rule. German soldiers were also submitted to this process before leave was granted to return to their homes. Prisoners of war were transported in box cars, the floor of which was covered with straw ; neces- sary stops were made from time to time for food, etc. Prisoners who were severely wounded or those who might need medical or surgical care were transported in ambulance trains. Those prisoners who were so severely wounded that im- mediate transportation was not warranted were treated in hospitals in the military zone. At times they were found in hospitals with the German wounded. Officer prisoners of war were as a rule given transportation in passenger coaches of third or even second class. When a prisoner of war arrived at a camp, which had been selected by the military authori- ties, he was isolated for a period of three weeks in a separate company compound. Intercourse with the other prisoners was not permitted and only those German officers who were assigned to this special duty were permitted in this camp area. Even the members of the Embassy Staff who were assigned to the work of inspection were never permitted to inspect these quarantined pris- oners. Inasmuch as these prisoners were recently taken, sufficient time had not elapsed for food packages to arrive from home and they were com- pelled to subsist on the German camp food which 52 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY added to their other trials was a distinct hard- ship. The Irish prisoners at Limburg made of- ficial complaint that the camp authorities would not permit them to share their bread ration with these quarantined French prisoners. While this quarantine is a necessary and wise precaution it appeared to be unnecessarily and harshly carried out. At a time when kindness would have meant much in alleviating the fear and depression of men recently taken prisoners, close confinement and harsh discipline was the rule. Like all people engaged in the present war they feared the worst and in this their anticipations were made real. They experienced the worst phase of prison camp life which without much trouble could have been entirely avoided. There was no particular reason why the physicians as- signed to the work of inspection should not have inspected this portion of the camp. In some in- stances this principle of quarantine was abused in order to conceal prisoners whom the German Government did not evidently want interviewed by the American Embassy. This was true of groups taken either in naval engagements or after some of the sea raids. During this period of detention a careful physi- cal survey is made. Prisoners are vaccinated against typhoid, smallpox and cholera. He under- goes a personal disinfection. All his clothing and personal equipment are fumigated or sterilized. After the period of detention the prisoners are THE PARENT CAMP 53 then distributed to the various companies in the camp. There are one hundred and five of these parent camps for concentration of prisoners of war in Germany. While some of the larger camps are located in agricultural districts, the large major- ity have evidently been so placed as to furnish easy distribution of prisoners of war to the man- ufacturing industries of the country. Some of the older camps such as those at Parchim and Alten Grabow are very large. The camp at Parchim accommodates forty thousand men. Camps are usually built to hold from ten to twelve thousand prisoners. Such camps are usually located along the lines of railway communications. While they are sometimes situated within the confines of a town or city they are as a rule found in country districts. After some experience in the construc- tion of the early camps they followed in a general way the same plan. As one approached such a camp, long rows of rather low buildings built of wood, extending in the larger camps, for two or three miles, are seen. One or more watch towers, on the platforms of which heavy guns are mounted, rise above the general camp level. The camp is surrounded by two rows of barbed wire approximately twenty feet apart. In some camps this again is sur- rounded by a board fence twelve to fifteen feet high. At the entrance of the camp is situated the commandantur ; in this building the officers of 54 THE PEISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY the commandant and his staff are housed. The camp is divided into blocks and these again into smaller areas. A camp of ten thousand men for example will be divided up into five blocks sep- arated from each other by barbed wire partitions. Each block is designed to accommodate a battalion of two thousand prisoners. This battalion is again divided into companies of two hundred. In each compound for such a battalion there will be ten barracks each holding two hundred men. In the more modern camps each barrack was designed for squads of a hundred men with twenty such barracks for each battalion division of the camp. The prisoners were not permitted as a rule to go from one battalion division to another. Each one of these divisions has its own latrines, wash house and kitchens. As one views such a camp there is nothing particularly picturesque about it. Even in well kept camps they appear sordid and un- kempt. The prisoners as a rule stand around in listless groups. There is a general atmosphere of depression. As one enters the average prison barrack the unfavorable external appearance is somewhat intensified. Low long rows of double tier bunks take up the central floor space of the barrack. Long tables for serving food are placed next to the wall. Bags filled with straw, sea grass or paper serve as mattresses. Each prisoner is supplied with two blankets and these are thrown over the mattresses. Every available space is used for food packages and clothes. The place THE PARENT CAMP 55 has a dim, confused, unkempt appearance on ac- count of the crowding of men, the arrangement of the bunks, food packages, clothes, etc. At one end of the barrack a small room is usually walled off for the noncommissioned officers. This is fur- nished with cots instead of the usual bunk arrange- ment. In prison camps where a single layer of bunks for bed arrangement is made, the barrack has a much brighter and more cheerful appear- ance. This unfavorable element in appearance of the camps therefore is more a matter of the number of the prisoners than any particular ele- ment or condition in itself. After all the cleanli- ness of the barrack is dependent on the men them- selves and their noncommissioned officers. In the camp at Soltau for example where the con- struction and appearance of the camp was every- thing one could desire, the attention of the pris- oner, noncommissioned officers, had to be called to the slovenly picture presented, due to their own negligence and lack of control of their men. The barracks were as a rule heated by stoves and during the winter months in some of the camps the cooking of the food packages was here permitted. The barracks were usually lighted by electricity ; four cubic feet of air content per man was demanded by the inspection. In each camp* division easily accessible to the barracks a long concrete or wooden wash tub was erected for pur- poses of personal cleansing and washing clothes which the prisoner of war is expected to do him- 56 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY self. (In Gottingen this was done in the camp laundry.) In addition to this a bathing and disinfecting establishment was located in a separate barrack building. This was divided into a disrobing room where a group of the prisoners take off their clothes which were then tagged and passed into a large, dry-heat sterilizer where a temperature of 110° was maintained for twenty minutes. While this process was in operation the men passed into a second long room, fitted with shower- baths with hot and cold water. After a thorough soaping and rinsing the men then passed to a third room on the other side of the sterilizer, where they received their sterilized clothes and emerged from the establishment thoroughly clean and free from vermin and other carriers of dis- ease. Notwithstanding this, however, it was not easy for the prisoner of war to maintain a clean, soldierly appearance on account of the crowding of the barracks, lack of facilities for keeping the clothes, and in Northern Germany the dust and in wet weather the mud in the camps. Kitchens were in a separate building, as a rule, and were equipped with a series of large kettles in which the food was prepared in the form of soup. One of the barracks was usually given over to a combination of religious services and for a theatre. In many camps, however, separate bar- racks were assigned for religious services and for entertainments. A part of the camp en- THE PARENT CAMP 57 closure, varying in extent, was kept free for drills and athletic exercises. Here at stated periods of the day the men were permitted to play football or indulge in field