The Better Germany in War Time Part 6

BAVARIAN COURTESY.

The Venerable Archdeacon Wm. E. Nies, who had been given permission to visit British prisoners of war in Bavaria, writes: "I think it is only fair to comment favourably upon the friendly way in which my mission to the men is received and furthered by the commanders without exception thus far."

HOSPITAL TREATMENT.

Of Germersheim hospitals we read: "The food served in these hospitals is exceptionally satisfactory. Dr. Algeron, the chief surgeon in charge, a broad-minded man and indefatigable worker, attends personally to the catering.... Under this regime there have been some noteworthy increases in weight...."

At Bayreuth a private of the Black Watch had been "removed-for the purpose of electrical treatment of his arm by which it is hoped to avoid an operation-to the military lazaret in the city, which is an admirably equipped modern hospital."

WUENSDORF, CREFELD.

We pa.s.s now to reports in Miscel. No. 26 (1916). Indian prisoners of war at Wunsdorf (Zossen) find their treatment "very good." At Crefeld officers' camp, "the walks on parole ... have been entirely successful.... The only complaint as to these was that the German accompanying the party was a non-commissioned instead of a regular officer. This will, however, be rectified at once.... There is no trouble of any kind with the inhabitants on these.... The relations with the camp authorities are excellent." As regards the behaviour of the inhabitants, I would refer also to Chaplain O'Rorke's statement (see p.

36), though, as one would expect, the inhabitants have in some other cases behaved badly (_e.g._, p. 32).

MUENSTER II., MUENSTER III.

At Munster II, "The Commandment, General von Ey-Steinecke, as well as the other officers, and the general treatment, are well spoken of by the men." Some improvements suggested on March 16 were already started on the 18th. At Munster III. the benches in the English Chapel "were provided at the expense of the camp, although the British prisoners offered to pay for them.... The camp authorities have endeavoured to arrange courses of instruction with some success, and several British are taking lessons in French.... Sergeant Middleditch, the ranking non-commissioned officer, who has taken an active part in the work of improvement, stated that the relations with the camp authorities were excellent, and that the officers showed much consideration in acceding to reasonable requests. The commandant, General Raitz von Frentz, is well spoken of by all, and shows a liberal and progressive spirit in dealing with such difficulties as arise."

PARCHIM, BRANDENBURG.

From Miscel. No. 7 (1917) a few extracts may be made. Of Parchim Dr.

A. E. Taylor and Mr. J. P. Webster write: "We believe that special commendation should be given to the Commandant, Oberst Kothe, for the spirit in which he governs the camp, and for the way in which he does everything in his power for the welfare of the prisoners, and for the promotion of a cordial relations.h.i.+p between the men and those in charge." Of Brandenburg, Mr. Jackson writes candidly: "The part of the building occupied by the British prisoners was not so clean as the remainder, but for this the men themselves are responsible." It is obvious that the spirit as to this and other matters will vary in every country among different sets of men (c.f., _e.g._, below the very different Gustrow report).

COTTBUS.

Men in hospital at Cottbus "said that the food was good and their treatment excellent." Men in the main camp complained that bread sent to them from Switzerland and England arrived in a mouldy condition, but "as the mouldiness seemed to start in the middle of the loaf, they thought this was due to the quality of the bread itself or the manner in which it was packed."

ABSENCE ON LEAVE.

At Celle, where "inactive officers" and some others are detained, Mr.

Jackson found one British subject absent on leave, while "several others have been permitted to make visits to their families in Germany. A request from another, who had obtained no benefit from his stay at Bad Blenhorst, for permission to go somewhere for a 'cure' is under consideration."

LIMBAU, GUESTROW.

At the working camp at Limbau (occupied Russian territory) "the men described the commandant as a 'gentleman,' and said they had no difficulty in communicating with him in regard to their wishes. None had any complaint to make of their treatment, and only a very few spoke of the work as hard." The camp contained 500 British prisoners.

At Gustrow, "the treatment of the men and the conditions found in their camp appeared to be very favourable. The commandant stated that the British were the most satisfactory prisoners under his care...." Two million, five hundred thousand letters pa.s.sed through the camp post office in the previous year, and about sixty thousand packages were distributed.

HOSPITAL TREATMENT.

Hospital treatment is again and again described favourably in the individual reports (_e.g._, pp. 4, 6, 14, 22, 50, 57), but the opinion may here be cited of a Swiss doctor who has been occupied in German hospitals during most of the war:

The writer of these lines never saw anything anywhere that could be considered as intentional change for the worse in the lot of prisoners and sick; on the contrary, he was able to ascertain that the prisoners and the sick are treated in a manner that could not be more humane. If later on the food was insufficient, the English must be aware of the reasons which brought about far-reaching starvation among great circles of the population of Germany.... From deepest conviction the writer of these lines affirms that the German people and the German doctors are [generally] without guilt in the face of the accusations made against them. Individual exceptions, if proved, could not alter this judgment.

THE REPATRIATIONS.

There are bad stories of men arriving half-starving at the British and French lines at the time of the general repatriations. It would require care and impartiality to sift these. The more experience one gains, the less one trusts the average newspaper report in war-time. It seems very probable that, as Erzberger contended, many prisoners made off of their own accord after the German Revolution, and the straits to which these men were reduced could scarcely be ascribed to the German authorities.

