PRISONERS IN GERMANY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 151, 28 June 1915, Page 7

PRISONERS IN GERMANY

WHITE PAPER ISSUED. VINDICTIVE TREATMENT SHOWN. LONDON, 27th June. A White Paper has been published, which recapitulates the evidence collected by the Government as to the treatment of prisoners of war in Germany during the fii'Bt eight months of the war, basod on the facts cabled on 10th April. It shows that they were invidiously and vindictively treated. They were herded together, and were almost starving. The White Paper emphasises the humane treatment of German prisoners in. England throughout the war. [The message of 10th April wa« ac follows :— A White Paper, dealing with the treatment of British prisoners in [ Germany, ehow6 that Britain Has con* stantly received proof of the enemy's inhumanity, and protested to America. The American Ambassador and Consuls in Germany frequently reported illtreatment, insufficient clothing and food, harsh restrictions, cruelty to sick and wounded, and the savagery of guards. A Russian doctor reported that in De* cember British officers were treated worse than the others, and were openly insulted. _ A French priest saw Germans kick British prisoners in the stomach a,nd break their guns over their backs. They were forced to sleep in marshy places and many became consumptive. The British were almost starved, and I thirty of them wer© bo tortured that they a-sked to be shot. % Major Vande* j leur escaped from the camp at Grefeld, I and reported that fifty-seven officers and ' men were packed, without food, in an unventilated horse- wagon, in which lay three inches of manure. They were unable to ' sit, and remained ' for thirty hours, while German officers and men brutally assaulted and insulted them. The journey to Cologne lasted three days and nights, and they were without food throughout. The officers were fairly well treated at Grefeld, but the soldiers were treated barbarously. They slept on sodden straw, which was not changed for months, and forced to do all the menial and filthy work for the other prisoners. Mr. ' Gerard (the American Ambassador at Berlin) reported that tho British wounded at Doeberitz Camp were needing medical attention and extra food. They received daily merely two cups of coffee, coup, one-third of a loaf, and only one blanket. The German Government refused Mr. Gerard's request for more clothing. Other instances •of brutality : Sjx civilians at the Ruhleben internment, camp for civilian prisoners were sleeping in a space of 10i feet; twenty-three officers near Madgeburg were .herded together and were gradually starving to death ; prisoners at Ulm were prematurely aged. The above story con* trasts with the report of Mr. Jackson, of the American Embassy at Berlin, who visited detention prisons and ships in Britain, where the food was the same ac the British soldiers received. The Ger* mans 1 chief complaint was that they had too much beef and too little pork, white instead of black bread, and insufficient fresh vegetables. Their health was good, and they were supplied with books and papers. Their officers could purchase hot breakfasts, three-course dinners, and purchased wines and delicacke.]