sports. A small room in one of the barracks or in the administration building was assigned for use as a library. Books sent to the prisoners were here assembled, and one of the prisoners assigned to the duty of librarian. In the motley array of French, Russian, British and Servian and Colonial troops found scattered through the camp, marking time, was found the ever-present German guard. The members of this guard were either members of the Landstrum (or older class of reserves) or younger men phy- sically unfit for active field service. The num- ber of the guard is usually one tenth of the num- ber of the prisoners. GUARDING THE CAMPS As one looks up from almost any portion of the prison camp one faces a tower on the elevated platform, on which guns of medium caliber are so placed as to cover every part of the camp. Camp guards with fixed bayonets appear to be every- where present. This omnipresent guard with his fixed bayonet is found with every group of pris- oners, either inside of the camp or detached to do duty outside. Much depends upon the attitude of the camp officers whether the guard takes an insolent, insistent attitude or whether, on the other hand, he does his duty as a matter of form. 58 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY During the night, when every prisoner is supposed to be in bed under guard, a night patrol, consist- ing of three or four of the guard under a non- commissioned officer, makes rounds within the camp. Military regulations forbid any intimacy between the guard and the prisoner of war and any communication between them, except to give military orders. The guarding of the prisoners of war, however, can be made exceedingly irritat- ing and obnoxious or be sympathetic and humane within these regulations. Whether it is the one or the other depends entirely upon the attitude of the commissioned officer in charge. A nagging and abusive attitude by the guard sometimes as- sociated with actual brutality was a frequent source of complaint. In such camps the matter of a formal protest was always made to the com- mandant and later through the Foreign Office to the Ministries of War. In some cases such guards were removed; more often, however, no action was taken, but the mere fact of a rigid in- spection with a complete report usually led the camp authorities to the elimination of rough handling without, however, any mental change in the attitude towards the prisoner. What is the daily life of the prisoner of war? The prisoner of war goes to bed at night with a feeling of depression and uncertain hopelessness, in a crowded barrack accentuated in a few camps by the presence of police dogs, rough commands and the use of bayonets and with insufficient ven- THE PARENT CAMP 59 tilation, when he is housed with French and Bus- sian prisoners; he awakens in the morning into the same depressed dirty atmosphere with the guard standing by with a fixed bayonet which again may be used to help the tardy ones into promptness. After sufficient time for washing he draws his allowance of prison bread and this with a cup of coffee substitute forms his breakfast. The barrack is then placed in order, blankets are folded and the barrack is aired. He then lounges listlessly around the camp until ten a. m. when the camp is counted. The prisoners are lined up in military formation and each answers to his prison number. The absence of a prisoner at roll call which usually indicates a successful escape from the camp means thunder, lightning, turmoil, irritation and resentment to every one by the military authorities from the commandant down to the lowest guard. The roll call usually is a simple matter, easily completed and soon over. While an escape is a ''tragedy" to the officers of the camp it is the one gleam of hope to the other prisoners of war. The roll call is indefinitely pro- longed until the exact escaped prisoner is located. I have now a mental picture of several thousand men lined up on a hot summer day in company for- mation on a parade ground of the hot, dusty camp, bored and amused at the frantic efforts of the Ger- man officers, sweating and fuming and sputtering in their efforts to locate a poor lone prisoner who was missing. The reflection that this single es- 60 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY cape makes on their efficiency makes that particu- lar day miserable for every German soldier and more miserable than usual for every prisoner of war. After roll call is completed most of the prison- ers again mark time until the noonday meal. This is always in the form of soup and is brought to the barracks by a detail of prisoners in large cans. The British prisoner takes one look at it, sniffs, "Not fit for a dog to eat," he says, and turns to a can of beef or ham which has been sent to him, digs a chunk out of this with a spoon (knives are not permitted), tears it to pieces with his fingers and eats it with the bread and the jam from his pack- age. After the midday meal he may be detailed to clean up camp or may spend his time in washing his clothes. In the afternoon he may play foot- ball or other simple field games or lounge listlessly with the French and Bussian prisoners and specu- late on the termination of the war or the varied fortunes of his own army. The cocksure attitude of his guard, the swagger of the commissioned of- ficers, does not tend to lend any bright color to such speculations, and so until the evening meal, which again may be soup "not fit for a dog to eat," or may be, as it usually is, some pickled fish, "dead fish" (it needs no careful inspection to tell one this), with some bread and at times some potatoes. The prisoner looks, takes one glance at this "dead fish," but never disdains potatoes, and turns again to his can of meat and pot of marmalade and his THE PARENT CAMP 61 loaf of white bread which has been sent to him from Switzerland. A desultory game of cards after the evening meal and the tired, loathsome day has gone the way of so many, ever so many, tired, loathsome, never-ending days, to be followed by the beginning of another such day on the mor- row. The optimism of the French, the pessimism of the Eussian, the devil-may-care attitude of the Irish, the fighting spirit of the British, makes little change in this blue atmosphere of never-ending, never-ending depression. It is not the depression of the jail, the criminal knowing and deserving his sentence ; rather is it a modified woe of calam- ity fallen on men for doing what, to them, was right, what was even more than right, for their God and country. Utterly helpless, they live on from day to day, spurred on by the glittering bay- onet and hurt in their manhood and souls bv the insolent attitude, the superior culture of their prison keepers. "How long do you think the war will last?" I have heard this question asked in many places and under varying circumstances, in the clubs in America and England, in the cafes in Paris, on the streets of all cities, from women in villages in France near the battle line whose sons were in danger or had disappeared, from German officers and German princes (their questions al- ways denoted the hour of victory), but until one has heard this question asked in prison camps by men who have almost given up the hope they have lived on from day to day, one will never realize the 62 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY full, pregnant, hidden meaning that can be crowded into these six words. Some of the camps are much better than this pic- ture would indicate and some of the camps are very much worse. From an offhand recollection, without referring to records, two camps stand out in my memory as examples, one of the best, the other of the worst, of these parent camps. The camps at Friedrichsfeld and at Minden. CHAPTER VI THE CAMP AT FBIEDRICHSFELD I HAVE picked out the camp at Friedrichsfeld, not because it was a camp of the best or most modern construction, because it was not; I went to this camp not as a matter of routine in- spection but because some complaints had been made about it by transferred or interned prison- ers. I have selected it as one of the best camps in Germany on account of the attitude of the com- mandant and by and through him of his staff, non- commissioned officers and guard. While the com- mandant insisted on the most rigid discipline throughout the camp, his intense interest in the welfare and everything that pertained to the pris- oners was reflected by every one in the camp. The camp was organized with the prisoners own non- commissioned officers assigned to full duty and control of their own men. Only two British pris- oners were found in the camp jail, and both of these men were sentenced to a period of two weeks at the request of their own senior noncommis- sioned officer. This trust and confidence placed in the prisoners' noncommissioned officers coupled with this strict military discipline, the practical kindly attitude of the commandant and his