Evening star., 1941-08-13
By JAY ALLEN,


Correspondent Of The Star and MANA.
NEW YORK, Aug. BIN all the
months I spent as a guest of Herr
Hitler, board and room paid, in
Chalon Military Prison, never had
a dull moment.
For, though there was the routine
I have previously described, it was
always being amended. The author
tiles OF our prison and the kom-
mandatur in Chalon took seriously
the Nazi propaganda line on con-
ciliating the French. And every
time the Vichy regime snuggled a
little closer into the Nazi embrace
there was noticeable tendency on
the part of our authorities to treat
us better. But this was continually
being countermanded by headquar-
ters in Dion.
We were allowed to buy meals
outside. Then an inspection from
Dion and meals were stopped. And
when Dijon spoke, Chalon trem-
bled-for about three days When
ever some officer in Chalon got a
kick from on high, that kick was
passed on to our prison guards and
to us.
And then for some weeks we were
subjected to campaign by an
ardent but frustrated Nazi in our
midst, corporal named Neunkirch.
He had been a detective in private
life and was bitter over having been
modified as a mere soldier. He
sought to attract attention on
high by applying to the inmates of
Chalon prison the rigorous treat
ment meted out to political prison.
erS in Germany. For three hideous
weeks he was chief turnkey. He
yelped and barked, kicked and beat
prisoners-all with great dexterity
I have seen him engaged in kicking
one man and yelling "schweinhund"
at another so feet away.
Confusion in Prison.
He tried to impose Germanic
order. Instead of going for coffee
or going to wash or cleaning our
cells between and We were
ordered 10 stand in line for the
faucets all at once. Where before
we always got through our chores
and into the courtyard by 9, there
was now fearful confusion and no.
body was through before 10.
When at last he had achieved
something like anarchy, Neunkirch
was kicked upstairs to the prison
Office, where he went to work ap-
plying a system Of complete equal
ity." which meant that prisoners
with money could no longer buy
favorS. This was tragic for the
other guards who, without imperil-
ing the security of the German
Reich, could be nice to us and earn
a little pocket money. But Neun-
kirch was a Nazi party member
with connections" and the others
were afraid of him.
The only other Nazi party men,
Der was our Sergt. Josef, a Rhine
lander from the Eifel, who weighed
240 pounds, was quite square and
walked as stifly as Frankenstein's
monster. Josef had been a Nazi
in the early days and was quite
used to beating up Jews, Socialists,
Democrats, Catholics and other enc.
mics of mankind, in a quite i'm
personal way, of course, because
he wasn't bad fellow. But he
took the NaZi line seriously, now
as then, and knew that the whole
idea is to prove to the French that
Germans are human, which is i'm
portant when you are asking for
their collaboration in the organiza-
tion OF new Europe.
Bribes Obtain Favors.
And then, all of a sudden. our
ferocious Neunkirch began to grow
mellow under our very eyes. An
ascetlcal as we'll as fanatical sort,
he had sudden revelation of the
delights of compatibility. The first
bribe he took was the easiest kind;
a lovely French girl invited him
for walk to obtain special treat
ment for her brother law, who
was in bad trouble. From then on
Neunkirch was a pushover and, what
with a thousand francs here and
5000 there in return for small IA
vors, lost that lean, unhappy look.
The others. who were fundamentally
honest, were, I think, pleased to see
him fall.
Josef was full of contradictions.
One day, in a black mood, he would
yell about the Jews and look for
one to cuff and the next he would
make it up to all the other Jews
among us by little kindnesses. Now
and then he would really beat a
prisoner. And the next day he was
ashamed and apt to do us the most
unexpected favors.
There were real beatings, of