LIFE IS GRIM IN RUSSIAN PRISON CAMPS

Grey River Argus, 30 August 1948, Page 7

LIFE IS GRIM IN RUSSIAN PRISON CAMPS

(From Guy Bettany, Reuter’s s Correspondent). HAMBURG (By Airmail) Before the end of this year, all German prisoners of war will have been returned fro'm Britain, France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Those from the United States have long since come back to the Fatherland. The only exceptions are those who voluntarily decided to stay behind in the land of their captivity. These are mostly men with no relations in Germany, or those who ha\C married foreign wives. The only country which cannot claim that any of its prisoners of war voluntarily wish to remain behind is Soviet Russia. The antipathy between Germans and Russians is /too strong for any prisoners of war to wish to stay in the Soviet Union. The experience of Lance Corporal Werner Witt is typical of the stories told by former prisoners of war from Russia. A short time ago, Lance Corporal Werner Witt came back from a Russian prisoner of war camp and arrived in Hamburg, emaciated, weary dull, with his head shaved, a usual feature of prisoners from Russia and dressed in an old shabby, dirty Russian uniform. He had no possessions except a basket and a stick on which he leant owing to water in the feet, a disease he developed as a result of his stay in Russia. Lance Corporal Witt told of his experiences in Russia in a low voice,. as if he was not much concerned whether he was believed or not. He is blue-eyed and blond, 23 years old and a typical Hamburger. When the war finished on May 8, 1945, at 5 a.m., he did not even know that all was over. Late in the morning, he learned from civilians who possessed a wireless that Germany had been defeated and that all soldiers had to stay where they were that night. Lance Corporal Witt, who, during the long years of war, had learnt nothing but obedience, stayed where he was. A couple of comrades made off and a few more shot themselves for fear of the Red soldiers. Later they were loaded into trucks and taken into the interior of the Soviet' Union. After fifteen days’ journey, through dense woods and across deserted prairies, the prisoners arrived at a prisoner of war camp in the Ural Mountains. It was not a camp in any real sense but a meadow with barbed wire around it and no wooden houses or buildings of any kind. The first nights they lay on the bare ground, shivering with cold. They received no hot meals for several days. Then they were given implements and some wood and set to build barracks for themselves. After weeks of hard labour and insufficient food each of them had a roof over his head and a wooden bed, covered with twigs and leaves. Then they carved wooden spoons with which to eat the thin fatless cabbage soup they were given for their dinner and supper in addition to 100 grammes (about 3i ounces) of dark bread of obscure origin in the morning and 400 grammes of bread at night. They were also given half a litre (about one pint) of coffee without milk or sugar at the same meal times. When they had provided themselves with the most necessary comfort for living, they continued to build, sometimes roads, sometimes factories and sometimes canals and houses, for days, weeks and months, ten and twelve hours a day, and sometimes also on Suftdays. The food remained insufficient, in spite of the heavy work. The hope of the prisoners that the food situation might improve, faded from day to' day. It became i worse, they had to work on the basis of "normal work”. Everybody who succeeded in fulfilling his norm, that is the amount of work he w as required to perform, received the original quantity of food. All those, and that was the majority, who could not keep up with their stronger comrades, got only a part of the food they had been given before. The result of this system was a general spreading of disease within the camp so that the required work was no longer done. Specialists were better off. Their work was done more easily and did ,not require such great bodily effort. Moreover ,the specialists were paid in rubles which enabled them to buy bread and tobacco from civilians now and then. One day, Lance Corporal Witt fell ill and was taken to hospital with malaria. Other comrades followed him and the small hospital became more and more crowded. The stronger elements among them overcame the malaria. The weaker ones died, particularly for lack of drugs. The number of sick persons increased from day to day as did the number of deaths and the small cemetVy near’ the hospital grew rapidly. Tne. German doctors who were employed in the hospital did everything they could; but they themselves *were weak and unable to do much without drugs. Sometime later, Lance Corporal Witt was released and returned • to the eamp. There were fewer prisoners, but everything else was the same. Only one new feature had been introduced into camp life—espionage among prisoners by prisoners. A small number of hungry, desperate men offered themselves to the Russian Camp Commander to act as spies and to inform the Russian authorities of every word that was spoken by the prisoners which reflected anti-Com-munist convictions. The informers received better food while their victims were deported to forced labour camps from which they never returned. Rumour had it that these unfortunates had to work chest deep in icy water building canals or mining for 16 and 18 hours a day. There was no doubt about their fate. From then on, no one trusted his neighbour and the success of the informers became less and less; but it never ceased. Soon afterwards the camp authorities started lectures on Communism for two and three hours a day. These hours of doing nothing were in some ways refreshing for the prisoners; but generally they could not care less about what they heard of the “fight between the social classes” and the spreading of: „ Bolshevist culture over the world. The failure of this action on the part of the Russians became evident. To get better results, the Camp Commander promised all Communists among the prisoners a special education in Communism in schools run by the State and in addition every comfort they wished. Some prisoners, who had already had enough, grasped at this straw, and discovered Communist convictions. They were sent away and, in the opinion of the pri soners, might tyrn up one day in Germany as well nourished and convinced Communists. No day passed on which the prisoners were not asked to report as voluntary woikers in the Soviet Union. Lance Corporal Witt said that he doubted whether any prisoner even considered such an ° f During the first winter, the prisoners could see for themselves how the Russians lived and realised that thev were not a bit better off than thev themselves. The people neai also wore old uniforms and subsist through the winter on dry Bread and goats milk. A former en gineer whom the Russians Were particularly keen on keeping there was offered every comfort to induce him to make up his mind to remain m Rus™ Ev P ery time he refused One Hav fate overtook him. He lost a key was tried before a criminal oniirt on a charge of sabotage and I sentenced a to C twenty years' forced

labour. , ■ The day came when the first prisoners were due to' be released. The first turn was given to those who had been living in former German districts which now belong to Poland. After them came the Austrians and last of all the Germans. Before they left the camp, all their property was taken from them. Wrist watches and rings had gone on ■ iAe f irs t “ny of their imprisonment. Now, they had to change their uniforms for evqn more ragged ones and were into trains to go west. After a two weeks’ trip, they arrived at Heiligenstadt. near the Anglo-Russian zonal boarder, longing for their homes, and apprehensive about the fate of the relatives from whom they . had m most cases not heard anything at aduring the long months of then tivitv There, they were again asked whether they would like to go back to Russia under better conditions as voluntary workers. No one accepted All tried to get their papers and 50 marks discharge money, a> oossible. When Lance Corpoiai Witt crossed the border and entered, as he said, the first free part of Germany, he wept for joy. When h? fmaLy arrived in Hamburg, his first task was to search for his parents. He had good luck and fpund them atill alive His last words to me were- “ Never again war.’