staff, 63 64 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY make the atmosphere of this camp one of coopera- tion and, if not contentment, at least a minimum of discontent. The camp was an old camp with antiquated bar- racks, low and forbidding looking, and with rela- tively little ventilation. Changes were, however, made in these barracks which made them com- fortable and cheerful. The very long barracks were divided into two by partitions, reducing them to moderate size, a wall was run along one side of the barrack and partitions erected to give mod- erate-sized rooms. On these partitions lockers were built to hold the clothes and food packages. Instead of the usual bunk system, low cots made of wood, large enough to hold a small mattress and the two blankets, made a comfortable bed which could be easily taken out in the air for cleansing or piled up against the wall during the day to give a maximum amount of floor space. The walls of these barracks were whitewashed, as were likewise the long corridors left at one side. In this corridor facilities for washing, basins, etc., were placed. The detailed description of this camp, with the conditions met with at the time, is as follows : There are at the present time 7,500 prisoners of war in the camp, of which 395 are British. There are 37,000 prisoners of war attached to the camp ; all, with the exception of 7,500, are in working camps. Nine hundred British are at the present time in working camps. IS u .a O s u THE CAMP AT FRIEDRICHSFELD 65 This camp is located on sandy soil between the Lippe and the Bhein. The camp was one of the earliest camps constructed. It is divided into three separate camps, designated as Camps No. 1, 2, and 3, within the same enclosure. These camps are arranged as battalions in the general form of an irregular triangle. Each camp has ten large double barracks; at either end of which is a water pump, with a large permanent laundry trough, used for hand laundry and washing pur- poses. The water supply is drawn from isolated, pro- tected wells sunk at either end of each barrack. The hospital is situated in a separate compound about one-half kilometer from the camp. The gen- eral administration, the store houses, the post office, and the guard are all housed in a separate compound at the entrance to the camp. The quad- rangle has an unusually large amount of space, some of which is devoted to exercise, etc. The camp is tastefully decorated with flower beds in front of each barrack. An open air concert hall has just been completed for band concerts. In ad- dition to this, there is a theatre, a cinematograph barrack, a church barrack, a photographic studio, a printing office, an art room, a physical-culture room, a school for language study, a science room and a large barrack devoted to the re-education of injured prisoners, which will be described in detail later. The kitchens are placed at one end of the long 66 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY barracks and the latrines at the opposite end of the camp. The barracks are approximately 300 x 600 feet and 14 feet high. Each barrack has 14 large win- dows and 16 ventilating flues in the roof. The barracks are divided by a closed partition into two large barracks rooms. Each of these large rooms is subdivided into eight smaller rooms by parti- tions about nine feet high. A hallway is left at one side extending the length of the barrack. Each of these smaller rooms is 50 x 36 feet, having two windows on either side and two ventilating flues. On the average, 40 men are housed in each of these rooms. The capacity when filled is 55. At the end of each barrack two smaller rooms are given over to the noncommissioned officers. In one of the rooms eight Sergeants are housed, and in the other room two sergeant-majors. Closets are ''built in" on the partitions around the bar- racks to house toilet articles, etc.; clothes-racks are placed in the long hall for wearing apparel. Separate wash basins for the men, with water pitchers, are placed in the hall for each room. At the entrance of each barrack a barber shop with a prisoner of war barber is installed. The interior of the barracks were all white- washed and presented a clean and orderly appear- ance. The beds are made up in cradles made of wood, in which a straw mattress is placed, these are placed on each other against the wall, giving a large area of free space for tables, benches, etc. THE CAMP AT FRIEDRICHSFELD 67 These bed sacks are carried out into the sun and thoroughly aired each week. The latrines are placed at the far end of the compound. There are thirty six latrines in the camp. These are of two kinds: thirty of them are of the concrete-cistern type, with uncovered and covered seats ; a urinal is at one end. These are emptied daily, are free from odor and excep- tionally clean. The other type is a concrete-cis- tern type with a water flushing system with five covered seats and a separate urinal. These were also clean and in good condition. There is a combined bath and disinfection plant. This is located in a large frame building with a disrobing room equipped with steam ovens for the disinfection of clothes ; a large bathroom furnished with 96 showers with hot and cold water; and a dressing room on the other side of the disinfection room. Baths are insisted upon once per week and may be taken oftener. There are twenty kitchens distributed through- out the camp. Only four are now in operation. Each contains four kettles and a range. The kitchen for the British was carefully inspected. It was found to be in a clean and orderly condition. Two British were found in this kitchen who had charge of the preparation of the food, which is prepared differently for the French and English according to their tastes. Sergeant W. J. P., Irish Rifles, is in charge of the kitchen. The food for the noon-day meal was 68 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY ready for distribution. It consisted of a soup made of white beans, potatoes, cabbage, maize grease and margarine. We tested it and found it to be of good flavor and palatable. The British cook stated that all food stuffs used in the kitchen were of good quality and that practically all of the British partook of the noon-day meal. The store houses were inspected. There were three separate houses for storing of food supplies. There were large stores of new potatoes, head let- tuce and Kohlrabi. We inspected and tasted the marmalade, soja-meal, dried con-fish, condensed milk, and bread, all of which were found to be of good quality. The bread is now made without the addition of potatoes. There are two rooms, in one of which clothing of all kinds, shoes, including tennis shoes, tennis racquets, toilet articles, watches, wood carving, and art utensils were sold ; in the other room sar- dines, several varieties of canned vegetables and canned fruits, herring, marmalade, meat extracts, soft drinks and wine could be obtained at current prices. In a separate building a fair grade of tea and coffee can be bought for five pfennigs per pot (two cents). The coffee is roasted and prepared in the camp. The mail arrives regularly, from three to four weeks. Parcels also arrive regularly, and are ex- peditiously handled. Parcels are distributed to the barracks on the day of arrival, and are dis- patched to working camps within twenty four THE CAMP AT FRIEDRICHSFELD 69 hours. There were four British working in this department. All the British had sufficiently good clothes and shoes. The care and distribution of clothes to the men in the camp and in working camps was in charge of one of the British sergeant majors. Foot ball, tennis, and field sports are all freely permitted in the camp. Theatrical performances, in which the British take an active part, are fre- quently given in a well-equipped theatre barrack. Cinematograph exhibitions are also frequently given. There are two infirmaries in the main camp. There were no British in either at the time of the inspection. The main hospital is housed in a large brick building and ten barrack buildings. A well- equipped operating room with dispensary room, etc., is provided. All the hospital buildings were found to be clean, well ventilated, and the patients were satisfied with the food and medical attention. German army surgeons take care of the men. A physical culture room is fitted up with special apparatus for the correction of deformities. It is not connected with the hospital system and is in charge of a French prisoner of war. A large barrack with six rooms is devoted to the re-education of wounded soldiers. At the time of our inspection one hundred and fifty or more prisoners of war were occupied in classes in book- binding, basket- weaving, watchmaking, wood carv- ing, lithographic printing, typewriting, shoe-mafc 70 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY ing, tailoring, painting, photography, and in the usual scholastic exercises. In a separate building