HOW THE HUNS TREAT OUR PEOPLE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2743, 11 April 1916, Page 5

HOW THE HUNS TREAT OUR PEOPLE

HORRIFYING STORY FROM A GERMAN PRISON rn tl: MURDER BY NEGLECT hi tl of WHEN TYPHUS CAME TO WITTENBERG tl P cl By Telegraph-Press Association—Copyright j r London, April 9. n; No record of Germany's inhumanity. is more appalling than .the report of tho Government Committee, of which ' & Mr. Justice Younger was. president, ]( dealing with the typhus epidemic at Wittenberg, early in 1915, among tho £ British and-other prisoners of war. The t report, which is issued by the Press c Bureau, states: — Evidence had been long accumulating from' returned prisoners, but it was 0 considered so terrible that the commit- jtee awaited the return of Major Priest- e ly, Captain Vidal, and Captain Lauder, of the Army Medical Corps, who fought J and conauered the epidemic. , Then j. statements confirm the previous depositions. r A Dreadful Picture. Wittenberg camp, ten and a half acres in extent, held 16,000 prisoners in' the winter of 1914. The overcrowding was serious, and, also, the winter most severe.' The heating ■ arrangements were inadequate, obliging tho men to keep the windows shut, thus aggravating* the overcrowding. The men were insufficiently clothed, their overcoats having been taken by tho Germans. Their clothing was reduced to rags; many had neither boots not socks, while others wrapped their feet in straw. None wore able I to chaiigo their clothes, and there were no means of washing clothes. The food was bad and insufficient; the underfeeding of tho . men was deplorable. Even the canteen at which formerly they bought additional food was closed when the first case of typhus appeared. Only when ( the epidemic was nearly overcome had they enough food, because they were then able to eat the consignments from . England. It was impossible to allege a- general shortage of medical' requisites in Germany, for the English doctors ' saw abundant supplies in Wittenberg town, yet the .plague-stricken camp was. starved for months of the barest necessities of existence. Simple drugs were not even provided, nor surgical .dressIngs. Above all, the British suffered, being the victims of special hostility, which from- the camp's beginning was outrageous. The Germans decorated Dr. Aschenb'ach (in charge of tho camp) in view of his neglect, for which he must answer one day. The report pays the -warmest tribute to the -work, of the doctors and orderlios._ All laboured unsparingly, fully conscious of their danger, but they risked theiilives without a thought of them. Many laid down'their lives for their comrades as fully as on the battlofield. The committee hopes their devotion will bo remembered at the proper tlmo. The prisoners had no vitality sufficient to resist the disease. Where they were very verminous, one cupful or soft soap'had to last 120 men for many weeks. The epidemic broke out in December,- 1914. The German staff ' and guards fled! All supplies thcreaftei wore pushed into camp down_ a chute. The food was hauled in on rails. There was only one hospital for a hundred suffering patients. The Germans on February 10 sent Majors Frv and Priestlv and Cantains Sutcliffe, Field, Vidal, and Lauder to the scone. They had been made prisoners in defiance'of tho Geneva Convention. Like a Chamel House. The men, who. were gaunt and strangelv pallid, received them in apathetic silence. The rooms ivere not lighted, and the men marched aimlessly up and down. ' Some were already lying on the floor. The conditions fot the four woeks from February 11 wero full of horror.- There were no -mat. tresses in the improvised hospital. Tho men dreaded to go there, and 50 secret cases were discovered in one compound .contaihing a thousand men. Infected mattresses had to be employed even in the hospital. . Patients had to bo carried on the 'tables from which the prisoners afterwards ate their food, and the tables could not be washed owing to the absence of soap. The Germans refused to allow , typhus patients to bo separated from tho others. The men lay delirious in their clothes- on the bare floor, so closely - packed that the doctoremoved about with difficulty. There were a thousand -cases on March 7, and fifty fresh cases occurred • daily. There was extreme difficulty in getting drugs and dressings, and when they were supplied they were hopelessly inadequate. The men lost toes and feet from posUyphus gangrene. Many had their legs amputated because of the same .> disease. One British soldier, now in England, lost both his legs. There was practically no hospital clothing, and only one small disinfector. The men had to wear their outer garments while the inner ones were disinfected, and vice versa, because the blankets weva insufficient to keep them warm. The washing of patients was out of the question until much later, when soap came from England. insults to the Dead. The dead were buried within the camp, and the cemetery was so small that the coffins were piled up. The hardest trial of all was to hear tho townspeople outside the entanglements jeering and insulting the dead. Major Fry and Captains Sutcliffe and Field died of typhus, also many devoted English prisoners who volunteered to nurse their comrades. Tho convalescents had to be discharged when scarcely able to walk, and were obliged to lie on the bare floor of the barracks. Out of three hundred English cases sixty died. ' Tho report records the magnificent offorts of the British doctors in successfully stamping out tho epidemic, and mentions that Dr. Aschcnbach, the-Ger-man medical officer, who flod at the first outbreak, only entered the camp once, and was then completely protected, including a'mask and gloves. He has since-bean awarded tho Iron Cross for his services m conibatina the disease.

On one occasion ho refused Dr. Fry a entreaty for necessaries, calling the victims "English swine." The committee tried to find justification for his treatment, but can find none. It is only in keeping with, the camp's history from the Beginning. Savage Terrorism, Savage dogs were employed to terrorise the pnsonors, and flogging 6 with the whip were frequent. The responsibility for -this is directly chargeable to the cruelty and neglect of the German officials. Sweet Order Out of Filthy Chaos. Some of the conditions described in the report were most abhorrent. Major Priestly mentions that ho attempted to brush the dnst from a patient's clothes. The dust proved to be a moving mass of vermin. Other incidents are more appalling. The report shows that Major Priestly and others set to work, and their admirable powers of organisation evolved order out of chaos. They col lected the Britiuh patients in one bun. galow, and resolved that the. best food, clothing, and bedding obtainable was to be for the sick. Thvy gradually overcame tho epidemic.

The arrival of warmer weather in April greatly facilitated the recovery of the men. It was only then that the Germans began to assist. They erect ed a- steriliser, hnt the work was hot pressed, and was finished a fortnight after the last British case. They also built a hospital bungalow, but the epidemic was over before it was completed.