New-York tribune., 1915-03-30
PRISON CAMP
HOLDS MEDLEY
OF ALL ALLIES
Germans Solve Problem
of Governing 10000
Without Friction.
LATEST;
RUSSIANS BUSIEST
Food Pronounced Nourishing
and observation-disclosures
NOUS" Captives Say.


Berlin. March 1s.--Fortunes OF war
have thrown together some lO,oOO mem
hers of the armies and navies OF the
countries with which Germany Is at
war int a conglomerate gathering III
tho huge prison camp at Doeberitz,
about fifteen miles from Berlin.
Fresh faced English sailor boys still
in their teens, bearded Scotch High
landers, peasants from the South of
France and Woujiks from faraway
Russia suddenly have been plunged to-
gether, each with his customs and
habits, likes and disIikes. Pretty near
" every one is face to face with his
all. for the first time in his life.
How to control the throng Of prison
ers so that discipline may BE- tempered
with humanitarian measures and the
thousands may rub shoulders without
friction is a problem with which Ger
man system has been graphing. A
group of newspaper men from neutral
countries who visited Doeberitz recent
" found It well organized, active and
intensely interesting, and its inhabi-
tants as contented as might be ex-
pecteI in the circumstances.
In dealing with problems arising
from the proper control of the prison
ers the authorities have dawn certain
broad conclusions, summed up as fol-
lows by a reserve officer stationed at
the prison camp:
French Are the Most Doclle.
"The Russians are the most industri~
Gus; the English are by far the LATEST
and hardest to handle; the French are
the most docie, the last to make
trouble Of any kind"
Doeberitz is a huge collection Of long
wooden shacks, built by the prisoners.
The camp is inclosed by barbed wlre
fence ten or dozen feet high, whlch,
contrary 20 the legend, is not charged
with electricity to prevent escape.
Only four men, Russians, have tried 10
get away thus far, and they came back.
AT night and in leisure hours the
men are divided according to national
ity. and. so far as possible, IL racial
subdivisions. In the workshops, how
ever. English and Russians are put to-
gether. The English objected to this
arrangement at first. Men OF both
races are proving adept at shoemaklng'
but the French seem TO have little
skill at it and are more available IN
the cook houses.
Prisoners artistically inclined and IN
moor physical condition have house,
IL . nj uuh mako
drawings and Photographic enlarge
ments.
Visitors 20 the camp not infrequently
purchase the output, the money finding
its way to the canteen for food and
tobacco.
Prison are MOnOtOnous.
At meal time French and Belgian,
English and Russian, gather together
and pass through the cook houses. Each
no Sc is equipped with huge boilers
containing hundreds OF quarts OF the
stew, soup or goulash tia; forms the
r-.ncipal item on the bill Of fare. That
{ 3 food is nourishing and appetzlng
has been attested to by scores OF visit
{ TO Docberitz, who invariably are IN
vited to sample it. The prisoners say
the same, but they complain that the
fare is monotonous.
The means Of relieving this mOnot-
{ lies in the canteen, and that ls
available only for the men who receive
money from home. Every effort is made
By the German authorities to facilitate
this, and gradually a miniature banking
sy-tem, with hundreds OF accounts, has
been evolved.
There is also postofiice, which
handles between 10000 and 10000 let
ters a month. The prisoners are al
lowed write, on an average, two let
tiers a week. The Russian mail pre-
sents the greatest di.iculties for the
ceusors The men write in variety
O. ways Russian in German script,
/ German in Russia script, Polish in
several scripts, Hebrew am any num-
/ b., of dialects
/ In the package division of the post
| Office thousands of sacks of presents
( have to be examined ard distributed
/ The percentage of illicit articles that
| relatives attempt to send to the prison
/ ers is gradually lessening, but efforts
| have not entirely stopped. How little
/ some rsons appreciate the censorship
| is indicated by the fact that every once
/ in a while reyolvers and similar articles
arc dlscoverel and confscated.
.