PRISON CAMP LIFE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 8 February 1944, Page 4

PRISON CAMP LIFE

WHY N.C.O.’S DO NOT WORK MEN REPATRIATED FROM GERMANY Wellington, This Day. New Zealand servicemen who have been repatriated from German prison camps recently tell some interesting stories of camp life. Speaking about the day’s routine one man said that the reveille was sounded at 6 a.m., when it was expected that every man would turn out. At Stalag VIII B. —one of the largest camps in Germany—the prisoners were at 6.30 a.m. given the special privilege of listening to the camp loudspeaker relaying the latest bulletin from “Lord HawHaw,” broadcasting in English from Berlin. At first this renegade was mildly amusing, and many 0 f the men made a point of being about when the broadcast was on, but eventually the whole camp' got tired of it and one morning “gave him the raspberry” in no uncertain voice. The clamour was such that it reached the cars of the camp commandant, who, the next morning, warned the men that if they did not behave themselves the broadcast of “Lord Haw-Haw” would be cut out altogether. He, too, "got the bird.” The result was that the broadcast was cut out. That

as all right but the cutting out also of the music, which most of them liked, was quite another matter. However, after a time the music was restored, and was part of the daily round when the repatriates left the camp in Oc tober last, en route to Marseilles and Barcelona.

Staple items of diet in camp as far as supplies from the Germans were concerned were cabbage soup, barley soup (in which they could never find the barley), and a coarse bread made from potato flour, which one got used to in time, and was not at all bad. But with such indifferent provender and the lovely Red Cross parcels and dishes they were able to concoct from their contents, life "mooched along.” A repatriated n.c.o. was asked the reason why they did not work in Germany, when it was known that such labour was rewarded with better food and easier living conditions. The answer was that such action was unpopular with the privates. They had not been in camp very long before it became known that it was optional for n.c.o.’s to work or not. Work was taken "i by some n.c.o.’s. but it soon became apparent to them that the men objected strongly to n.c.o.‘s working when they did not need to. as by so doing they kept good jobs away from privates. So after a while—indeed, the point became a vital one at one stage—it. was generally understood that it was j not the thing for n.c.o.‘s to accept j work, As to the nature of the guards plac- , ed over prisoners one man said that they differed in character. Some were i dved-in tlte-wool Nazis, others were human beings, a nice distinction.