Germany in War Time: What an American Girl Saw and HeardMcAuley, Mary Ethel
History
Germany in War Time: What an American Girl Saw and Heard
McAuley, Mary Ethel
World War, 1914-1918 -- Germany
A great many Russians work on the railroad tracks, and still others are
employed in factories, gardening and working in the fields. Those that
work in the factories are not employed in the explosive departments
but are engaged in lifting heavy bars of metal and shells. In these
factories the men are closely guarded, but the average Russian is very
docile and easy to manage.
Very few English prisoners do any work, but many French prisoners are
employed in factories and in the fields. They still wear their bright
red trousers. In Dresden I saw a lot of these red-trousered fellows
running around the streets loose. One prisoner had a little German
child with him. She was a little girl of about four years of age, and
she clung to his hand and seemed very fond of him.
[Illustration: _Russian Prisoners Before Entering the Louse
Disinfecting Place._]
[Illustration: _Russian Prisoners Coming Out of the Louse Disinfecting
Place._]
At Circus Busch last winter a great spectacular play was produced and
as five hundred supers were needed for the show, men were taken from
the prison camps to take part. There were English, French, Arabs and
Turcos, all dressed in their own uniforms, but some of the prisoners
had to take the part of German soldiers. They were dressed in the
regular German uniform and they looked rather sheepish. Of course in
the play the Germans won all of the battles, but there was a waiting
list of prisoners who wanted jobs in the show. They were paid one mark
a night. The theater management was responsible for the safety of the
prisoners, and the theater was well guarded.
Two of the most interesting camps in Germany are the two near Berlin,
the one at Zossen and that for the English at Ruhleben. The camp at
Zossen is about an hour's ride from Berlin and can be seen from the
train window on the way to Dresden. It is built in the open country and
is a town of small houses. They have all kinds of prisoners here.
The "Gentlemen's Camp" at Ruhleben is where the English civil prisoners
are interned, and some very rich and influential men are here. Ruhleben
is built on a race track, and though at first it had only a few
buildings, it is now a small town. It has its main streets, its shops,
its restaurants, its reading rooms, its select circle and its four
hundred. It had a theater, the director of which was the director of
one of the Berlin theaters before the war.
[Illustration: _French Prisoners Going into the City to Make
Purchases._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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