Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-09
(By An Escaped Prisoncr)

Washington. Sept. 9.-For three
and one-half years l was prisoner
in a German prison camp. At the end
of that time / was fortunate enough
to escape. Although l am a Russian,
the peace of Brest-Litovsk did not
give me my freedom. Like the enemy
subjects who were in the same camp,
| had to wait my chance to make a
perilous dash for liberty.
Although much has already been
written in the press of all countries
about the treatment of war prisoners
in Germany, nevertheless | believe
that L have had experiences which
are, to a certain extent, unique and
worth relating. The camp in which
/ was confined is Camp Holzminden,
on the Weser. At this place a great
number of civilians who have in no
way participated in the war are held
captive. 1t is not a camp for military
prisoners; it is a camp for enemy
civilians.
The regime at HolZminden was
fairly mild until the beginning of
1917. But when General Haehnisch
a barbarous 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, Genera
Pfugradt, who had treated the pr1s'
oners with decency and a certain
amount of consideration, Colone
Gallus was appointed, a half craZ1
Individual, with years of experience
as a prison director. With the hell
of a group of his underlings. more
ruthless than himself, the colone
very soon succeeded in establishlnt
a German prison regime at Holzmin
den.
Heaviest Work Required
This regime involved forcing thu
prisoners to do the heaviest sort o
labor. Every day they were required
20 break up and haul stone, builc
roads. and work in the fields. The
road building was at a distapce o.
from five to six kilometers from the
camp. Work in the factories o.
Holzminden was also looked upon a.
a camp duty. Because of the fact tina
the prisoners were for the most par
students, engineers, merchants ant
so on, who were unused to physica
labor of this sort, the tasks were par
ticularly onerous. Furthermore, the
guards were instructed to keep nag
ging at the prisoners constantly, tt
make them work faster.
The manner of these guards ii
quite indescribable. They received
from the colonel himself orders o
the most outrageous sort. To speed
the work of the prisoners, they were
told to strike them with their fist'
and with clubs. At the most trivia
offense they were instructed to shoot
If a guard was so rash as to bt
friendly with one of the captives, h'
was severely punished. To make the
guards more Jealous in their work
Colonel Gallus informed them tina
all of the civilians incarcerated a
Holzminden were pirates. and Grim
inals, deserving of the most violen
treatment. The result is inevitable
There were almost daily cases o.
physical mistreatment While L was a
Holzminden. Some of the poor fel
lows were so badly handled that they
had to be taken to the hospital.
A Dreary Day
The days program was a drearS
one. At 4.30 we were awakened; thai
is, at 4.30 by German summer time
which is in reality at $50. At we
went to work. Often we could not re-
turn to the barracks at noon because
we were working in a place severa
kilometers from the camp, and we
were obliged to remain out-of- doors
in the wet and the rain until 7.30 II
the evening. At 8 p. m, when 1t wa:
still light, we were locked up in the
barracks. We had not sufficient time
for sleep, rest or evening for meals
In spite of the constant activity
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 single
time ventured to complain of th'
soup as unsatisfactory" the mos
disagreeable things always happened
Mail was frequently held up by wa,
of retaliation for alleged nisdeeds
Mail was not allowed to be kept be
! yond eight days and if a postcard
older than that was found upon thu
person of q prisoner he was alway
vigorously punished. There was no
enough clothing to make one com
| Portable. AS we had to work out o
doors regardless of weather or sea
son, our clothing was often we
| through, and the next morning w
| had to put it on while it was still
| damp. Colds were naturally unavoid
able. The medical attention given u
was absurd. The crazy colonel him
| self made a point of being present a