HUNGER STRIKE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22724, 10 May 1937, Page 10

HUNGER STRIKE

RUSSIAN STQWAWAY

EX-SOLDIER COMPANION

HIDDEN IN SHIP'S BUNKERS

STORY OF ADVENTUROUS LIFE

A Russian Jew from Odessa who has been on a hunger strike for the last eight days, and an ex-artilleryman who has fought against Germans, Austrians and Bolsheviks, and spent nearly two years as a prisoner of war in Russia, Germany and Poland, are two unusual passengers in the steamer Brandon, which arrived here from Antwerp yesterday. Both are stowaways, who came out of their hiding place in the ship's I)linkers four days after she had left Belgium.

The stowaways were put to work soon after they were discovered, and the exartilleryman, Jan Romanofk, who is a seaman, was detailed to the stokehold, where he worked lor the rest of the voyage. The Russian Jew, Michael Levinsky, who claims to be a painter, peeled potatoes in the galley at first, and then began his hunger strike —it is believed with the object of being taken ashore to hospital when the ship arrived, and thus forcing the authorities to permit him to land, although he is a prohibited immigrant.

Locked in a Cabin

Both men spent last night locked in a cabin in the crew's quarters. Levinsky is showing signs of his voluntary starvation, but seemed quite determined to continue his strike. He understands English slightly, but has remained almost silent since beginning his hunger strike, and his compatriot has acted as interpreter. Romanofk, however, is described by the ship's officers as a good and willing worker, and seems to be concerned about the attitude of his fellow-countryman.

While Levinsky lay curled up on his bunk, scarcely moving, and with only his dark eyes showing signs of life, Romanofk last night told how he came to stow away in the Brandon, and something of his life as a seaman and soldier since he left his home in Kieff in the Ukraine, where he was born 52 years ago. He spoke in broken English, occasionally punctuating his remarks with an expressive shrug of his shoulders, and turning his hands palm upward in fatalistic fashion. •'I do not know his story," he said of Levinsky. "I met him only two days in Antwerp. For eight days he smoke two cigarettes. How much longer? He is strong man." Again that fatalistic shrug. Man Without a Country "I am man of no country," said Ilomanofk. "Any country I come to I can get no job. I am strange man—l have no papers. If I go back to Russia? They would kill me." Ho made a gesture of despair. Jan Romanofk became an exile nearly 20 years ago. A man without a country, he has neither home nor family, for his father, mother and brother were killed in Kieff when the Bolsheviks invaded the Ukraine. Before the Great War he served in Russian ships in the Baltic end the Black Sea, and when the Russian "steam roller" began' its drive toward Germany, he was a sergeant in the artillery. He fought against the Germans and the Austrians, and was wounded and taken prisoner in 1916. After spending nearly a year in a German prison camp, Romanofk was exchanged and returned home to Kieff. In 1918 he was serving against the Bolsheviks in_ the army which was fighting for the independence of the Ukraine. He was taken prisoner again, and spent seven months in a place called Zanarnka. In the meantime the Bolshevik forces had invaded Poland, and had been defeated at the great Battle of Warsaw. Escape from Prison

The Poles captured Zanarnka in their advance, but their arrival did not mean freedom for Romanofk, and he remained a prisoner at Lemberg, and Czynclio, in the south of Poland. Here he finally escaped, evading his armed guards while working in the bush, and crossing the border into Germany. Romanofk finally arrived at Hamburg, and for several years served again as a seaman. It seemed that his adventures had ended, but after making several voyages to Australia, he found himself in trouble when he was paid off at Rotterdam. A celebration of the occasion ended with Romanofk finding himself with empty pockets and no identification papers. He went to Antwerp, and was there for three days when he was arrested by the police. As he had only two francs in his pocket, he was sent to a prison farm where he worked for six and a-half months and earned 200 francs.

Given eight days to leave Belgium, Romanofk decided to go to South America, where the immigration laws are not so stringently enforced. Ho thought the Brandon was bound there and hid in the coal bunkers. Four days later he and Levinsky came out of hiding, to find that the coast of France was still in sight. Although Romanofk does not know what the future may bring, he has accepted his present position philosophically, and with that touch of fatalism common to the Russian nature. "I am man of no country," he repeated.