The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-07-10
SAYS PRISON CAMPS OF
GERMANS ARE MODELS
Swiss Sanitary Corps OfhceT F1nus
Prisoners Are Well Cared
For

For.
| Basic, July 9.-The German prison
camps were praised as models In
lecture here by DR.. Paul Freiswerk,
captain In the Sanitary Corps Of the
Swiss army. who went to Germany IN
April as member OF the sanitary
commission appointed by the Swiss
government at the request OF the
allies, and visited every camp In the
country. He said:
Tho German prison camps are
built in exactly the same manner as
! the training camps for German troops,
The barracks of the prisoners consist
OF small buildings which contain
st owe and two or three big mattresses.
Only in a few cases did l find more
than ten men in one room. All of tho
buildings are kept scrupulously clean
aud present n I eat appearance. The
interior decoration of the barracks Is
left to the taste of the Inhabitants
who have made some of their quarters
quite coy and even artistic Not too
much can be said in praise of the san
liit0ry arrangements.
! III SNSiS NdIip sPCtlteA buAAtiAAS
have been erected for religious SER
vices, theatrical performances and
concerts. Among tho French prison.
ers there are many good amateur
actors and musicians. The English
prisoners care more for football and
other sports than for historionic art
and music, but they also have brass
! bands and sometimes arrange vaude-
vile performances.
! THE kitchens are exemplary An
old German commissioned officer
Gets as chef for every company or
battalion of prisoners and is assisted
ty a number of French soldiers, some
J OF whom are professional cooks. All
! food is prepared carefully and furn-
ished in sufficient quantities. Some
times the prisoners even get luxuries
which are bought with the money
obtained from the sale of waste TO
| the farmers for their pigs.
while the French and English
| prisoners do not eat everything that
is furnished TO them the Russians al
ways have an enormous appetite and
devour any food they can get, The
iFrenchman and Britlshers receive
many delcacies from home. and. of
course. prefer them to the coarser
fare OF fine camp; but this is not al
ways good for them, because they
oILSu &ahileT from stomach ana m
testinal troubles.
| I'm the libraries OF the camp the
prisoners get books In their own Ian
guages and they are permitted to
write two letters and four postal car1~
every month.
! Conditions Satisfactory.
| The employment conditions are
also highly satisfactory. For large
number OF the prisoners there Is work
] a..
to nearby farms under the escort of
Landstrum troops every morning and
return TO the camp in the evening
Many of the prisoners. mostly Rus
SLAMS, are assigned to farmers far
from the camps ard reu1rtn there
funguaried for several weeks They
enjoy full liberty and only in rare
icases attempt to escape, a large num-
Der OF the French soldiers are en-
|Tloyed IN factories The Frenchmen
are splendid mechanics, and the de-
mand for them is great
with the colored prisoners, Hindus.
Turcos, Senegalese, negroes and Mao
ris little can be done Most Of them
are entirely unfit for any work and
the remainder are indescrtba bly, lazy
The Fnglishmen In many cases re-
fuse to work, because they consider
manual labor below the dignity OF
BTiIlSn soldier.
THE measure taken for the pre-
ventfon Of enidemics are thorough
Newly arrived prisoners are isolated
for four to six weeks, On the day
OF their arrival they are clcan ned Of
all Termin and vaccinated, and their
clothing is diStnfected During their
term OF isolation they have TO take
three baths weekly. Some OF the
Russians object to being cleaned go
often and have to be scrubbed forcib-
ily
The sanitary service In the camps
Is organized in military fashion. Every
morning and evening, at roll-ca,l, the
prisoners are inspected by physicians
IT they complain about their health,
to camp hospitals, which are models
In every way. Prisoners who die are
buried with military honora The
commander and the German officers
OF the camp always march behind
the corf1n of the dead enemy to the
small prison Gem eterv. where a squad
Of Landstrum troops fires salute over
the grave.
| 1.-The camps for officers have. Of
course, more comfortable barracks
than those for private soldiers. Each
OF the neatly-furnished little houses
serves as quarters for four 10 five
prisoners. The officers are permitted
to take long walks twice week under
gard, and daily receive not only beer
ard wine, but also limited quantities
of whiskey. The latter is saved up
By some of the Russians until they
have enough to get drunk"