carpentering and black-smithing were also taught. This department of the camp, and the spirit that prompted it, deserves special praise and commen- dation. The men are requested to do the camp work. The noncommissioned officers in the camp are not required to work, but many have volunteered for work in the post office, kitchen, etc. Rev. Mr. W occasionally visits the camp. At other times one of the noncommissioned offi- cers reads the services. A French priest who speaks excellent English, holds the services for the French and English Eoman Catholics. A taste- fully decorated barrack is set aside for church pur- poses. A well equipped library exists in this camp. In addition to this, in each of the British barracks two book shelves piled with English books, are placed in the hallways. The British requested that a place be set aside for cooking the food received in the parcels sent from home. During the winter this was done in the barracks. The commandant promised that a place should be provided. Some of the men who had been in some of the working camps complained that their clothes had not been returned to the parent camp, when they left the working camps. There was some question here also for charge for alteration of clothes sent THE CAMP AT FRIEDRICHSFELD 71 from home and repairing these. The comman- dant promised to make an immediate investigation of this and to correct it. While the camp was found exceptionally clean and free from vermin, it was found difficult, on ac- count of the nature of the soil, to keep the camp entirely free from fleas. Every effort is being made to control this matter and a new method is, now being tried with this end in view. This camp in spite of its being of the older type of construction, has been so remodelled as to make it very comfortable. There is a splendid organiza- tion of the camp, and every effort is being made to make the men comfortable, guard their health, give them mental and physical relaxation, and to refit them for more useful work in the future. The health of the men is good, and the spirit of the men towards their own officers and the camp au- thorities is exceptionally good. The ranking non- commissioned officer, Sergeant Major P. C , has the confidence of the camp authorities and his men, and deserves mention for his care and control of the men in his camp. A simple perusal of these notes made in the or- dinary routine of inspection survey gives a very good idea of the impression this camp made upon one accustomed to view camps from a purely scien- tific standpoint. Too much cannot be said in praise of the commandant, who was interested not only in the present welfare of his prisoners, but was also concerned with their future field of use- 72 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY fulness after the termination of the war. One could forgive short comings in other directions but none appeared to exist. The atmosphere of the camp hospital situated at some distance from the camp was kindly and sympathetic. It will also be noted the many opportunities for physical and mental relaxation. The attitude towards the taste of the prisoner in the question of diet was consid- ered. This was one of the few camps in Germany where the prison food was taken by practically all the British prisoners. There was the usual ab- sence of complaints about the food, confirming the statement of the British cook in the kitchen in ref- erence to the same matter. The school for the re- education of wounded prisoners compares favor- ably if it does not surpass similar institutions for the re-education of wounded soldiers (not prison- ers) in France, England and also in Germany. Each department was in charge of a prisoner of war, who acted as a teacher and disciplinarian. In other camps in Germany I have met men who requested to be sent back to this camp in order to continue their education in one of these depart- ments. Yet, notwithstanding this, this camp was reported as unsatisfactory and was placed on the records of the Red Cross Headquarters in London as a bad camp. In the camp at Soltau a careful inspection with the privilege of complaint extended to every man in the camp, not a single complaint was registered, except in reference to the food and as to the rate to (J 'u rt n! M 'in o en C (U (J THE CAMP AT FRIEDRICHSFELD 73 of exchange. And yet there was no comparison between the two camps. While the camp at Soltau was a newly constructed camp with a much more modern type of barrack, etc., and while the men were well housed and well cared for, there was not that kindly, humane sympathy that took cogni- zance not only of the present needs, but considered the future and led to a definite effort to relieve the mental stress of confinement and to eliminate the worry as to the future. The same can be said in a general way of the camp at Parchim. Here were found three brothers, civilians interned, who were given the privilege of being transferred from this prison camp to the Euhleben, but who preferred to remain on account of the attitude of kindly welfare of the commandant and his staff towards them and the other prisoners. What the commandant at the camp at Fried- richsfeld was doing for the prisoners of war was well known in the other army corps. It was an example which could have been followed in every prison camp in Germany. Notwithstanding the food blockade, it was here proven possible for Ger- many to have set an example for the rest of the world in a constructive as it has in a destructive military problem. It would, indeed, for one trained as a student in German universities, be a pleasant duty to be able to report that all the German prison camps had the atmosphere of Friedrichsfeld or even without the spirit of this camp, that they approached the stand- 74 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY ard set at Parchim, Soltau, Dulmen, Wahn, Wuns- dorf, and many other German parent camps, or that the problem of the enlisted men should have been approached in the same spirit as that of the officers, prisoners of war, concerning whom cer- tainly after the first year of the war there could be no valid complaint. The contrast between the above named camps and those at Minden, Limburg, Wittenberg, Schneidemuhl, Langensalzen, etc., was the difference between day and night, between heaven, relatively, and hell, absolutely. Between these two extremes existed a series of camps such as those at Muchendorf, Alten-Grabow, Giessen, Dyrotz, etc., where conditions were neither good nor very bad, yet presented certain elements which gave more than reasonable ground for complaint, both on the part of the prisoners and the Embassy. It is difficult to estimate the exact proportions of good and bad camps. One might say in a general way that the average was relatively good consider- ing the difficulties of the situation and the size of the problem to be faced; and were it not for the problem of the working camp to be discussed later, and were we to consider only the parent camps and the officer camps, the verdict would be in a general way "not guilty" to the charge of inefficiency, de- liberate or intentional cruelty in the handling of this problem. One might go even further and say that taking the problem as a whole and for the ma- jority of the camps, it was fairly well administered, and in some of the camps exceptionally well done. THE CAMP AT FRIEDRICHSFELD 75 The attitude, however, towards the prisoner when the working camp problem was interjected, throws much light on many problems and explains the un- derlying factors of many of the faults which might otherwise in a charitable way be explained as neg- ligence, so to speak, due to inefficiency. I know that my own point of view, my attitude at the pres- ent time, after deliberate consideration, free from a hostile atmosphere, has largely been determined by these ulterior considerations. My considera- tions, therefore, of the problem of some of the worst types of camp must be taken into consider- ation and be explained by the material in the chap- ter on working camps. CHAPTER ^11 THE camp: at minden WHILE much publicity has been given to the camp at Wittenberg, I will consider first of all the problem of the camp at Minden, for the simple reason that while there might be some excuse to offer for Wittenberg, no excuse was offered or presented for the conditions found at Minden. Following the course of the preced- ing chapter, I will present my notes made at the time of the inspection of this camp and discuss it later. There are in the camp 8,682 prisoners of war, of whom 615 are British, and of the British, 357 are noncommissioned officers. This camp has been described in previous re- ports. The camp is arranged in a block system, with the barracks of each block arranged in such a way as to form a square with an open area in the court of about one hundred metres square. There are five blocks. As arranged at the present time each block is completely separated from