The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-04-10
n(ES1hRIuNG DISCLOSURE
tolDandsr Tells How 0eported Bel
olans and French Prisoners OF
War Are Compelled to Work i
H. n, IN Munitions Factory =, q
ssUuaIaSiS...
{ sy&&NA1aa In Essen, i3II;
BY w. j. L. KiEHc,

and war material factories. Most OF
these men get there through the machi
nations of what this ESCAPED" Hol'
lander calls Observation-Disclosures
q Ossendegner of Rotterdam, who
seem to act as agents for supplying
biermany with greatly needed labor
Mighty or ninety men day generally
lfnd their way across the border by
means Of their agents, lured by the
prospect Of very high wages and good
food. What they find in reality and
how next to impossible it is made for
them to return to their own country
b thus told in the Hollander's words !:
]. : No Return Pass Given.
"When this firm Of agents secured
my services they did not mention war
work" he said. II was given to under
stand that field labor and trade work
was required. Also 1 was promised
that I could return any Saturday to
Holland to stay through Sunday. The
promised wages were high and food
was said to be plentiful I accepted,
my pass was ready in few moments,
but / did not know that the signatures
land vises required for my return to
Holland had been omitted, as they al
ways are in the passes given by these
agents, no doubt because they know
perfectly well that after week in
Germany no single HOllander would
ever think Of returning there after his
weekend in Holland. :.
"SOon after my entrance upon Ger
man soil at Elten, where found sew.
]eral cOmpatriots like myself, we were
met by an agent from an 'arbeits bu-
reau,' who secured our services for
shellmaking at Krupp's by telling us
that foaa HasA good there and wages
very high. He said that in other
branches Of labor food was but >indif.
ferent and the wages nothing like
Krupp's, so we men went to Essen.
How good the food was there you can
Judge of by the fact that my weight
was reduced by "a pounds while there.
"FOr breakfast we received two
slices of bread without any butter or
fat whatever. For dinner potato soup
that left US hungry an hour after
eating. Then in the evening again
two slices of bread like at breakfast
II the Hellander felt too ill or feeble
to work the Germans simply took away
his bed from under him to make him
get up. Oh, yes, there is doctor, but
he always diagnoses the same. You
n can work-if you don't work you won't
eat'-'nicht arbeiten-nicth essen,' as
we used to put it.
'sThe laborers are housed by the 500
together in barracks, which are but
insufficiently warmed and imperfectly
cleaned. Typhus claims many victims.
In the barracks where l was housed
II found four men lying dead Of typhus
beside my crib one morning. After q
Few days Of this sort of thing'itis not
ITO be wondered at that many Holland
{lers try in every way to get back to
their country, although the vises on
their passes are lacking. ~ ,
gY III they are captured they are
fthrOwn into prison for fortnight on
bread and water. If they survive they
Iare then drafted back to Krupp's, and
lset to work again. Production is
pushed to the utmost. Numbers of sol
oilers are employed as a change from
the front, and these men are so afraid
lOf being again sent to the front that
they would rather work themselves to
death at Krupp's.
Where Deported eeloians Work.
ssDeported Belgians and French pris
Oners of war also work at Krupp's
discipline is strictly enforced, and any
lutterances Of anti German views are
lat once punished.
II got the impression that Germany
sdung itself like mad into munition
4 work as its last card. But raw ma
+ fterial is getting scarce, especially cop.
iper. In Essen all copper faucets and
1.-THE like had already been replaced by
Iron and tin. The general idea in Ger.
many IL that the war can be prolonged
lat the utmost for another half year, so
they are employing their last forces
Ifor q supreme effort.
Every evening at Krupp's alarms is
Imade .Flieger Gemeldet' (airplanes
lFeported1. All lights are then extin.
kgpished:: This Is done so that we
lsaould not know when flyers really
lcame to lombard the factories. No one
~ allowed to talk of the damage done
~ allied bombs, and the newspapers
far0 entoined to keep silence on these
nAtterA Still, can say that some
A Dmage has been done, although can
e say how much nor exactly where
o. the other hand, stories likely ia
|stid plate the energy of the people are
|eageJly promulgated, such as those OF
z laoxmpus submarines of dreadnaught
tyne. df guns that can shoot 80 kilo'
meters that are soon to be used against
|tha allied AEmila ! :.