Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-09
HORRORS OF HUN PRISON
TOLD BY MAN WHO &,
SUFFERED NEAR 4 YEARS
Soldiers Taken Field of Battle Ruled by Barbarous Des
pot; Cold Comfort For Aged Civilians Forced to
Work For Military Cars

almost all medical examinations, and
completely dominated the physicians
who cringed before him. He was fond
of saying that only the lazy ones pre-
tended to be i'll, that the camp itself
was the best sanitorium and hard
work the best cure-all.
The Colonel Was Sentimental
In spite of his brutality. the COL
onel had his sentimental streaks.
The following anecdote is illustrative.
A Frenchman, 20 years of age, was
occupied 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 stepped up and gave him a tre-
mendous box on the ear. The poor
old man said nothing, but took out
OF his pocket a little certificate, from
which it appeared that he was ill
and only capable of small amount
of work. The colonel was much
;. moved, almost to the point of tears.
lie gave the old man eight days of
exemption from all labor. But that
was rather cold comfort.
| Camp Holzminden was frequently
visited by General Haehnisch and
| other officials. However, they never
look at the prisoners quarters, eX-
cept in the most perfunctory way.
! They merely strutted through the
barracks, watched the laborers at
! work, and then directed all their at
tention to the camp pigs. These pigs,
the especial interest of Colonel Gal
lus, were royalty treated in their
| pens, and certainly led much
happier life than the prisoners, until
they were slaughtered for the Of
ficerS' mess.
Even the women are not spared.
Lately conditions have become still
worse, l am told. The women are
now forced to do all sorts of burden
some things" For instance they are
put at braiding and unbraiding fish
nets, and the only purpose of the
taskmasters seems to be to make
their fingers sore. Every Sunday, a
weird walk is undertaken, to a wood
about six kilometers away, from
which they bring back wood on their
backs. Hundreds of men and women
are put at this work every Sunday,
although it could easily be done by
a wagon and two horses. In fact, the
biggest part of the labor demanded
of the prisoners is almost wholly un-
productive, and serves no purpose
| save to torture. If any of them dare
to complain, they are subjected to
certain peculiar punishments of
| which the most frequent is confine-
the bug room," a place filled with
old straw mattresses and sacks,
which simply swarm with vermin
and lice.
Murder of French Lad
For some unknown reason, there
had been no shootings in Camp
HolZminden when l last heard. In a
nearby camp at Binerbach, we'll re-
member the shooting of an 1S-year-
| old French lad in the summer of
| 1917. Because he for an instant stop
ped work, his guard, a stupid, half
insane fellow pointed his weapon at
him and fired. The whole garrison
was highly incensed by the killing.
But when the general was told of it,
he came to see the guard, slapped
| him on the shoulder and said: You
did your duty!" Shortly afterward,
| the guard received promotion.
Among the prisoners, none were
more badly treated than the group
of young Russian students, of which
l was one. Their moral and physical
sufferings were hardly to be depicted.
| tor four years they have beep shut
| out of the world. Their priceless,
splendid years of youth have flown
/ by. Joy, health, strength, and educa-
ton have been denied to them. The
war. relief organizations would un-
dertake a great and wonderful work
of brotherhood If they could obtain
/ the release of these wholly innocent
war captives, by putting the matter
before the proper authorities.