Turkish Prisoners in Egypt: A Report by the Delegates of the International Committee of the Red CrossInternational Committee of the Red Cross
History
Turkish Prisoners in Egypt: A Report by the Delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, British
Those interned are divided into three classes. The first class consists
of officers' wives and children; the second class, of those of the
non-commissioned officers; and the third class, of soldiers' wives and
servants. This classification has been adopted in order that the
dormitories shall be occupied by persons of as nearly as possible the
same social standing.
_Accommodation._--The important group of buildings known as Saleh-el-din
(Saladin) comprises a great number of rooms whose size and curious
ornateness contrast strangely with their present use as a concentration
camp for civilian prisoners. From the windows of these apartments one
looks across the panorama of Cairo, with its mosques, its minarets and
the misty background of the desert.
The 40 inhabited rooms are allotted in three sections, corresponding to
the social classification established for the interned women.
The rooms and corridors are paved throughout with marble, but the
general distribution of mats and even beautiful carpets gives an
impression of comfort. The large dimensions of the chambers, as compared
with the smallness of the number of occupants, give plenty of room for
exercise and work. Corridors and vestibules connect the different
buildings. They are lighted with paraffin lamps.
An extensive garden is always at the prisoners' disposal.
_Bedding._--The japanned iron bedsteads are furnished with spring and
stuffed mattresses, sheets, blankets, and pillows. In their arrangement
one notices the influence of personal taste. Embroidered coverlets,
hangings and upholstery give to some of the apartments an aspect of
comfort and even of elegance. The military administration supplies all
the furniture and the regulation bedding, to which the inmates may add
what they like at their own expense.
_Dress._--The English authorities supply women and children with all
their linen and other clothing.
_Food._--Provisioning is a private enterprise, carried out under a
contract. The food is the same for all classes, and is unlimited in
quantity. The women are given as much as they desire of each dish. No
complaint was made concerning the food, which is wholesome and
palatable. We visited the kitchen and sampled the day's menu. Milk in
large quantities is provided for the children. The meals are served in
three well-appointed dining-rooms.
The hours for meals are:
Breakfast, from 7.30 to 8.30.
Lunch, from 12.30 to 1.80.
Supper, from 5.30 to 6.80.
_Hygiene._--Water is supplied from the town mains. Lavatories are
installed in the corridors near the dormitories. The inmates may have
hot and cold baths every day. As to laundry work, those of the first
class can have it done by their own servants or pay the third-class
women to do it.
The W.C.'s consist of movable tubs on the Turkish system, each
containing a solution of cresol. They are emptied daily by contract into
the citadel cesspool, which communicates with the main sewer of Cairo.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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