Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-09-07
{By an Escaped Prisoner.)

Wy an ESCAPED ff1S0ner.
a prisoner in a German prison camp.
At the end of that time I was fortu-
nate enough to escape. Although I
am a Russian, the peace Of Brest-
ltitovsk did not give me my freedom.
IL t enemy subjects who were
IN me same camp, I had to wait my
chance to'make a perilous dash for
Liberty.
Although much has already been
written in he press Of all countries
about the treatment Of wal prisoners
IN Germany, nevertheless I believe
that 1 have had experiences which
are, to a certain extent, unique and
worth relating. The camp. in which
was confined is Camp Holzminden,
on ther Weser. At this place q great
number of civilians who have in no
way participated in the var are held
captive. It is not a camp for mill
tary prisoners; it is a camp for en-
envy civilians.
The regime at HolzMinden was
fairly mild until the beginning Of
1917. But when General Haehnisch,
q arbarou old despot, was named
general of the 10th army corps, to
which district Holzminden belongs.
the camp conditions were utterly
changed at once. In the place of the
former commanding officer, General
Pflugradt,S who had treated the pris-
oners with decency and a certain
amount of consideration, Colonel Gal
lus was appointed, a half crazy in
dtvidual, with years Of experience as
"a prison director. With the help of
a group of his underlings, more ruth
less than himself, the colonel very
soon succeeded in establishing a Ger
man prison regime at Holzminden.
Heaviest Work REQUIRED.
This regime involved forcing the
prisoners to do the heaviest sort OF
labor. Every day they were requir-
ed to break up, and haul stone, build
roads, and work in the fields. The
road building was at a distance OF
from five to six kilometers from the
camp. Work in the factories of Holz-
minden was also looked upon as a
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 par
ticularly onerous. Furthermore, the
guards were instructed to keep nag
ging at the prisoners constantly, to
make them work faster.
The manner of these guards il
quite understandable. They received
from the colonel himself orders OF
the mos outrageous sort. To speed
the work Of the prisoners, they were
told to strike them with their fists
and with clubs. At the most trivia
offense they were instructed to shoot
If a guard was SO rash as to be
friendly with one Of the captives, he
was severely punished. To make the
guards more Jealous in their work
Colonel Gallus informed them tina,
all of the civilians ~incarcerated a,
Holzminden weNe pirates and Grim.
mails, deserving of the most violent
treatment. The result is inevitable
There were almost daily cases Of
physical mistreatment while I wa.
fellows were so badly handled tina
they had to be taken to the hos.
pital.\
The days program was a dreary
one. At 4:3O we were awakened
that is at 4:30 by German summer
time, which is in reality at $3.50. A
5 we went to work. Often we coult
not return to the barracks at moor
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 un,
til 1880 in the evening. At 9 p. m.
when it was still light, we were lock
ed up In the barracks. We had no
sufficient time for sleep, rest, or evel
for meals.
In spite of the constant activit,
demanded of the prisoners, the foot
was poor and contained little nour
ishment. We did have a sort of com
missary committee, composed O
three prisoners. But if it for a singl,
time ventured to complain Of tn
soup as Unsatisfactory the mos
disagreeable things always happened
Mail was frequently held up, by wa!
\ - - --5
Mail was not allowed to be kept be
yond eight days and if a POSTCARD
older than hat was found upon tn
person of a prisoner he was Away