Evening star., 1943-04-30
BY THOMAS r.. HENRY,
Star Staff CORRESPONDENT

Oy 1HOMAS n. HENRY,
Star Staff Correspondent.
LONDON, April (by MaiD -
There are many sorts of German
prison camps, perhaps the worst Of
which are the so-called "mord
kommandoS," or murder camps"
A Polish officer has just arrived in
London after 25 months in one Of
them. He was at the headquarters
of the Polish Air Force here the
other day, thin and pale from his
long ordeal, prohibited only from
recounting any details of his escape.
The camps, he says, are mostly
set up in the province of Hanover
which the Germans are trying to
reclaim as agricultural land by
prisoner labor. Here is his descrip-
ton of the one in which he was
confined:
The scene of our labors was
big, swampy meadow crossed by a
big ditch dug by the prisoners Of
war. In contravention of interna-
tional law every man is obliged to
complete quota of work each day.
This consists of digging a piece Of
marshland Sc meters long, %
meters wide, and 18 meters deep.
All the prisoners are underfed A
whole days ration is one pound of
bread made of 40 per cent potato
flour, one spoonful of marmalade
or margarine, and a cup of ersatz
coffee in the morning. There is
no lunch at all,
Work Knee deep in Swamp.
"The sight of prisoners standing
knee deep in the swamp, half naked
in drawers begrimed with mud, is
appalling. The air in the swamp
is humid and heavy Water is ra-
toned alomst by drops. The Ger
man soldiers in white linen uni
forms unbuttoned at the throat sit
in the shade of the trees and from
time to time walk around win their
bayonetS fixed on their rifles and
sticks in their hands. If anybody
appears to be little lazy he gets a
blow from the butt-end of a rife
or from a stick. I'll never forget
one of my friends lying down in the
q
lance corporal until he could not
move.
For three months there was a
sergeant in our camp who was
always drunk, but he had the great
quality of not allowing his soldiers
to steal our rations. This man
always carried big horsewhip and
took every opportunity to make use
Of it. Once he came into our bar
racks at 2 o'clock in the morning
and beat young Polish cadet to
such an extent that he had a veal
on his back for IA days Another
cadet, thinking that nobody was
listening, told his friends he was
going to try and escape. Two hours
later the camp commander sent for
him, ordered two German soldiers
to cover the cadet with their rifles,
and thus protected whipped the
prisoner until he lost consciousness.
"A captain of the German mill
tary police once beat me and de-
prived me of food for four days in
a vain effort to make me confess
the names of friends with whom 1
had plotted to escape One day in
our camp 80 cadets were unable to
finish their quota of work. They
were led out into the village for
punishment. The Germans formed
up in two ranks, 500 yards long, 10
steps apart. forming as it were an
avenue of bayonets. The unluckv
cadets were compelled to run this
gauntlet. being prodded with bay
| onets and beaten with butt ends of
rifles until a third of them fell
exhausted to the ground and despite
further kicks could not get up again.
Civilians Unsympathetic.
After this punishment the cadets
were made to run back to the camp
carrying one of their comrades
whose spine was so badly injured
that he had to stay in bed for four
weeks. Perhaps we expressed our
opinion of all this too loudly, for
! their reaction was to lead US out,
some barefooted and others in
wooden shoes, most of us not quite
dressed, and to repeat the same
/ performance. In about half an hour
40 men lay in the ditch beside the
road and had to be carried back to
camp by their friends
The Germans were pitiless when
one in the last rank was unable to
carry his friend and keep up with
the rest. He was prodded with 2
bayonet. We were stopped in a
village opposite the house where
the French prisoners of war were
living in order to show them how
those who lacked the good will to
work for the Greater Reich were
punished. Some civilians gathered
around to look at us, all covered
with blood and sweat.
"One young German girl re-
marked: I am sorry you did not
kill all those mad dogs
These were the only words and
feelings expressed by this repre-
sentative of perfect race as she
contemplated maltreated human
beigns."