the other blocks. The prisoners of war in each block are absolutely limited to this block area, are not per- mitted outside of it, and as the barracks, except for the small gateway, completely enclose this area, 76 THE CAMP AT MINDEN 77 there is no opportunity to see anything other than the four barrack brick walls and the open sky above. There are no trees or shade in this area, and the outlook, or rather inlook, is dismal. In Block I, where the enlisted men are confined, a few flowers are grown in the window tops of the bar- racks, but in Block V, where the noncommissioned officers are confined, there is not even evidence of this. The surface area is of hard yellow clay with- out any grass or other evidence of vegetation. In the space in this court, which is not taken up with the kitchen, latrines, etc., the men play football. The British are housed in the long barracks forming the walls of the square. These barracks are old and dingy, are of the hut type with slightly inclined roof, from front to rear, and are approx- imately 100 feet x 50; with an average ceiling height of approximately 16 feet. There are twenty four windows in the front of the barrack, with four small openings one by two feet at the rear of the barrack, with two stove pipe openings in the roof. The British complained that the roof leaked during the month that they had been in- terned there. An inspection of the roof showed places where the men had packed boxes against the roof over their beds to keep out the leaking water. The attention of the commandant and the inspection officer from the Inspection for Pris- oners of War, 7th Army Corps at Munster, was called to this, and the commandant stated that the roofs required constant attention and the applica- 78 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY tion of tar to keep them water-tight. This was being done at the time of our inspection. The beds are of the double tier, built-in, bunk type, supplied with straw or excelsior mattresses, and two blan- kets to each. Much of the material of the mat- tresses was badly worn and pulverized, and some of the bedding was very dirty. In Block I, Bar- rack No. 35, 180 were housed, of whom 33 were British enlisted men. The numbers of men per barrack in Block V appeared to be greater than this, but the exact number could not be obtained. There are two long latrines in each block. They are of the trench type, lined with wood, open bar system, uncovered, no seats, emptied each day (ac- cording to the camp authorities). At the time of the inspection they were partially filled and did not present an unusually objectionable odor. The men complained that the trenches were not emp- tied oftener than once a week, and that the odor from them was objectionable. A long urinal, approximately 100 feet in length, of the open trough type of wood, was attached to the wall in the open, without housing, was heavily incrusted with deposit and presented a strong odor and filthy appearance. In a barrack building in the middle of the block is a bath, equipped with 14 showers (hot and cold water) ; a dressing room adjoins the bath room. This building was found to be in a clean and or- derly condition. In another building in the centre of the square THE CAMP AT MINDEN 79 sufficient facilities for washing and hand laundry are supplied by three long oblong tubs, each fur- nished with twenty seven spigots. This room was kept clean and orderly. The kitchen is housed in a large barrack building in the outside group of each block. It is clean, or- derly and in good condition. Each kitchen is equipped with seventeen kettles and two ranges. Two British prisoners of war are employed in each kitchen. These men stated that the raw food stuffs supplied to the kitchen were of good quality. The midday meal on the day of inspection was tasted by one of us (Taylor). It consisted of meat, sauerkraut and potatoes. It was very thin in potatoes and meat. The sauerkraut was of fair quality and of normal taste. The bread is the regular Kriegs-Brot of normal quality; the ration being three hundred grammes' per day, per man. The British employed in the kitchen stated that approximately one fourth of the British prisoners of war took the midday meal and from a quarter to a third drew the bread ra- tion. The men were permitted to cook the food in the packages received from home, in one of two long open air ranges in the middle of the block. One kettle in the kitchen is reserved for warming up tin foods. The canteen is housed in the kitchen building. Wine, alcohol-free beer, soft drinks, various and sundry toilet articles and tobacco are on sale. The infirmary, fifty by thirty five feet, with eight 80 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY windows, in which fifteen cot beds were placed, was inspected in Block V. A British prisoner of war, Private , had been confined to this barrack for six weeks, suffering from convulsive seizures following an old injury of the head. This man had been investigated by the X-Ray and nothing abnormal found. At our request, this man is to be removed to a hospital where his case can be more carefully studied and proper treatment in- stituted. Complaints were registered in both Blocks I and V, that men were punished by con- finement in Straf-Barracken, or punishment bar- racks, for reporting ill to sick call. These men were confined in the Straf-Barracken at the time of our visit who, as far as they knew, were there for this reason. In Block I, Private H. T complained that he was ordered to rest up by the doctor for some heart trouble. He stated that he remained in the bar- racks under the doctor's orders and for this he was sent to the arrest barracks for ten days. Private B stated that he was working in a camp at Bockhurst, that he was ill with rheuma- tism, but the guard would not permit him to see a doctor. He was returned to this camp (Minden) and placed in the jail barrack for fourteen days. At the end of two days of this sentence he was so ill that he had to be taken out of the prison dark- cell by order of the camp doctor and sent to the hospital. In Block V, Sergeant C complained that he THE CAMP AT MINDEN 81 could not get proper medical attention or cotton to care for running ears. Sergeant W. E complained that he did not procure proper medical attention for pains in the head and treatment or the necessary methods of cleansing the socket from which the right eye had been removed, and that he feared loss of sight in the remaining eye, which was giving him trouble. At the time of inspection there was an accumula- tion of purulent matter in and about the eye socket, and it was evidently in need of attention with some cleansing solution. It was evident that the eye had been neglected, as any one could see on inspec- tion that it needed treatment. Sergeant W. M claimed that an operation for hemorrhoids was refused if he would not agree to volunteer for work; that he finally con- sented and an operation was performed, and his name was placed on the working list. He asked to have his name removed as he might be compelled to go to a working camp at any time. When this case was investigated it was found that there was evidently a misunderstanding on account of poor interpreting. The doctor stated to him that an operation was not necessary unless he were going to do hard work. But he, misunderstanding this, and wishing relief, agreed to work and his name was placed on the list. Accepting the statements of both sides, it is only fair to have this name re- moved. In each barrack the men complained in a general 82 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY way that if they reported ill they were likely to be punished. The camp lazarett was visited and only a few men of the 198 British there were from this camp. The others were brought there from the front. This will be considered later in this report. Packages and letters come irregularly. Two British were employed in the post office and two in the parcel post. The men were compelled to do the necessary camp work. All the British had sufficient good clothes and shoes. There is no library in this camp. The punishment barrack was visited. It is an empty barrack room in Block 3, which contains no other prisoners at the present time. Five Brit- ish were confined here. Two of these were con- fined for refusing to work. The other three men, Privates W , Q , and J , stated that they did not know why they were being punished, and had done nothing to warrant their confinement except to report sick. One of these claimed that his case had been diagnosed in the hospital as chronic tuberculosis of the lungs, and that he now has the symptoms of that disease. This barrack has a barbed wire barrier in front of the door. A sentry is stationed in the barrack, and the men are not supplied with blankets or mat- tresses, but must sleep on the bare floor in their clothes. They are not permitted to have their THE CAMP AT MINDEN 83 packages, and must subsist