Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-09-17
A GERMAN PRISON CAMP
Escaped Prisoner Tells Of Bis EX.
peflences.
FOOD IS POOR and TREATMENT BAD

Plenty Of Hard Work and But Little
Help In tho Way Of Medical Atten-
tion-Russian Students Picked Upon
Especially.
(By an Escaped Prisoner.)
For three and q half years l was a
| prisoner in German war prison
camp. At the end OF that time was
fortunate enough to escape. Although
I am a Russian. the peace OF Brest-
Litovsk did not give me freedom. Like
the enemy subjects who were in the
same camp, I had to wait my chance
to make a perilous dash for liberty.
Although much has been written in
the press OF all countries about the
treatment Of war prisoners in Germa-
ny, nevertheless believe that | have
had experiences which are. to GER
tain extent. unique and worth relat-
ing. The camp In which l was confin-
ed is Camp Holzminden. on the Weser.
At this time a great number Of CIV
ilians who have In no way participated
In the war are held captive. II Is not
camp for military prisoners: II Is
camp for enemy civilians.
The regime at Holzminden was fairly
mild until the beginning OF 1917. But
when General Haehnisch. n barbarous
old despot, was named general Of the
10th corps. to which district Holzmin-
en- belongs, the camp conditions were
utterly changed at once. In the place
OF the former commanding officer.
General Phugradt. who had treated
the prisoners with decency and a GER
tain amount OF consideration. Colonel
Gallus was appointed. a half crazy in
dividual. with years OF experience as a
prison director. With the help OF a
group Of his underlings. more ruthless
than himself the colonel very soon
succeeded in establishing q German
prison regime at Holzmindcn.
Heaviest Work Required.
This regime involved forcing the
prisoners to do the heaviest sort OF la
Dor. Every day they were required to
break up and haul stone. build roads.
and work In the fields. The road build
ing was at q distance Of from five to
six kilometres from the camp. Work
in the factories at Holzminden was
also looked upon as a camp duty. Be-
cause Of the fact that the prisoners
were for the most part students. engi-
neers, merchants. and so on. who were
unused to physical labor of this sort,
the tasks were particularly onerous.
Furthermore. the guards were instruct
ed to keep nagging at the prisoners
constantly to make them work faster.
The manner Of these guards is quite
indescribable. They received from the
colonel hN
rageous sort. To srsUu .,o work OF
the prisoners. they were told to strike
them with their fists and clubs. At
the most trivial offense they were in
structed to shoot. II the guard was
so rash as to he friendly with one Of
the captives, he was severely punish
ed. To make the guards more Jealous
in the work, Colonel Gallus informed
them that all Of the civilians incarce-
rated at Holzminden were pirates and
criminals, deserving Of the most vio-
lent treatment. The result is inevita-
BILE. There were almost daily cases Of
physical mistreatment while I was at
Holzminden. Some of the poor fell
lows were so badly handled that they
had to be taken to the hospital.
A Dreary Day.
The days programme was dreary
one. At 4.30 we were awakened: that
Is. at 4.30 by German summer time.
which is in reality $50. At we went
to work. Often we could not return to
the barracks at noon because we were
working at q place several kilometres
from the camp. and we were obliged
to remain out of doors in the wet and
in the rain until 7.30 in the evening.
At p. m. when 1t was still light we
were locked up In the barracks. We
had not sufficient time for sleep. rest.
or even for meals.
In spite Of the constant activity de-
manded Of the prisoners the food was
poor and contained little nourishment.
We did have a sort Of commissary
committee. composed of three prison.
ers. But II for a single time we ven-
tured to complain Of the soup as 'un-
satisfactory" the most disagreeable
things happened. Mail was frequent
ly held up. by way Of retaliation for
alleged misdeeds- Mail was not allow
ed to be kept beyond eight days and II
post card older than that was found
upon the person Of a prisoner he was
always vigorously punished. There
was not enough clothing to make one
comfortable. AS we had to work out
of doors regardless Of weather or sea-
eon, our clothing was often wet
through, and the next morning we
had to put II on while II was still
damp. Colds were naturally unavoid-
able. The medical attention given us
/
self made 1t a point Of being present
at almost all medical examinations and
completely dominated the physicians
who cringed before him. He was fond
Of saying that only lazy ones complain
ed Of being Ill, that the camp itself was
the best sanitorium. and hard work the
best cure all.
Tho Colonel Was Sentimental.
In spite Of his brutality. the colonel
had his sentimental streaks. The fol-
lowing anecdote is illustrative. A
Frenchman, 10 years Of age. was oc-
cupied In paving the street Of the
camp The colonel passed by. and. as
the old fellow did not seem to him to
be working diligently enough. he STEP
ped up and gave him a tremendous
box on the ear. The poor old man said
nothing, but took out Of his pocket q