THE GERMAN CORPSE FACTORIES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3097, 30 May 1917, Page 5

THE GERMAN CORPSE FACTORIES

A COMPANY RUN FOR PROFIT

HOW THE HUNS EXPLOIT

THEIR DEAD

The recent statement made by Hen , Karl Rosuer, special correspondent of the Berlin "Local Advertiser (Lokal Anzeiger") with the German armies in the west, that north of Keiuie a German factory exists for "converting corpses" into oil, fertiliser, and pig-fodder, corroborates a very remarkable account of this new and horrible German industry which appeared in the "Independence Beige'' for April 10 as extracted from "Lα lielgiquo" ofLeydon (in Holland). The statement- (refefenco to which was recently cabled), omitting tome of the-most repulsive details, is as follows:— "Wβ have known for long that the Germane stripped their dead behind the firing line, fastened them into bundles of three or four bodies with iron wire, and then'dispatched these grisly bundles to the rear. Until recently the trains laden with the dead-were sent h> Seraing, near Liege, and a point north. of Brussels where were refuse consun/pjs. linen surprise has been caused liy tho fuel that of late this traffic has proceeded in the direction of Gerolstein, and it was noted that on each v&gor. was written •D.A.V.G.' "German science is responsible for the ghoulish idea of the formation of the Herman Offal-Conversion Company, Ltd. 'P.A.V.G.,' or 'Deutsche Abfaly-Ver-wertung Gessellischaft') a. dividend-earn-ing company, with a capital of =£250,000, the chief factory of which has bee.u constructed 1000 yards from the railway connecting St. V'itli, near the Belgian frontier, with Gerolstein, in the lonely, littlefrequented Eifel district, south-west of Coblentz. This factory ueuls specially with the dead from the West front, if the Tesulta are as good as tho comp.iny hopes, another will bo established to do.il with corpses on the Rast front. "The factory is invisible from the railway. It is placed' deep in forest countrv, with a specially thick «ro\vtli of trees about it. Lire wires eurro/ind it. A special double track leads to it- The, works aTe. abouf 700ft.'Ions and 110 ft. broad, and the railway runs completely round them Tn the north-west corner of the works the discharge oi the trains takes place. An Endless Chain. "The 'trains arrive full of bare bodies, which are unloaded by the workers, who live at the works. The men wear oilskin overalls and masks with mica eyepieces. They are equipped with lonir hooked poles imd push tho bundles of todies to an ciuless chain which picks them up with big 'hooks, attached at intervals of 2tt. 'the bodibs are transported on tins endless chain into a long, narrow compartment where they pass, through a scalding bath which disinfects them. '1 hey then go through a drying chamber, and finally are automatically carried into a digester or great cauldron, in which they are diopped by an apparatus which detaches them from the chain. In the digester they remain from six to eight hours, and -are treated by steam, which breaks them up, while they are slowly stirred by machinery. Xhe bones sinkto the bottom, leaving a, thick, darkcoloured liquid. "From this treatment result several products. The fats are broken up into stearine, a form of tallow, and oils, which require to be re-distilled before they can be used. The process of distillation is carried out by boiliiig the oil with carbonate of soda, and soino part of the by-products resulting from this is used by German soap-makers; The oil distillery and refinery.lies in the south-eastern corner of the works. The refined oil is sent out in small tasks like those used for petroleum, ana is of a rellowish-brown colour.

'"The fumes are exhausted from the ■buildings by electric fans, and arc sucked through a great pipe to the north-eastorn corner, whore they are condensed and the refuse resulting is discharged into a. eewer. There is no high chimney, as the boiler furnaces are supplied with air by electric fan 6. "There is a laboratory, and in charge of the works is a chief chemist witli two assistants and 78 men. All the employees are soldiers and are attached to the Bth Army Corps. There is a sanatorium by the works, and under no pretext is any man permitted to leave thorn. They are guarded as prisoners ut their appalling work. "One of the American Consuls, on leaving Germany in February, elated in Switzerland that the Germans were distilling glycerine for nitro-glycerinc from the bodies of'tlicir dead, and thus were obtaining some -part of their explosives. The "Local-Advertiser , special correspondent announced that throe nroducts were obtained from corpses by this horrible industry: .'• 1. Lubricating oil. 2. Feeding material for pigs. 3. Fertilisers from the refuse and bones, 'which were ground down together."