A FRIEND OF BRITISH WAR PRISONERS

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 149, 18 March 1924, Page 5

A FRIEND OF BRITISH WAR PRISONERS

SIGNAL ACT OF GRATITUDE TOWARDS GERMAN SERGEANT-MAJOR Kindness to British prisoneis in a Geiman prison camp by SergeantMajor Willie Hatzmann, an ex-lrus-sian cavalryman, was rewarded m a wav that is perhaps uirque among all the incidents of the war (says an English paper). Hatzmann is now in Toronto, having been brought there from his homo in Lubeck, near Hamburg, by the soldiers whom ho saved from starvation. Trooper Harry Deacon, of Toronto, has been the cental figure m this little post-war drama, and is Hatzmann s host for a few -lays before ho goes to a job that has been found for h m in surroundings that will not embarrass him. Saved British Lives. “This chap was one of the cleanest, whitest men I ever met, and so say alt the others who were in prison camp with me,” said Trooper Deacon. “If it were not for him many of us who survived would never have left Germany al ve. He was; the friend of British soldiers rt the time when friendship was needed, and instead or having h m subjected to olfenco we want to have life in this country made agreeable for him. Nobody hates tno Germans worse than we who were prisoners, but Hatzmann was tho kind of an enemy that any soldier would honour.” Trooper Deacon and Trooper Bert Heywood were both captured in the great German push of March, 1919. Donald Rennie, a Scottish signalling sergeant, now in Toronto, was also a prisoner at the camp at Flavy-le-Mai - telle, where Hatzmann was senior N.C.0., behind tho German lines in France. Previous to being in this camp they had suffered under Captain Hans Mueller, the notorious prison camp commander, who was sentenced to six months after the war for his brutality to prisoners, and v-ae later reported to have committed .su'eide. Risked Life to Help prisoners. The prisoners were literally worked to death. So little and such poor food wae given them that they could not have survived long had they r.ot bsfeii moved to Flavy, where Willie Hatzmann aided them. His assistance was given at grave personal risk to himself. On various nights Lo took a group of tho prisoners out of camp under cover of darkness to a potato field and allowed them to commandeer food supplies and then smuggled them back to camp. One night a sentry discovt'red them and Hatzmann threatened to shoot the sentry if he shot the British prisoners. He would flraw extra rations whenever ho could find an excuse for doing so and give them to l.is charges ' When the prisoners arrived at his camp ho obtained water and what clean clothing he could for them and prevented the spread of dysentery from which many had died. One British lad, named Snape, was in critical condition and Hatzmann, when he had got the other German guards away out of sight, would carry tho boy on his back across the river to where a humane German doctor would give him treatment. At other times Hatzmann. who has a beautiful vbice, would sing to the prisoners at night when tho other guards were away. A Memorable Document. When Hatzmann was removed from the camp at Flavy-le-Martelle to another camp the British prisoners drew up a letter in which they declared how well they had been treated. They appealed to any Allied soldiers into whose hands Hatzmann might fall to treat him well in return. The. letter was signed by every prisoner in the camp. When Hatzmann went from there to a camp where French prisoners were held the Poilns wrote a translation of the English letter on the reverse s’de to the effect that they had received kind attention at his hands, and attached all their signatures.. Last spring Hatzmann forwarded this letter to Mr. Deacon in Toronto, and told of how he was in straitened circumstances. Mr. Deacon communicated with others whose names were signed and various returned soldiers who were interested in tho case. They sent money to help Hatzmann in Lubeck, and finally sent him the monov to come out to Canada. Hatzmann was wounded three times. No Motive But Humanity.

“I don’t want Canadians to think that I had a.ny motive other than Christian humanity in my conduct toward the British prisoners,” said Hatzmann through the “It never occurred to me that I would he benefited by it in the, future. I could not be otherwise than decent to these fellows who were suffering so much.”

The interviewer asked him what conditions wore like in Lubeck, which is a Prussian port on the Baltic, when ho loft. Ho replied that they were hopeless. The mark had descended to a. worthless figure. Hix gas bill for a month was 85.000 marks, and his salary was only 95,000.

“All the northern ports nre_ Socialistic now. They arc finished with monarchy and militarism. They will never stand for conscription again. “Mr desire is to become a good Canadian citizen. I have never done anything in mv life that I was ashamed of. and I hope to be accepted as a good man here.”