The Better Germany in War Time: Being Some Facts Towards FellowshipPicton, Harold W. (Harold Williams)
History
The Better Germany in War Time: Being Some Facts Towards Fellowship
Picton, Harold W. (Harold Williams)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals, charities, etc.; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
“The bath room which I saw has a floor space of about 1,500 square feet,
one-half of which, drained in the centre, lies under some 20 shower
nozzles. There are a couple of porcelain tubs in the other half, and in
the centre there is a large stove. Hot and cold water is available. The
British officers were enthusiastic in their praise of this room.
“As regards the sleeping rooms, wash rooms and latrines, and their
equipment, the general German housing regulations are being fully
complied with. I visited a great many sleeping rooms, and in none of
them did I find overcrowding, uncleanliness, insufficient light, heat,
or equipment.
“The orderlies are housed in stalls in one of the stables, and in their
regard, too, the general German housing regulations are being fully
complied with. Their quarters looked sufficiently comfortable and clean,
and two or three of the orderlies with whom I spoke said that they had
no complaints to make, and that they were happy to be interned with, and
not apart from their officers. I visited the one building fenced off
from the others—also a stable—in which German soldiers are quartered,
and I found the accommodation and equipment there to be precisely that
furnished to the orderlies. The comparison was, however, somewhat in
favour of the orderlies, for the orderlies were fewer in number and less
crowded than the soldiers. Although exercise is not compulsory, there is
ample space in the central rectangle for out-door games of all sorts and
for walking. No appropriate form of exercise, recreation, or amusement
is denied the interned, and opportunities for distraction within the
barracks lie largely in their own hands. Smoking is freely permitted,
and English, French and Russian songs are sung without interference. The
walls of one French officer’s room were covered with good-natured
caricature drawings. When I asked the Commandant if the interned might
not be permitted to go out into the country under guard, he replied that
the barracks were too near the frontier for that, and he mentioned that
one officer had already escaped and succeeded in getting over the
border.”
Food is provided to all officers at the rate of two marks daily. This
absorbs the whole of a lieutenant’s pay, and the Commandant recognised
the difficulty. But “none of the officers want the present arrangement
altered if alteration is to involve a decrease in the quality,
quantity, or variety of the food furnished. All of them agree that the
food is entirely satisfactory, under the circumstances, and that it is
fully worth two marks a day.
“The officers told me that letters and packages were delivered to them
with commendable rapidity, and that the Commandant was unfailingly
obliging when, for important reasons, any officer needed to send off
more than two letters a month.”
GARDELEGEN, SALZWEDEL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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