Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-09-15
Washington Digest
i. :. War Prisoners Seek
Escape in Camp Doings
Yanks Like Plays and Develop Liking for Soccer
Football, but Letters From Home
Greatest Source of Cheer.
WNU Service, Union Trust Building,
Washington, D. C.
By BAUKHAGE
Netps Analyst and Commentator.

WNU Service, Union Trust Building,
Washington, d. C.
It is not often that we get direct
communication from Americans in
Germany, and so am not ashamed
to say that when I perused COM
munication from that source, did
not at first recognize what the fire.
quently used abbreviation POW
stood for.
Comparatively few Americans
know the meaning of those three
letters; perhaps none know what
they mean to the POW himself.
POW is prisoner of war. Accord
ing to the latest figures I have from
the war department there are now
Al, 234 American soldiers, sailors,
marines, merchant seamen held by
the enemyl
The officials of the Red Cross
know exactly what the conditions
are under which those prisoners
move and live and have their being
in Allied prison camps in Germany
or in the more than 40 hospitals
for Allied wounded in the Reich or
occupied countries. They have regu-
lar reports from the International
Red Cross representatives who visit
the camp regularly. The Red Cross
says in effect. $50 far as we know,
the Germans have treated Ameri-
can prisoners in accordance with
the Geneva agreement"
That is all it says.
But even if the Germans live up
to both the spirit and the letter of
the Geneva agreement, the lot of
the prisoner of war is not to be
envied. Recently, l studied some of
the newspapers issued by men in
the prison camps. Some have been
released for publication. Others
have not. Not that those withheld
revealed any dark secrets of suffer-
ing. Quite the contrary. They simply
prove what Kipling said about men
who live in barracks not growing
up to be plaster saints, and some of
the humor might be little, shall
we say, insanity.
The reason for this is expressed
in the word escape. There are two
kinds of escape which a prisoner
thinks about. One is safe getaway
through the barbed wire and past
the machine guns and quick-trigger
sentinels. If he is wise, he doesn't
spend too much time on such cogi-
tation. The official advice to POWs
is don't try it."
The other kind of escape is defined
by Webster as, mental distraction
or relief from the bondage Of reality
or routine; as, literature of escape"
The somewhat highly seasoned
humor of some of the jokes and car
toons in the prisoners papers are,
technically speaking, literature of
escape" - this and the description
of things they do to provide escape
from the monotony of prison life.
Yank Ingenuity Sho,us
In Stage Productions
AS always, the drama provides
one of the easiest and most effec-
tive mental distractions and I am
told that the time, effort and in
genuity that is put into the learning,
producing, staging and costuming of
plays by these men is remarkable.
1.-THE Kriegie Times" issued by
the American airmen in Stalag Luft
III, in Sagan, Germany, which I
have before me as write, is per-
haps not typical because it was an
edition especially for the home
folks. But it has story on page
one headed "theater" which begins
with the statement which started me
off on this topic. 1t says, 1.-THE
Kriegie (local nickname for war
prisoner) is assured of escape in
the theater." Then it explains that
in order to accommodate the whole
camp in an auditorium which seats
only 20 per cent of the members,
five performances of each play are
given. And they include real drama.
The article records as recent pro-
auctions that sure-fire, never-die
farce, Charles Aunt; "Our
Town." the popular American play,
nostalgia and easy to stage be-
cause it requires no scenery;
Tobacco Road" popular, earthly
piece with run longer than the re-
treat from Stalingrad; 1.-THE Man
Who Came To Dinner" whose ap-
peal perhaps lies in the fact that
"the man" couldn't get away,
either; and "Flieger Frolics." an
original musical comedy. (Flieger is
flyer in Germany
Female costumes" it is ex-
planned, "are hired through German