The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-07-22
A MILLION PRISONERS
Methodicai Germans Keep Card In
dex Of Every Man.

Berlin, July 10.-(Correspondence |
of The Associated Press)-The exact |!
registration of the huge hordes of oy
err a million prisoners of war in Ger
many, so that rank, service division |
and Mace of confinement OF each man |
can be instantly determined, has been |
perfected to an astonishing degree by |
Count Schwerin, GO-year old cap
| tain of cavalry. Today the relatives |
of any French, Russian, English, Ca
madam. Italian, Serbian, Montenegrin, |
BeIgian or japanese prisoner in Ger
many can ascertain within "a hours
where that soldier is and what his
condition is.
This is made possible through a
card catalogue that all but beggars
description. it is probably the most
uorfect thing of its size and kind in
~existence. In its creation two other
systems have had to be discarded as
Inadequate, and the work and pains
lavished on them duplicated. In its
maintenance so persons are engaged,
While its inventor, Count Schwerin,
works II hours a day overseeing
things.
Each day dozens and scores OF lists
of names pour into Count Schwerin's
department Of the war ministry in
! the Dorotheenstrasse here in Berlin,
These lists give the necessary infor-
nation for filing out the cards, SO
that each shall contain the name and
| rank of the prisoner, his service,
branch, regiment and company, the
| place and date of his capture, and the
place where he is held. If he is
wounded. the nature of his wounds
and the hospital where he is are add
| ed
Scores Of young women eli out the
cards. which then so to sorters, under
the inspection of man who in peace
times is a head instructor in one OF
| Berlin's higher schools. Before the
sorters stand wooden cases built al
ter the fashion of type cases but
deeper. 1t was the sight of compost
| lOTS luTUN iIiS ~ pc thtNt wv N~''N
| Schwerin to adopt these cases
The first set of sorters take the
cards Just as they come in alphabet
zeal confusion, from the writing room
and divide them according to the ini-
tial letter from A to u. Other sorters
then take the AS and subdivide
them systematically-into "A, Aaa,
Ab. Aba. Abb and so on. Thousands
OF cards are sorted and filed daily
for the list of prisoners never stops
growing.
The names also are divided accord
ing to nationality, and put away in
the cases that flank all four walls OF
i three rooms. There are between
Is coo and 10000 Belgian names
from 10000 to $4,000 English names,
and hundreds of thousands of French
and Russian. With but one exception
the Serbians, Montenegrins and Jap
ancse who are prisoners in Germany
are civilians of military age interned
here.
Approximately 500 letters come to
Count Schwerins "Kartothek' daily
REQUESTS for information about rela
tiyes or friends. 1t is the boast and
pride of this officer that 10 request
remains unanswered longer than "A
hours-4S at the very outside when
the letter or inquiry is in difficult
Russian.
To facilitate relatives in getting in
formation about the foreign soldiers,
however. Count Schwerin has for
warded the complete data about
prisoners. as fast as received at the
war ministry and filed in the card
: catalogue, to the governments at
London. Paris and st. Petersburg,
and to the Red Cross headquarters at
Geneva, Brussels, Copenhagen and
Berlin.
one of the most interesting fea-
lures of the card catalogue work, is
the fact that many men give false
names and data because they are
D ashamed of being in captivity and do
q not want anyone in their native land
to know that they have been taken
prisoner.
An interesting example OF this
4 came to light recently in case con
corning 19-year-old Prince Chimay OF
2 Belgium He had enlisted under an
assumed name and was captured. He
was put in a prison camp as private
soldier: In due time inquiries about
the young man came in. His name Gid
y not appear in the card catalogue, and
before the young man was found il
had been necessary to hunt out every
4 soldier of his regiment, scattered in
A half a dozen camps all over Ger
: many. to take them before a military
n court, and demand of them under
Il oath what they knew about his case
q Count Schwerins ''Kartothek" con
b tains between 100000 and 100000
y names. Two or three hundred thou
4 sand of the latest captives thus are
a missing. In a months time, however
these too will be duly catalogued and
slowed away for future reference.
d DAMAGES FOR SEDUCTION
~ .