SUFFERINGS OF BELGIANS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1739, 11 October 1917, Page 1

SUFFERINGS OF BELGIANS.

A terrible picture of the lot of deported Belgian civilians in Germany, especially those who have been sent to the internment eamp at Sol tan, was recently published in Paris. When the deported Belgians reached Soltau they were called upon to sign a labour contract. The .majority having refused, they were despatched to smaller camps at Konigsmoore, Teufelsmoor, and Lichtenhorst, where the food was so bad that after a few days the hospital was crowded. It was finally decided to send those who had been most weakened in the central hospital at Soltau. Despite this measure, many perished on the road to Soltau. A>« Liehtenhorst there were 39 deaths. In one hut alone nine men were, frozen to death, and ten were rendered unconscious by the intense cold in one night. At Soltau hospital, during one month, there was an average of three deaths per day, and in the following month the average rose to four daily; this in spite of the fact that there was no epidemic. The medical label over nearly all the beds showed that the occupants were suffering from general weakness or weakness of the heart.