Evening star., 1945-02-25


feels, should clear up misapprehensions
resulting from its earlier restrictions
These, the department explains, were
imposed partly for reasons Of military
security and partly because of the terms
Of the Geneva Convention governing the
treatment of prisoners of war.
1t is no small job with which the
Provost Marshal Generals Office, headed
by Maj. Gen. Archer L. Lerch, has been
confronted since war prisoners began to
stream into this country. AS Of January
Is last there were 359,412 Of these pris-
oners-805,473 Germans, SLID italians
and 1880 japanese. There are 425 pris-
oner-of-war camps scattered over the
country. OF these, 100 are large base
camps and the rest are branch camps
to which prisoners are sent for work on
approved projects.
For example, one Of the large camps,
with a prison population of more than
$500 Germans, is at Fort Leonard Wood
In Pulaski County, Mo-, and subsidiary
to 1t are three smaller camps-at
Chesterfield, st. Louis County, with
about IS prisoners; Louisiana, Mo, about
100, and Jefferson Barracks, over 400.
Terrorism by Prisoners.
The figures, however, tell a small part
of the difficulties encountered in setting
up and administering the camps. Tough
est of all the problems has been that
arising out of the terrorism practiced
in some of the camps by Nazi, prisoners.
There was recently published the
typical case of Capt. Felix Tropschuch,
30-year-old engineer from the sudeten-
land, who was bounded into hanging
himself after Gestapo agents had found
diary in which he had set down his
dislike of Naziism.
Altogether, the War Department says,
there have been six murders and two
forced suicides in German prisoner-of
war camps in this country, the victims
in all these cases except one having been
anti-Nazis accused by fellow prisoners of
turning against Germany. The sentences
were imposed by kangaroo courts of
prisoners and carried out by gangs at
night. either by hanging or beating.
What may have escaped notice in a
telescoped account of these instances of
Nazi terrorism Is the fact that all of
them occurred in the period from Sep
tember 1943, to April, 1914, The sui
eide of Capt. Tropschuch was at Camp
Concordia. KanS, on the night of Oc-
tober 15, 1943 There has been no SINH
oi+ oF
suicide, the War Department says, since
last April.
Lower Than National Rate.
Other prisoner -of-war suicides. up to
the first of this year, numbered 43, but
the department points out that this
total represents lower rate than pre-
walls in the United States.
Admittedly. the situation brought
about by Nazi efforts to dominate the
camps was bad for a time but it never
was so bad, the department says, as
inadequate news reports-inadequat
because of the secrecy rule--may have
suggested.
AS soon as it became apparent that
a special problem, immediate punitive
and preventive steps were taken. Every
prisoner who could be linked with a
crime was brought to court-martial. In
some cases the administration of the
camps has been strengthened. There
has been steady screening process de-
signed to separate the "co-operative"
prisoners from the trouble-makers. In
every POW camp notice has been
posted stating that any prisoner who
fears for his safety need only report
to the nearest American officer or en-
listed man in order to receive pro-
lection.
AS a result of all these measures, the
department believes that the situation
has been brought under control. The
job has not been easy, and the de-
partment admits that mistakes have
been made. But these, it says. have
been few in relation to the size of the
job and its manifest difficulties. The
Germans who have poured into this
country, bound for the POW camps, are
enough to populate city the size of
Denver or Omaha. Some among them
we're Gestapo agents, but they all looked
alike and talked alike. 1t has required
the most painstaking intelligence work
to separate the good" prisoners fTpm
the bad"
Few Gain Freedom.
One of the criticisms of the camps
has been that the prisoners elect their
own leaders and run the show" This
is true only in the sense that Nazis
here and there, as shown by the record
of eight "liquidations" in the period
up to April, 1914, did gain measure
of dominance, through their own un-
derground methods, until corrective
steps were taken.
Officially no prisoner in any camp
enjoys any post of authority over his
fellows. The only Officer" among the
prisoners is camp spokesman elected
by them to present their views and
grievances to the military authorities
The right is reserved to the camp
commandant to reject spokesman he
may find unacceptable and require the
selection of another.
Escapes of prisoners have naturally
provoked criticism. Up to the end OF
January there had been 1858 escapes
but only % (16 Germans and Italians)
were still at large. Practically all the
escapes, the War Department points
out. could have been prevented If the
department had chosen simply to guard
the prisoners behind barbed wire. In
stead, work program was adopted
under which, during the last six months