That there were brutal cases of men being _driven_ away is also quite probable. As regards the general question of prisoners, Erzberger said: "If England can now actually prove that English prisoners of war have been illegally treated, I give my word no guilty person shall go unpunished. But allow me the counter question, Is it known in enemy countries how _German_ prisoners of war were frequently treated? I do not believe that is sufficiently well known. Only listen to our soldiers who come from France...." (Berlin, Nov., 24, 1918, _Wolff_.) It should be obvious that both sides must be heard before justice can decide, but the obvious is the unrecognised in war time. And probably even by the best and most impartial judgment only very rough generalisations can be arrived at. One need seems to me paramount, that each side shall become once more aware of the _good_ in the other. Here, then, are one or two favourable facts from repatriated men: "We understand that the Germans could not let us march to the frontier, as we were prepared to do, lest we should start to plunder the inhabitants. For the same reason we were accompanied on the train by a German N.C.O. with a rifle. At night we slept in school buildings at Zevenaar (?) where we were given food and coal, and were well treated. We gave some of our food there to Sisters for the poor.... We had not to pay any fare at Wesel. The Germans on the train wished to be very friendly. We understand that the German authorities helped to make the arrangements about our taking the train at Wesel. No special compartments were put on for us. We travelled with the ordinary pa.s.sengers." (_Daily News_, November 25, 1918.)

Again:

The first contingent of British prisoners from Germany to arrive in London under the terms of the armistice reached Cannon Street Station from Dover yesterday. The party, numbering nearly 300, were provided with hot refreshments on arrival. The men looked remarkably fit, and one of the party explained that they had mostly been working on the railways behind the lines, and their treatment had been fairly good.

Another contingent of returned prisoners, numbering about 800, arrived at Dover yesterday afternoon.

(_Daily News_, Nov. 21, 1918.)

The _Daily News_ has honourably distinguished itself by publis.h.i.+ng favourable articles by repatriated prisoners. An officer writes:

Three days ago I arrived in England after having spent eight months in a German prison camp. We were among the first repatriated prisoners of war to come through Switzerland, and were secretly amused at the att.i.tude of friends and relatives on our arrival home. They seemed to be quite surprised because most of us were looking healthy and fit, and were not walking skeletons or physical wrecks.

But after reading the home newspapers, we understood their point of view. I do not for one moment suggest that these tales of inhuman treatment are untrue or exaggerated, because I know many cases which confirm them;[11] but I do say that this horrible treatment has not been general, nor does it apply to all prisoners of war. For this reason I am writing of what I know of the prisoners in Baden, in Southern Germany, and I hope that this article may allay the anxiety of those who are daily expecting some dear one home, and who fear that he will be terribly changed through suffering.

Men behind the lines had suffered far more, this officer considered.

This is somewhat at variance with the extract last cited. The writer continues:

But the lot of the prisoners in the permanent camps in Baden was much brighter. My authority for saying so is an old Roman Catholic priest, Father Nugent, a native of Lancas.h.i.+re, I believe, who was in Southern Germany when the war broke out. He had free access to all prison camps and hospitals in Baden, and had no stories of harsh and brutal treatment to tell. Two American doctors were allowed to visit the hospitals in Rastatt, Lazaret 4, and the Russenlager Hospital. They said that the patients were comfortable and well looked after, in spite of the great shortage of medical supplies in Germany.

Some of the soldiers had a good time working on the Baden farms.

One orderly at our camp, who was away for a fortnight in the fruit season, picking plums, told me that he had met one of his old regiment working on a farm. This man had just driven in to the railway station for the Red Cross parcels, and told him that they were working with an old German and his wife. They shared rations with each other, and once a week the whole household visited the cinema.

Delay in repatriation occurred owing to disorganisation.

But there is no ill feeling towards the prisoners in Baden.

After the armistice we wandered at will round Freiburg and in the Black Forest; and everyone was treated with civility. There were no cases of open hostility at all.

(_Daily News_, Dec. 18, 1918.)

Mr. G. G. Desmond volunteered at the age of 46. He was taken prisoner and gave (_Daily News_, Dec. 10, 1918) some account of his general outlook after his imprisonment. Unlike some of the stay-at-homes he can still believe in the German people, as the following concluding paragraphs of his article show:

The soldiers and the country people round Dulmen, and afterwards everybody we met in those parts, expressed no sense of rancour at their defeat, and simply leapt over it all to the prime, joyful fact that the _Krieg_ was _fertig_. Everybody greeted you with that, and covered his face with smiles thereby. Some said that the terms were very hard, but agreed with me when I told them that they were made hard in order to defeat thoroughly the old gang and ensure a lasting peace. I wish I felt as certain now as then that the Allies had that clean intention. One farmer chuckled when he told me that Germany must give up a hundred and fifty U-boats, because, he said, she had no such number.

One of the political parties, I am afraid I cannot remember which, published a manifesto stating that Germany had been deceived and betrayed by the military party, whereby among other things she inflicted great wrongs on Belgium and the Allies, and that she must pay in full for those wrongs. I do not doubt that is a widespread feeling in Germany. If, however, the terms of peace are to be vindictive, we shall in turn be in the wrong, and the new Germany may have better cause than the old to hate us.

When we were fighting the Kaiser, we took pains to tell the German people that we were fighting their battle against their enemies. We were, in fact, liberating the traditional distressed damsel from the clutches of the ogre. It was a pity that so many of our blows fell upon the damsel and not on the ogre. It would be not only a pity but a crime and a grievous blunder if, now that the damsel is free, we proceeded to thrash her for the faults of the ogre.

The Germans, apart from their late Government, are not Orientals intent upon deceiving us at every turn. They say they have turned over a new leaf, and I am thoroughly persuaded that they speak the truth. In business of all kinds, under circ.u.mstances that made it very easy for them to have cheated me, I found them, during my stay at Dulmen, the straightest people I ever had anything to do with. They think the same of us. Feldwebels and others who have had to do with us both a.s.sured me that they much preferred the British to any other cla.s.s of prisoner, because we are blunt and true, say what we mean, and stick to what we say. Certainly the Germans are the most English of the great peoples on the Continent.

CONCLUSION.