on the camp food. They are not permitted a change of clothes. Not- withstanding the above, the commandant stated that these men were not under arrest and when a statement was requested as to why the above three men did not know why they were confined there, no one seemed able to explain the matter or to give us any information concerning it. Complaints were made in both Blocks I and V, that police dogs were brought into the barrack rooms at night and cleared the barracks so that men had to be in bed before the dogs were brought in. The dogs were kept in the square at night. The men stated that the dogs were set loose in the barrack rooms. Sergeant W. H was attacked by one of these dogs in the night of July 2nd, as he crossed this square returning to his barrack from the latrine. He exhibited his leg, which bore the recent scars where he had been bitten. The commandant made the statement that this case had been reported to him by the guard, who reported that the dog had broken the leash and had attacked the prisoner of war. H stated in contradiction to this that he did not hear any one until he was attacked but that shortly after the guard appeared and called the dog off. The dog, from H 's statement, was loose in the compound. He was taken to the in- firmary and the wounds given treatment imme- diately. In explanation of the necessity for the presence 84 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY and use of the dogs in the camp, the commandant stated that attempts at escape by tunneling were so frequent that the dogs were trained to detect men in this act. He stated that at night they were taken into the barrack rooms and sent under all the bunks, and they were then taken out and sent through openings under the barracks to detect any such attempts. He stated, in contradiction to the men, that the dogs were always held in leash, and not permitted to run free. A strong protest was made by us to the use of the animals inside the camp both to the commandant and the inspection officer from the Inspection for Prisoners of War of the 7th Army Corps. Complaint was made by the three Sergeants Ma- jors (British) that all the British noncommis- sioned officers in Block V were compelled to drill twice a week for one hour, and then to march for an hour, taking commands from a German private in German, which they were compelled to learn and obey. They stated that they would not have so much objection to carrying out the drill if the commands were given by a German noncommis- sioned officer, or if they (the sergeant majors) were given the word of command and transmitted it to the men. The influence of the Sergeant Ma- jors over their men was undermined in this way and considerable friction had developed because the sergeants and corporals had difficulty in under- standing the German commands even when an interpreter was present to translate them. [When THE CAMP AT MINDEN 85 this matter was taken up, it was stated that a Ger- man common soldier outranks any officer prisoner of war in the camp when carrying out orders, and that no indignity was intended; that the drilling was necessary in order to teach the noncommis- sioned officers military attitude, carriage, and re- spect to higher rank. The noncommissioned of- ficers stated that they considered this drill as a punishment for their refusal to volunteer for work. Complaint was made by a number of men that the rate of exchange for money was lower than the market rate. Sergeant G. R made a special complaint that he was offered M. 20.33 in exchange for a money order for £1. He declined to take this and requested that the money order be returned to the sender in Great Britain. The camp authorities declined to do this and, on his refusal to sign a re- ceipt, deposited the 20.33 Marks to his credit. We were told that this was a matter of military regula- tion and that nothing could be done. Complaint was made that many of the noncom- missioned officers were suffering from the result of old wounds and were not in condition for work, and for that reason should not be confined to this camp. The commandant stated that the chief med- ical officer of the camp had examined all these men and had reported them fit for work. Some ten noncommissioned officers had been removed to this camp from places where they were already at work, more particularly those from the officers camp at Gutersloh, and resented the trans- 86 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY fer, but were not willing to again volunteer for work, when the offer was made in our presence. Special Report on the Lazarette. (Hospital.) The lazarette of this camp is situated outside of the camp in a separate compound. It is composed of six wooden camp barracks, simple gable type, each approximately 180 by 40 feet, 12 feet high with 20 windows on each side and 12 ventilators. Each barrack is divided into two rooms by a parti- tion at the end of each barrack. When this hos- pital was inspected, it was found that the hospital barracks were overcrowded. The beds were ar- ranged in most of the barracks in double rows, i.e., four rows of beds in each, filled for the most part with badly wounded men, transported almost di- rectly from the battle line to this hospital. These wounded men were held at a field hospital for a period of time, varying from a few days to a week, and then transported directly here by ambulance railway train. In other words this temporary, crudely constructed camp lazarette intended for the incidental case of illness of prisoners of war, and without the equipment in the nature of oper- ating rooms, dressing rooms, special apparatus, nursing staff, etc., was, practically without any preliminary notice, transformed into a first base hospital. A large number of the men are severely wounded, several of them at the time of inspec- tion critically ill, two practically in a dying condi- tion, and all of them, in our opinion, with insuffi- cient nursing attention. It was stated by one of THE CAMP AT MINDEN 87 the orderlies that some of these patients had devel- oped bedsores. Inasmuch as we are not allowed to examine patients or to interrogate them as to these matters, this statement must be taken reserv- edly. The nursing is done by hospital orderlies. There are no women trained nurses in the place. Many of the patients had fever, some of them having temperatures as high as 103°F-104°F. The diet was complained of by these very sick pa- tients. They stated they could not take it. The convalescent patients, on the other hand, com- plained that they did not have sufficient food. There are a relatively large number of eye cases, five or six, who ought to have the services of a trained eye specialist. Five deaths have occurred in this group of wounded. Four of these have been from tetanus and a fifth severe case of tetanus is now under treatment. The only explanation of the crowding of the wards, with some empty half-barracks without beds is evidently a question of nursing and care with the present staff. An English noncommissioned officer is present in the hospital as interpreter. The senior non- commissioned officers at the camp requested per- mission to be assigned to the camp to help. This was refused. The noncommissioned officer inter- preter at the camp requested permission to get in touch with the men in Blocks I and V in order to secure food from packages. This had been denied 88 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY but would be granted, dependent on the permission of the chief medical officer in each case. Sergeant M , a lay reader of the Church of England, interned in Block V, had requested per- mission to visit the sick and dying prisoners in or- der to give them religious consolation, or to help in the hospital. This was refused. On taking this up with the commandant the latter eventually con- sented to permit Sergeant M to visit the hos- pital to attend those seriously ill, but stated that full consent to visit the men in the hospital would not be granted until his ecclesiastical credentials had been submitted and approved. Sergeant M stated that a certificate as a lay reader had been issued to him by the Bishop of London but that he did not have it with him. This matter, we have been informed by the inspector at Munster, was under investigation at the time of our visit. Throughout the inspection of the above camp we were accompanied by the commandant and his staff, and by a staff officer from the Inspection of Prisoners of War at the 7th Army Corps at Mun- ster. All of the above matters complained of were taken up and investigated at the time by the above officers, and the undersigned and the notice here reported taken from this joint investigation. In a letter accompanying this report it is stated in contrasting this camp with the one at Dulmen and Friedrichsfeld that: 1 ' The camp at Minden could, on the other hand, be used as a model of what a camp for prisoners of An interesting pair of Serbian prisoners