The Washington times., 1936-08-13
WORKERS ROVE
IN SEARCH OF
BETTER FARE
BY ARNE STROM
tcopyright, 1886. by American News
papers, Inc. All rights reserved)

N&OpyTlRht, 1880, ON American NeNs-
papers, Inc. All rights reserved)
An old peasant in Povorino was
suspected of having gold. He was
imprisoned and his garden dug
up; but as the Russian Steppe is
wide and his garden ran out into
the Steppe, this method was soon
abandoned and the man was
made to Starve instead. This
treatment continued for a month,
but he was given Just enough to
keep him from dying. At last he
confessed that he owned twenty
roubleS in gold. These were found
and then stolen by the G. P. u,
and at the same time his three
old sisters were arrested. The
neighborS loved these old women
and many brought them sour
milk and bread. AS the eldest of
them was dying, her tormentorS
had to let her out. The two
others disappeared. Nobody ever
heard of them again. The whole
story was forgotten. They prob
ably died from hunger typhus. as
this sickness devastated our dis
trict during the winter 1928.
During one of my visits to
Voronezh it leaked out that one
night all the windows in the
torgSin had been painted with
the following text on the ample
display of food behind them:
Children of Russia, see how
your parents lived before the
revolution"
SEVERAL PERSONS SHOT
OF course these words caused
great gatherings outside the win
dowS of the torgSin. The GP.U.
got to work, and, as usual, sew
eral persons were shot, but it is
uncertain whether they we're the
true heroes. Probably not, for
the thought-arouSing experiment
was repeated some time later.
About this time a G.P.U. Off
Ger of high rank was found in
his bedroom cut into small bits.
1t was done with an ordinary
pocket knife.
When news Of this kind reaches
the public it is very seldom
through the newspapers, for they
take no interest in such small
matters. No, it is whispered
from man to man. Nobody dares
say it loud. for the G.P.U. has
long ears, and everybody fears
the laws blindly striking hand.
German on Staff
It suddenly came out that there
was German among the office
staff. AS I am quite certain this
man IS no longer living, see no
harm in giving his name. It was
F'rantz Schuler.
had often noticed this correct,
silent, hard-working man, who was
always the first to arrive at the
office every morning. We had
never spoken together, but his big.
clear brown eyes had often held
a question when they met mine,
but I had never given it any fur
ther thought.
Schuler spoke a beautiful Ger
man, and it surprised me that he
had not offered me his services
long ago. This was due, as I
learned later on, to the fact that
Schuler was not a Communist nor
greatly inclined toward Com
munism.
Are you hungry?" asked him,
and he answered that he was so
weak from lack of food that he
prayed to God every night that
death would be sent to him during
his sleep. We went straight to
the cooperative shop, where 1 saw
to it that my new interpreter was
given a big rye loaf.
Father and Mother Dead
Schuler's father had been
school teacher in one of the Ger
man colonies near Saratov. He
and Schuler's mother both died
many years ago during a drought
before help came. He was now 43
years old and his wife had died
last year.
Schuler had a son of IL who
caused him great anxiety. He lived
q vagabond's life and would proba-
HN1Y0G&