Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-12-03
DIE BY
THOUSANDS in
TEUTON CAMPS
War captives Perish
from Overwork and Under
feeding, Official Report.

Washington, Dec. 3.-The oficial
Serbian press bureau has made pub
lie a startling report on the fate OF
serbian prisoners of war and deported
civilians, prepared by q French jour-
naiist at Zurich. Switzerland. Forty
thousand old men,. women and chill
dren have been deportedf by the Bull
|gars from Serbia to Turkey. 'Interned
Serblans and prisoners of val are
treated with appalling barbarity in
Germany. Austria-Hungary and Bull
.garia. The Serbian race is menaced
by the measures practiced against 1t
by its enemies. So
AT the beginning of 1916, 754 Ser
bian prisoners were taken to the pris-
oners' camp at Saltau, Hanover. They
were in the last stage Of exhaustion
and could scarcely drag themselves
along. =
"A prisoner who could speak Ger
mar makes the following report:
Mobbed in Austrian Towns. ~
we are dying of hunger. During
our passage through Serbia. the peas
ant women oftenncame and brought
US bread, cheese and bacon, but. the
Magyar soldiers who formed our es-
cort kept it all for themselves. In
several Austrian towns we were mob
bed. People spat in faces and
struck us, ove the head with sticks.
About 80 of my comrades were SER
iously injured in this way. ~:
Fol three months in Bohemia we
were employed in field work and the
construction of railway lines. The
you sick. q few potatoes and a piece
Of bread in such insufficient quantity
that by the end of six weeks, SO Of
my comrades had died Of hunger.
There were terrible punishments for
those who failed to accomplish their
allotted tasks. %floggings, cells, with
only one piece of bread in four days,
or the prisoner would be- suspended
from a tree by his feet and kept in
this position until death appeared
imminent. u... q
Shot for Eating Potato.
In the country punishments were
ed up and ate a raw potato was shot
on the spot. This happened in several
cases. Besides this, 40 Of my com
rades were taken back to Serbia un-
der the pretext that they were to in
dictate where Jul guns were buried.
We never heard of them since.
There were about 10000 Serbs at
the prisoners camp at K~oenigsburg,
Saxony. They were mere skin and
bones, they were clothed in rags.
They were housed in a field by
themselves, divided from those Of the
prisoners Of other allied nations by a
high barbed wire fence. No one was
allowed to vcommunicate@Gwith them.
The food that was given them was
sdisEraceful. ga ,ssgs3 sas}
=. Many Perished Of Hunger.
Elm Austria-Hungary, the Serbian
prisoners are distributed in several
camps. Everywhere the same suffer-
ing and the same tyranny as in Ger
many. But the fate Of the Serbian
prisoners at Mauthauson was the
most terrible Of all. Worn out by ia
tigue, hunger and cold, prisoners sue
cumbed every day. According to an
escaped prisoner, one could often see
Serbian prisoners digging up bones
which had been thrown on the refuse
heap;: Others pulled up grass. and
herbs and ate the roots, or defying
the blows Of their guards, they threw
themselves on the carts containing
mangels for cattle and devoured
them. -.- -.
Serbians Employed at Front.
ut must not be forgotten that the
Austrians employ Serbian prisoners
on the Italian and Russian fronts for
trench digging, laying barb wire and
transporting munitions and wounded
in the fire zone. There were more
than 400 Serbian prisoners in the
camp at Braunau who had beer
wounded on the Isonzo front.
Statistics recently published By