GERMANY’S LABOUR CAMPS

Evening Star, Issue 21508, 5 September 1933, Page 5

GERMANY’S LABOUR CAMPS

MILITARY DISCIPLIHE FOR NATION’S YOUTH SHOVELS AT THE " SLOPE " The new name for compulsory labour in Germany is Arbeitsdienstpflicht, , but to remove the idea of compulsion it is proposed to call it Deutsches Arbeitsdienst, or German Work Service. It will be none the less obligatory for the change of name, ■ says a writer' in the 1 Melbourne Herald.’ 1 Already over large', sections of rural Germany .there exist, many thousands of Arbeitsdienst lagers ,(or camps) for voluntary ,work service, and .it is out of this scheme that the conscription idea has grown. In these camps youths from 18 to 25, usually unemployed city lads, do farm work, forestry; ditch-digging, athletics, minor military exercises, and are taught discipline, 'personal and communal hygiene, and the virtues of patriotism. The boys live in' wooden huts built and conducted-on the army plan. They are under the command of camp and hut leaders chosen from the Stahlhelm (union of front-line soldiers) or’from the Nazi Party, their daily routine is equivalent ,to, that of army recruits, and they march'and work in military formation, with shovels “ sloped ” as if they were carrying rifles. In one of, these camps on the'outskirts of Hamburg—there are sixteen run by the Stahlhelm and as many under Nazi control, the enrolment at each ranging from 80 to 200—1 was allowed 1 to’ inspect the hhts and the work' "ill" 'progress,' tq>'lnvestigate the living conditions, and to watch the young work-soldiers at their drill.

>' GOOD FOOD

Their food is .simple but nourishing, as one determined' by eating - sorne of it and by the healthy appearance of the boys. Their quarters are well-kept and warm, although " naturally their comforts are of the barest, seeing that the Government allows only two marks (2s) a. day for the support of each person,, out of which the hut and camp leaders’ are paid. They : reckon it costs 1 mark 70 pfennigs a:-Jfead ; a/day to feed, clothe, and house: the boys, purchase shovels and other equipment,' construct, light, and heat the camp?, pay the wages of the cooks and the. salaries of the leaders. The remaining 30 pfgs goes to the boys for pocket money. The -leaders get 50 inks (about £2 10s) a month for controlling fifty boys, with a- little extra as the number increases; ■.but. with a .definite limit-on the amount they can earn. The land being worked or improved—most of the work I saw consisted of swamp-drain-ing, riher-diversioxi', bath-building, etc. —is Government owned ( and the main object Of. the 'scheme' is -to put into cultivation. large : tracts of ' poor dr apparently worthless country, .and- so improve the home-gi-own .food respurces of the nation.: ■ ' ,' , ' ' ’

This particular camp had been run by the Social-Democrats (commonly referred to as “.Marxists ”),-and-it ,was objected that, under .their .regime discipline was slack, work was ill-directed, and pointless, and that ‘the lads wasted their time over political issues instead of developing their--bodies and tilling the soil. , .... , , . . - MILITARY RULE. All that has now ceased. Military rule prevails, and anyone who does not like it may leave. Out of 150 boys in this camp one was dismissed and eight loft when the coming to power of Hitller caused a change of methods. Those remaining were said to be enthusiastic about the new development, and as an example of how they had progressed under strict discipline, they were rah lied by whistle and put through a series of drills by the uniformed Stahlhelm leaders.

They marched backwards and forwards and chanted wartime songs, some in dungarees, some in field-grey, a few in Prussian jackboots, and an odd one or two in felt slippers. When money is more plentiful, each will be given a uniform.

Punishment for disobedience or- slackness • takes the form of deprivation of home leave, which is given on Saturday afternoons and Sundays, and frequent offenders are dismissed from the camp. The day’s routine runs something like this: 6.45 a.m.—Out of bed, wash, flagsaluting, fifteen minutes’ doubling across the country. 7.15 —Coffee, bread and jam. 7,30: Work in fields until 10 o’clock, then'breakfast (half an hour), and more work until 2.30 p.m., then dinner after 6 and a half-hour’s work, with the afternoon devoted to-lectures, singing, exercise, recreation, etc., until tea at 6 p.m. (the nights usually being free unless given up to concerts), with' lights out at 10 p.m. CO ENTERING COMMUNISM. As yet they have only about 3,000 lads doing this class of work in the Hamburg area, but the Work Board officials who control the scheme say that 60,000 to 100,000 could be drawn in to-morrow if money were available. The aim is to remove from, slum influence and/or Communism, the youth of poor families who would decay morally and physically if allowed to exist on the dole. The compulsory work plan, which is to operate from January 1 next, will extend this principle to the whole workless population of the Reich, and the discipline, living conditions,' and class of labour performed will approximate those of the volunteer camps. For adults.'of course, the pay will be higher, running to about 17s a week with,keep, but for the 750,000 lads of twenty who will be called up like recruits on January 1, the two marks a day will bo’ a" blanket rate,, their keep 'coming‘out of-it. : . ■ lit is proposed to make no distinction between rich and poor, for all are to be taught (by force, if necessary) that work, however menial, is a duty one 'owes to the State', and that everyone must learn to ixmform it if the idea of class is to be abolished. . Students from the high schools and colleges must give to the State one 'year’s labour—pushing trucks of sand, draining marshes, felling trees; cutting irrigation ditches, making roads, etc., etc., before entering the university, and- already the newspapers and magazines are printing pictures of lusty youth with, sweaty hair and muddy boots as the arch-type of , the future. ' Freiheit. Arbeit, BrotI” (Freedom, Work. Bread) is shouted from the radio, splashed; across the news-sheets. seVcnmed from coloured posters in the shop windows and neppered through cverv political speech. Withct H>e workers there can be no nation.” This and countless other slogans pursue one through city, town, j(nd village, all glorifying the dignity of labour and calling upon the nation to rise .in its strength and shake off the deadening inertia of Depression. “ .Deutsches Volk, du hist Stark!” (German people,' thou art; strong I) ttffndCTS Hitler inffiiiMay Day speech,,

heard by perhaps forty million Germans.

“Deutschland ist erwacht!” (Germany has awakened!)' leaps at you from the hoardings, and when you watch the marching millions, hear the bands blaring “ Deutschland übcr Allcs,” see the uniformed* youngsters'tramping to and fro and shouting- their slogans -of freedom, look at 'the .shops choked with Hitler emblems and dodge for weeks through forests of saluting arms, you ask yourself if anyone in the land could possibly sleep through the din of it all —especially the Frenchmen over the border!

The answer to it may, lie in a booktitle I glimpsed in a window “ J-eden Volk.hat seinen eigenen Sozialismus!” (Every people has its own (brand) of) Socialism). “ The trouble in the past,” they told me, “ was that there were too many parasites in the country and not enough workers. The workers, seeing a few persons growing rich while they themselves became poorer, living in slum houses and seeing nothing but the dole at the end of their days, .took to Communism, which may be all right for Russia, bilt is not good for Germany.