BRITISH INTERNEES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 April 1942, Page 4

BRITISH INTERNEES

LIFE IN CONCENTRATION CAMP CONDITIONS IN FRANCE. ENGLISH WOMAN’S STORY. . At a gathering in London organised by the Committee for British Subjects Evacuated from France, the following account of conditions at the Besancon Camp was given by an English woman recently arrived in England: “I am often asked how we employed our time at the camp. There were always a certain number of ‘chores’ to be got through. The room had to be kept clean and tidy, also the passages. Bread was distributed twice a week and had to be fetched. We had to queue up every day to fetch our food from the kitchen. We did a certain amount of cooking on our stoves and there was the washing up to be done and the washing of oui’ clothes. Water coal and firewood had to be fetched. A certain number of us every day had to peel the potatoes and swedes with which our soup was chiefly made. Through arrangements made by the British Government, internees now receive 300 francs a month each, permitting them to buy pharmacy products or extra food and drink (such as they are) at the canteen.

“It was while sitting waiting one’s turn for a shower-bath or in the dinner or canteen queues that one had the opportunity of studying expressions around one. Jokes were made as often as possible, but in moments of repose the faces were mostly stamped with a melancholy I shall never forget. Some adapt themselves to captivity more easily than others, but time is long to all. “Among the 800 to 1,000 British-born women among the 4,000 internees, the majority were French women married to Britons. Notwithstanding, I never came across any grumbling against the British.

“The Germans offered some of the French women release if they took back their French nationality. I do not think many availed themselves of the offer to leave the camp. Some Irish women were offered release if they changed their British for Eire passports. Count O’Kelly, the Irish Minister, came to the camp to speak on this. Some accepted, and some refused. I believe the commander of the camp, a German, said to one who refused: ‘Permit me to shake hands with you.’ “A British Committee was organised soon after our arrival at the camp. Through this organisation the Germans mainly gave their orders to the camp. Thanks to the Committee, a post office was organised in the camp. An entertainment committee and Red Cross Committee were subsidiaries of it.

“A Miss Stanley, quite a young girl —caught in Bayonne, I believe, on a holiday—a professional gym teacher conducted physical exercise classes. Office work, with files of internees, was in the hands of a Miss Rolfe, who was most efficient. She also organised concerts. An English children’s nurse from Paris was most outspoken, once complaining bitterly to the German officers about needless hardship caused to the internees, ending with the words, “Now you can arrest me if you choose, I am ready.” They did not arrest her; they respected her.

“Two internees were arrested while I was there. We never knew the reasons and never saw these women again. “Among the 450 English nuns in the camp—there were represented 89 orders—was a sister Mary St. Chad, of the Order of Franciscans of Mary, who was arrested for a short time and then released. She had spent 15 years teaching in India and was put in charge of the children’s classes in the camp. She never revealed why she had been arrested.

“French, English and German classes were organised. Professor Eccles, of Oxford, released last spring, gave lectures on French literature. Two young girls who had lived many years in Paris, the Misses Owen, daughters of the founder of the Welsh University, gave remarkable lectures on Babylonian and Roman history, with no books to refer to. These girls were very delicate and were eventually released on the score of health and are back in Paris. We had access to a small library of the French Officers, and the American Library in Paris sent us a consignment of books for which wo were very grateful. “An elderly French Canadian priest was interned with us, also an Irish priest. The nuns organised a chapel and mass was said every day, and latterly benediction in the evening. Services were held in the same chapel by the Rev. H. H. Pullen, who was 80, and Brother Jones, both I believe of the Wesleyan Church. Mr Pullen ha's been released and is in Paris again. “The number of deaths at Besancon

we never knew. Rumours varied very much. “The Mother Superior of the French nuns at the hospital said to one of the German officers, I was told, ‘What have you done, bringing here all these sick and aged people!’ To which the German replied, ‘Yes, I know, it will always be a stain on German honour.’ “A girl from Bordeaux, British on her father’s side, held up the cars of members of the International Red Cross who visited the camp in February. ‘You have been shown a camp that has just been cleaned up for your benefit,’ she said. ‘The food you have tasted has been specially prepared in view of your visit. Sanitary conditions have been terrible here, and see how we are bitten with bugs,’ opening her coat and revealing the tell-tale marks. | The girl was told to calm herself, that it would not be for long.” The Committee for British Subjects Evacuated from France states that some 1800 internees are now at Vittel, the others having been released from Besancon, which means that they have for the most part returned to their homes in France. A few have been able to leave the country and are back in England.