Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-08
spent 8 II YEARS
!. IN HUN PRISON pen
-Jewish-Russian Student Tells
of Narrowing Life at Camp
on the WeSer.
WINS DASH FOR LIBERTY
BY AN ESCAPED PRISONER.


For three and one-haf years was
a prisoner in a German prison camp
At the end of that time I was fortu-
nate enough to escape. Although 1
am a Russian, the peace OF Brest.'
Litovsk did not give me my freedom
Like the enemy subjects who were in
the same camp, I had to wait my
chance to make perilous dash for
liberty.
Although much has already been writ
ten in the press Of all countries about
the treatment Of war prisoners In Ger
many, nevertheless I believe that
have had experiences which are. to .
certain extent. unique and worth re"
lating. The camp in which I was
confined is Camp Holzminden. on the
Weser. At this place a great number
of civilians who have in no way pars
ticipated in the war are held captive.
1t is not a camp for military prison.
ers; it is a camp for enemy civilians.
The regime at Holzminden was fair.
" mild until the beginning OF 1917.
But when Gen. Haehnisch, barbar.
GUS old despot. was named general CT
the 10th Army Corps, to which dfs.
trict Holzminden belongs, the camp
conditions were utterly changed at
once. In the place of the former cam
manding officer, Gen. Pfugradt. VINO
had treated the prisoners with de.
cency and a certain amount of con.
sideration, Col. Gallus was appointed.
a. half-crazy Individual, with years OF
experience as prison director. WIN
theIhelp of group of his underllngs,
more ruthless than himself. the COZ
onel very soon succeeded in estaplish-
ING a German prison regime at Holz-
minden.
Heaviest Work Required.
This regime involved forcing the
prisoners to do the heaviest sort OF
labor. Every day they were required
to break up and haul stone, build
| roads and work in the fields. The
! road building was at distance OK
| from five to six kilometers from the
camp. Work in the factories OF HOE.
minden was also looked upon as .
camp duty. Because of the fact that
the prisoners were for the most part
students. engineers. merchants and SO
on, who were unused to physical LABOR
of this sort, the tasks were partlcu-
larly onerouS. Furthermore, tne
guards were instructed to keep nag
ging at the prisoners constantly TO
make them work faster.
The days program was a dreary one.
At 4:3O we were awakened-that is.
at 4:30 by German summer time, wnicn
! is in reality at $3.50. At we went
| to work. often we could not return
| to the barracks at noon because we
were working In a place several
| kilometers from the camp. and We
| were obliged to remain out OF doors
| in the wet and the rain until 1880 in
| the evening. At pm. when It was
/, still light, we were locked up in the
, barracks. We had not sufficient time
| for sleep. rest, or even for meals.
The food was poor and contained
| little nourishment There was not
| enough clothing to make one com.
! Portable. AS we had to work out Of
doors regardless of weather or season.
our clothing was often wet through.
and the next morning we had to put
| it on while it was still damp. COLDS
| were naturally unavoidable. Tho
absurd. The crazy colonel himself
made a point of being present at al.
most all medical examinations. ana
completely dominated the physicians,
who cringed before him. He was fond
OF saying that only the lazy ones
itself was the best sanatorium. and
| hard work the best. cure-all.
Pigs More Interesting Than Men.
Camp Holzminden was frequently
| visited by Gen. Haehnisch and other
officials However, they never looked
| the most perfunctory way. They
merely strutted through the barracks.
watched the laborers at work, and
then directed all their attention to the
camp pigs: These pigs, the especial
4 fod iv,f hoir