THE CAMP AT MINDEN 89 war ought not to be. It is built in a relatively un- healthy location, of poor general plan, and as ad- ministered, is more of an actual prison for the men, more particularly the non-commissioned offi- cers, than the jail at Cologne, without any of the redeeming features of the latter. The attitude to- wards the prisoners of war it not only not sympa- thetic, but, on the contrary, a hard attitude of sus- picion and repression that appears to us to verge on real intentional cruelty. The locking up of these men in blocks without opportunity for men- tal relaxation, etc., is likely, if persisted in, to have serious results in the mental tone and attitude of these prisoners, and may eventually lead to a mu- tinous attitude on the part of the men, for which if it should occur, the authorities would have only themselves to thank. i 'It appears to us that notwithstanding the rea- sons given in the report on Minden for certain regulations such as the drill of the noncommis- sioned officers, the revision of barracks, the refusal to let the men have matches, soap, etc., the real spirit of such regulations is to force the noncom- missioned officers to volunteer for work and to pun- ish them if they do not. "We can see no reason why the noncommis- sioned officers should not be placed in a camp by themselves if they refuse or if they encourage others by their example, but we cannot see any reason why they should not be treated in such camps as noncommissioned officer prisoners of 90 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY war instead of as criminals. In other words, they ought to have that amount of liberty, mental and physical relaxation and occupation necessary for good mental and physical health. And all this notwithstanding an effort to keep these reports so well within the truth as to be more than fair and notwithstanding the fact that a copy of such a re- port was automatically sent to the German Minis- try of War, and by them through the army corp commander to the commandant of the camp. Ac- cording to the Hague Convention, officers are not compelled to work. There was a tacit agreement that noncommissioned officers would be included in this arrangement in order to protect their own non- commissioned officers in France and Eussia, Italy and England, they would not compel or order non- commissioned officers of the grade of sergeant ma- jor, sergeant or corporal to work. They were asked to volunteer for work and if they refused to do so, they were confined in camps such as that at Minden. The camp at Minden was deliberately selected on account of the block system and for the opportunities there presented for making the lives of the men so miserable that they would prefer anything to this. They did not calculate, however, on the fighting spirit of the British and the French noncommissioned officer. This camp is in contra- vention to the Hague Convention that "the pris- oner of war can only be confined as an indispen- sable minimum of safety." It was used as a prison in which was added bru- THE CAMP AT MINDEN 91 tal treatment by the guards and an attitude to- wards the sick prisoner in the camp which is inde- fensible even from a prison standpoint. It may be stated also that this attitude was not only extended to the prisoners, but in a way included the Inspec- tion Service of the American Embassy. Every attempt to communicate with the prisoner alone was met by an attempt on the part of some Ger- man interpreter to sneak sufficiently close to over- hear conversation. This even went so far that an attitude of contempt and sneering suspicion on the part of one of the commanding officers of the com- mandant's staff persisted in through the consider- ation of the many complaints filed by the prisoner, that I was eventually compelled to protest in jus- tice to myself and the prisoners that unless the offending officer withdrew that I would refuse to continue the inspection. The commandant then relieved this officer from duty with the inspection party. This was only a part and parcel of an at- mosphere of insincerity and concealment that per- meated the entire inspection and the camp. The statement made in the letter to the ambassador that the treatment of these men would have such a result upon the mental tone as to lead to a mutin- ous attitude had more ground than appeared in the report. During this inspection the Russian pris- oners of war to the number of a hundred or more, surrounded the inspection party and demanded in such a violent way that they be relieved from such unbearable conditions that it looked for a moment 92 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY as if actual violence would be done on the German officers. While the appeal was made to me, repre- senting the American Embassy, I explained that this matter was entirely outside my providence. The staff officer from the Army Corps Headquar- ters tried to quiet the men by stating to them that they should write to Eussia demanding that their interests should be placed in the hands of some neutral country. It was perfectly evident from the mental attitude and rebellious conduct of these men that they were not of sound mind and with little further provocation or if even they then had available weapons that violence could have been expected. To be able to correct some of the condi- tions in this camp, to be of even small assistance to such suffering human beings was at least some compensation for the trials and tribulations of this work. Eeforms insisted upon and effected for the British and Servian prisoners here confined, were naturally extended to all the prisoners irrespective of nationality. While the barbarous spirit at the bottom of the atmosphere of this camp could not be entirely eliminated, the more serious evils were corrected, as was shown by a follow up inspection. This was an example of a repression type of camp, several of which existed in Germany (Langen- salza, etc.). To add to all of this the pitiable spectacle of the hospital attached to this camp was almost too much for a human being to stand, either with equanim- ity or without emotional disturbance. To have THE CAMP AT MINDEN 93 placed such a large number of such seriously wounded men jammed together in such crude bar- racks with insufficient medical attention, no nurs- ing worthy of the name, and with such food as nor- mal men could not eat, was a blunder, and a blot on German science, worse even than what occurred at Wittenberg. What possible excuse to send men to such barracks and to such a camp, could be offered, I cannot well imagine. I had already in- spected hospitals nearer the front, well equipped for such work and not overcrowded. Even had these men been sent to the camp attached at Fried- richsfeld there would at least have been a sympa- thetic attitude and a serious effort made to over- come what shortcomings might have there ex- isted. When to the sight of men sick and suffer- ing and dying in the throes of lockjaw, with a dirty towel between the teeth, men dying prisoners in a foreign land without a gentle voice or sympa- thetic hand to ease their suffering, there was added the brutal, blind obedience to regulation, that would withhold religious consolation when it was at hand and anxious to help, this indeed sur- passes all human understanding. If one stops to analyze the relationship of the atmosphere in the hospital to that of the camp, it must become evident that to the military authori- ties in charge of the camp, and who were evidently selected for this particular duty, were incompetent to face the situation thrust upon them in connec- tion with the wounded prisoners of war. Cer- 94 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY tainly it was the duty of a commandant with the rank of general to protest to the proper authorities against this condition of affairs. Inasmuch as this was not done the same heartless attitude permitted and even stimulated in the main camp, could be expected still to be manifest in the hospital for wounded men. In this particular instance these officers, even if they had so desired, could not carry out a brutal system in one portion of the camp and change it to a sympathetic, humane at- titude across a barb-wire barrier in the same camp. I do not see how any man with human instincts could permit a single day to pass with such condi- tions existing and for which he was responsible, without attempting to remedy them. The Eepression camp or that portion of it for correction of prisoners of war at Langensalza, represents the same general atmosphere except to a less marked degree than that exhibited at Min- den. An entirely different manifestation of this same spirit is shown in the attitude of the commandant at Schmiedmuhl. In this same camp were twenty nine thousand prisoners, one hundred and sixty men were confined under arrest; of the hundred and sixty under arrest nine were British. The consideration of these will give some idea of the