PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 106, 31 October 1936, Page 26

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

. r BOOKS OF THE WEEK

The Chief Librarian of the .Wellington Public Libraries has chosen "The Forgotten Village;" by Theodor Kroger, as the book of the week, and has furnished the following review:—

"Is this really true?" one asks, reading some of the incidents in Theodor Kroger's "The Forgotten Village." A glance at the author's introduction confirms the statements as authentic. It is truly remarkable, that 'hese should be actual experience! of the twentieth century. Shortly after the outbreak of the Great War, Dr. Ing. Theodor Kroger, who had been in Petersburg representing certain German industrial interests, of which his father was the head, attempted to get over the border into Germany, butafter a terrific struggle he was apprehended when he became caught in a man-trap. Russian military officials charged him that he had been in the German military service and was spying upon them; also he had "murdered sixteen men!" He was about to be executed when he obtained the. intercession of a general with whom he was acquainted. He was condemned to be sent to Siberia; little did he know what his fate was to be—thousands had died there. Would he, too, perish? We see the answer in the fact that he has now published this account, of his experiences.

The stratagems used by the Tsarist police to extract a confession from him were almost unbelievably thorough. Forged notes from his relations telling him that he,was lost unless he "told everything" were so realistic that he could harly believe his eyes. But he saw through this, and was incarcerated in th,e watery dungeons of Schlusselb.urg, one of Russia's most notorious prisons. He narrowly escaped drowning here, but was released only in IHe nick of time.

Chained in cattle trucks with hundreds of other prisoners of war, Kroger made the journey to the first prison in Siberia alongside Stepan, one of the most admirable figures in this book. One of the jobs he and other prisoners had to face at one stop en route was the emptying .of sixteen cattle trucks of dead bodies—corpses of Austrian and German prisoners who had not been able to withstand the rigours of the climate and the cruel treatment of their guards. Typhus broke . out in the prison; Theodor and Stepan were sent to another prison in Baikal, further east. It was when he was threatened with almost certain death in" the Ob-Sumpfe (swamps) that he sent another appeal to the general who had previously helped him. The conditions in the next prison to which Kroger was transported were much superior to anything he had previously experienced. He was even allowed a wooden spoon with which to eat! And then'the most miraculous thing of all happened—"Through the intervention of the highest authority" he was set free from prison.

But it was a strange freedom. Only after someone seeing his plight had dropped some money into his hat, was he able to telegraph to Petersburg for monetary aid. He received one thousand roubles after several days. He was to find out later who had been his benefactor. For she was to become his wife. Kroger entrusted eight hundred roubles of this money to the Superintendent of Nikitino, the town in which he found himself. Ivan Ivanovitsch Ljpuschin, this Russian official, plays one of the principal roles in this,true drama of modern life. By far the most important man in Nikitino, Ivan Ivanovitsch was to become Xroger's staunch friend. Ever since he had been released from the walls of the prison Theodor had planned escape, and now that he was happily married he craved all the more for it; for months he planned and prepared, and then one day he was asked to take over the job of interpreter for the prison camp. He could not desert his imprisoned compatriots, so his freedom was even more distant and elusive. ' :

There followed months, and even years, of organisation of the pursuits of the prisoners for their own benefit and for the benefit ■of the civil community of Nikitino. German and Austrian prisoners of war became employed in their respective trades in the town.. They built themselves common-rooms, organised social events, made visits to' neighbouring villages, and took part in the life of the community. In fact many of them became so intimate with- villagers that they were loath to part.

Kroger himself took part in the fur trade and travelled the whole Siberian countryside in this pursuit. Over the years there were many vicissitudes too detailed to be recorded here; except perhaps the interesting fact that on one of his trips he discovered the remains of a dead civilisation where the people seemed to have been exterminated by some plague.

Then came the Bolshevik revolution, when all prisoners were released. One of, these was Ignatjoff, and .while Kroger was absent from the village he murdered both Fayme and their, little child. This was the final smashing blow to Kroger's hopes, even though he dealt Ignatjeff fit retribution. But he returned to Germany a broken man. Four years later he returned to Russia, and if is by the graveside of his beloved Fayme that he is left when the book conies to its conclusion.

This book .is .most remarkable both in point of style and in the unique and deep experiences it records. Some of us may think our life prosaic, but here is the life of one who found too much drama crammed into a short period. Crystal Herbert has to be thanked for a most vivid transcription of language,and feeling. RECENT LIBRARY ADDITIONS. Other titles selected from recent accession lists are as follows:—General: "Wassmuss: 'The German Lawrence,'" by C. Sykes; "The Faith Called Pacifism," by M. M. Plowman; "Mrs. Grundy in Scotland," by W. Muir. Fiction: "Going to the Sea," by D. Wallace; "Summer of Life," by B. K. Seymour; "Hole and Corner," by 11.I1. Wentworth.