The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-06-09
German Officers Fighting For An
 Existence Now

Berlin. June 9-FIghting for a posi- war existence in civilian life has proved more harrassing than the for tunes of the battlefield to many of the thousands of German officers who survived the war. While the majority held only wartime commis- sions. there were a large number or veterans for whom the lifting smoke of the conflict revealed that they had suddenly been uprooted from the1r chosen car eerS and were forced to begin afresh in new fields. It was especially difficult for the aged of ficers, who were no longer vigorous and adaptable enough to battle effec- lively in an economic maelstrom al ready burd ened with keen competi- Jion.
 The German army and navy in peace times included an active or1- cers' corps of 55,760, of whom 5O,- 960 ware in the military forces. When the war broke out, this list was aug Inented by 27O,000 of those who were retired or on reserve. In addition there was the commissioned staff of the medical branches numbering 33,- 4OG. The total loss in the corps amounted to about 56,OO0 killed and 6.213 wounded.
 Since the Treaty of Versailles per mitted the retention of but 4,000 off, cers in the Reichswehr. vast ma jority of the war survivors became
 
 suits. Today they are to be found in nearfly every walk of life, some having even reSorted to the positions of water and porter in order to gain 9 Livelihood. Some were conn ected with trade, labor, or industry through family ties and thus found situations comparatively easily. Others return ed to official positions. and part enlisted in the newly organized Se- curity Police
 A considerable section of the ex- officers turned to university callfngs; particularly could they be seen at ju- polytechnic schools In the first period of transition, some worked in subordinate executive positions as as sistantS and some at manual labor, even as miners
 There are none of the larger bank ing and industrial concerns today in which former officers are not active. In some banks one runs across an occasional general Former staff of ffcers were in position to receive tempting industrial offers because of knowledge of languages. Already before the war, officers were in de- nand in the insurance field as in spectors and agents, and this number automobile industry, too, has at tracted many. Detective agencies and warehouses have employed them in divers capacities.
 In short the huge network of Ger mans trade, commerce and industry, is fairly dotted with these former heads of companies, battanons, and other units in the old and Svar-time armies. They are in the mines, metal works. machine factories. cleo tric plants, technical offices, quarr1es, and export houses; some have drifted to the film industry.
 The former SurgeonS-maJor in the army have condescended to be mere medical men or have become special r,,% into the chemical industry or took places in hospitals. Officers blinded in the war were mostly instructed at the School for Blind at Marburg, and simultaneously learned typewC1t- ing and stenography.
 Certain of the officers who, after the close of the var. resolved to be gin life anew as settlers in some for eign land, are reported to have had really unhappy experiences. Some died niserably after sore privatfon; while some few others succeeded in getting back to the B'atherland. Only a small minority made real progress abroad. Very few left the country. that German ex-of1cers since the war have joined foreign armies and navies is regarded here as unfounded.
 The marked transformation in mode family life of eX-oficers, not all of whom can maintain their former so- Cill status. For example, there is the case of the welI-known First Lieu tenant Berg. who in the world war was the commander of the "Appam,' taken as a prize ship by the 'Moewe.' He obtained a situation in Hamburg leaving his wife and children in the Danish town of Apenrade, formerly German. With his slender income Berg was unable to meet the cost of his family's upkeep, which became in creasingly high due to the Danish standards of valuation He finally killed himself when the family had been reduced to want.
 Individual instances of resourceful- ness were of everyday occurrence. One Ifeutentnant used his last treasures to buy a taxicab which he and his for mer orderly drove alternately. Now the taxi belongs to the orderly and the lieutenant can devote to study the humble receipts of his enterprise. Three U-boat officers combined and bought a small sailing cutter. which they ply as a freighter between Ger man and Scandinavian ports They themsIves comprise the crew. loading and discharging all cargoes personally.