German idea of justice as applied to the prisoner of war in this camp. Peison Bakkack: The prison barrack was in- spected and found to be approximately fifty by THE CAMP AT MlNDEN 95 fifty by nine feet (walled) with twelve windows. One hundred and sixty men were confined here under arrest. Upon our representation to the commandant that the barrack was overcrowded he stated that he recognized this, but that, pending the construction of another barrack, no other pro- visions could be made. There were no cots or bunks ; the blankets of the men were rolled up on the floor. The men were not permitted to smoke, play cards or have tea. They were confined to the barrack throughout the entire twenty four hours, except for one hour each day, when they were taken out for exercise. Of the hundred and sixty men under arrest, nine are British. Of these one is a colonel sergeant major, one a lance corporal and seven privates. The cases of S and S were individual cases of arrest. The seven privates were grouped as one process involving the same offence. All of these men complained of the handling of their cases and their punishment and requested that the matter be reported to the Embassy. Case of Corporal S . S , who is a lance corporal of the K. 0. Y. L. I., stated that he had been working for some time in a machine shop at a bench with two civilians. For some time the civilian workmen had displayed an antagonistic attitude towards him. On the day of his arrest a file with which he had been working accidentally caught in the sleeve of the man next to him, who thereupon made a violent attack upon him; that 96 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY after having been attacked several times, he canght his hand to protect himself. The guard was called and he, S , stated to the guard that he refused to work longer in the shop on account of the antagonistic attitude of the civilian work- men and the occurrence stated above. He was thereupon taken to the place where he was lodged. Some two or three hours later, the guard appeared, ordered him to go to work again in the shop. He refused again on the grounds above stated, where- upon the guard struck him several times with the butt-end of his rifle and otherwise abused him. He was then placed under arrest and has since been tried. This matter was later taken up at the command- ant 's office with the commandant and a Bechtsan- walt (lawyer) attached to his staff. We asked the nature of the charge and the proceedings under which the man was punished. The commandant, after having looked up the record, stated that fol- lowing his return to the guard house, S was formally told that he would have to return to the place to work and that he replied in absolute re- fusal. The Eechtsanwalt then stated that such a heavy penalty of imprisonment had been imposed upon him (S ) at the court martial in view of the contemptuous and insolent manner in which he had made this refusal. The commandant in reference to S 's com- plaint of rough handling, stated that the guard THE CAMP AT MINDEN 97 had the right to strike a prisoner with his rifle in order to enforce obedience to a command, but that he paid particular attention that in the enforce- ment of authority the guards did not thereby in- jure the prisoners ; that with reference to this par- ticular instance, it was much better to force the prisoner to obey by striking him than that he should have to suffer imprisonment for refusal. The Kechtsanwalt then read to us the paragraph in the regulations under which the guard is em- powered to use force in the handling of a pris- oner. Case of Sergeant S . Company Sergeant Major E. S stated that at the time of his ar- rest he was the noncommissioned officer in charge of the English barrack in one of the camps. That on March 4th, by request he had sent in a list of the fatigue men from whom selections for work were to be made. This list was prepared by him from his knowledge of the physical condition of the men, their ability to work etc. ; that previously this arrangement had worked out all right. On this particular occasion, the German noncom- missioned officer came to him and told him to order out certain men for work. Inasmuch as these men did not conform to the order of this list, a misunderstanding developed. He was ar- rested for refusing to order the men to work and tried by court martial. At the time of the trial he understood that at first he had been sentenced to three weeks in prison and was taken out of the 98 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY court room. He was asked if he wanted to ap- peal and upon an affirmative reply, after about ten or fifteen minutes was taken back into the courtroom again and sentenced to three months. He then filed an appeal and on this trial was sen- tenced to three months' imprisonment. He com- plained that he did not understand the proceed- ings, that he did not understand why, the first verdict of three weeks had been changed suddenly to three months; that he was not represented by any one in his defense at either trial ; that he had had charge of the men for some time previous to the particular occurrence for which he was tried, had had no trouble or difficulty and attributed his present trouble to ill feeling towards him on the part of the German noncommissioned officer. The matter was then taken up with the com- mandant and his legal adviser. We were told that the three weeks' penalty was provisional; that the penalty of three months was fixed at the first trial. When the prisoner appealed from this sentence, the commandant regarding the sentence as too light also appealed and a verdict of an increase from three or twelve months was handed down. The Eechtsanwalt stated that the regulations pro- vided for counsel for a prisoner only in unusual or grave cases. The prisoner is still under arrest pending an appeal of his case. Case of W. B., Privates W , L , B , G , H , G . B stated that he had been under imprisonment since last fall and had THE CAMP AT MINDEN 99 first been tried October 4th, 1915. He said that he and the six other men had been working in a field. There had developed a misunderstanding as a result of their lack of ability to understand exactly what the guard wanted them to do in reference to some new work. Thereupon the guard had rushed upon him, threatening him with his bayonet ; that neither he nor any of the other men had offered any resistance but that he had stood perfectly still until the guard had quieted down. Notwithstanding this, he was arrested and tried with the other men on October 4th, 1915. At that trial B was given four years imprison- ment, three men eighteen months and the other men twelve months. All the men appealed and at the second trial, November 24th, 1915, B was sentenced to ten months, the others to three and two months, respectively. B alone appealed from this verdict. The other six men were satis- fied with the verdict and did not appeal. Upon this trial, B was sentenced to two years and the other men to twelve and fifteen months, re- spectively. Privates W , L , B , G , H , and Gr complained with much bitterness that inasmuch as they had already served their term of imprisonment according to the trial of Novem- ber 24th, 1915, and inasmuch as they had not ap- pealed from this verdict and inasmuch as they had already served the sentences imposed by this ver- dict and had been released, they could not under- 100 THE PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY stand why a new verdict of twelve and fifteen months respectively, should be reimposed upon them. They had at no time any aid or counsel to assist them or explain the nature of the proceed- ings of their present imprisonment imposed upon them by the court. When the commandant was asked as to the status of the cases of these men, he replied in reference to the re-imprisonment of the penalty complained of by the men that while they had not appealed from the verdict of November 24th, 1915, he had appealed and the verdict imposed was the action of the court upon his appeal. In reference to their complaint as to counsel, he replied as in the other cases: "It was not customary to as- sign counsel for the prisoner in such cases." Not only the cases here sited but in cases from other prison camps it was perfectly evident that the whole procedure took the nature more of legal persecution than of prosecution. The presump- tion on the part of the prisoner of war to appeal his case from the superior judgement of his cap- tors could only be met on the appeal by increas- ing or doubling his sentence. When one takes into consideration that the officers of these court martials are German Officers, that the trial is held in a hostile atmosphere that the prisoner is not represented by counsel, that he has no one except himself to state his case for him and that even this statement of the case must be interpreted to the court by men not sympathetic to the prisoner C/3 S-H C O O u 60