Evening star., 1934-05-16
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret Cermond.
PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES. BY
w. O'Sullivan Molony. New York:
The Macmillan Co.

PRISONERS AND CAPTIvEs. BY
w. OSullivan Molony. New York:
The Macmillan Co.
Throughout. the period of the Great
War tales were currently told in this
country of the crimes Of horror and
frightfulness which were practiced by
the Germans upon those taken cap
tive and against the women and chill
dren and aged men who were not
lucky enough to escape their home
territory before the invading army
took possession. Many Of these
stories were unconfirmed, and be-
cause of their diabolical nature it
seemed impossible that they could
be true. 1t is undoubtedly true
that a number Of these accounts OF
gross brutality were without actual
foundation. and yet the world for the
most part has much reason to believe,
even today, that the arch-fiend who
schemed and plotted to bring about
the inferno Of 1914-18, and whose
| contempt for every code of honor was
expressed repeatedly by insolent proc
lamations that campaigns of in
creased frightfulness, would not con-
done any spirit Of mercy toward
either the captives of the battlefield
or the victims of invaded territory.
Vigorous denials Of the charges Of
Rr1Ialfu sta 81
from German sources, and every
effort has been made since then in
the writing Of histories to ignore the
unspeakable crimes committed upon
those who were so unfortunate as to
| be trapped in the fast spreading net
Of the despot of Potsdam. But grad
ually the whole truth is coming to
| light, despite all of the attempts to
suppress 1t. Several books published
! during the past few years have re-
vealed the inside Of one phase or an
other Of the practices engaged in be-
hind the German lines, and this new
volume, by man who has not yet
recovered from the i'll effects of four
years in German prisons, is star
ting revelation Of the particular sort
Of bestial treatment accorded prison.
ers and captives.
w. O'Sullivan Molony was a lad of
seventeen in the Summer Of 1914, en-
| joying holiday which included a mo-
tor trip through Northern Germany.
| The crisis of August ! brought the
holiday to an abrupt end and sent the
| young Hishrnan and his companions
hurrying from Hamburg to Berlin. On
the arrival of the young Irishman and
! his party in Berlin he found himself
in the uncomfortable position of being
a suspect and was treated to an
ignominious ride in the black maria.
! All of his efforts to establish his
! right to freedom. and all of his ap-
| peals to be returned to his own
| country fell upon deaf ears. Despite
his determination, upon realizing the
! precariousness of his position, so to
comport himself as to cause no en-
barrassment either to the Germans
or to himself. by November he was
interned in the British concentration
camp Of Ruhleben, and 1t was more
than four years later, after the
Spartacist revolution. that he emerged
from imprisonment. free from life of
| maddening horrors.
Due to series of discouraging and
almost endless delays, the book has
been in the making since 1920. It
was first written at oxford, with the
encoura cement of Mr. John Masefeld
but much Of the manuscript was
lost in 1922, replaced material was
damaged or destroyed by fire In 1926.
Two years later the few rewritten
chapters that had survived the other
mishaps were all but lost In the waters
OF the Rhone. Diplomatic, work with
the League Of Nations Secretariat in
terrupted the work for several years,
ard 1t was not until III health, due
10 the ravases of prison life, made
other occupation impossible, that the
author finally accomplished, through
the process of dictation, the entire re-
writing of the book.
1t was the purpose Of the author
that the book should serve as a will
and a confession. It has been his plan
70 make known to the general public
something of the mental and physical
suffering endured by civilian prison.
ers, seamen captured on the high
seas and all prisoners of war In
termed in the concentration camps,
punishment camps and criminal pris-
ons Of Germany during those four
terrible years. His book is in the ma
ture Of an appeal in behalf of the
men who survived the ordeal of i'm
prlsonment that their just claims be
recognized by their respective coun-
tries, and also it has been written
in the hope that his relation of
the gallant service rendered by his
unfortunate associates on this less IA
mlllar side of the war may contribute
in some manner toward the eventual
evolvment of code OF international
Justice that will permit no more armed
conf1ict in a yar-weary world.
There seems to be no kind of prison
IN which he did not serve, and his ac-
quaintances in misery included peo-
pie OF every rank and profession.
Prison commandants, Socialists. sea-
men, university graduates, Commu-
nists, pompous generals, spies, Russian
woman prisoners. criminals, ships
captains. revolutionists, Polish legion
aries and a number of such we'll
known characters as Sir Roger Case
ment, the Socialist leader, Liebknecht,
Capt. Fryatt, Baron Won Soitz and
many others pass In review as the
scenes shift from one place of torture
to another.
Many worthwhile friendships were
developed and some pleasant experi.
ences relieve the stark tragedy which
the writer records. The natural hu-
NOR OF good Irishman flashes here
and there, but this is no work of en-
tertainment. It Is a vivid and i'm
pressive history. recorded by a once
healthy and carefree lad who in four
short years fought inconsistencies, dis
ease, insanity, despair and death. to
emerge aged and broken In health.
an innocent victim Of the madman
Of Potsdam.
nI