MURDER CAMP FOR SLAVES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14287, 2 May 1917, Page 6

MURDER CAMP FOR SLAVES.

DEPORTED BELGIANS STARVED

TO DEATH.

MARTYRS TO DUTY.

THE HAGUE, March 9.

The Germans have outdone the horrors of ; Gardelegen, Ruhleben, and of even the Wittemberg camp. A, terrible story about the new deportation camp for Belgians at Cassel has just been told by three of the victims.

Mucih of it is not fit for publication, but what can'be told gives an accurate picture of the 1917 brand of "Kultur." Owing to the fact that thousands of the deported l Belgians absolutely refuse to do any work once they are m Germany, the German authorities decided before sending them home to try their power of endurance, with the criminal idea that suffering and starvation would, soon overcome their determination. . A deportation camp was, therefore, established between Cassell and Wilhelmsholie, within walking distance of the Kaiserin's summer residence

Fifteen thousand Belgians are "housed" there, living m large unheated wooden huts, where planks covered with bundles of straw represent beds. Ten planks are ranged on top of each other from the ground to the ceiling, the distance between each being just enough to save the occupants from dying 1 of suffocation. Ventilation and hygienic devices are naturally absent. The men were sent to Cassel after they had declared before the Aachen Commandant their resolve not to i work m German munition factories, on I tho ground that they were "conscientious objectors" to making shells destined to kill their compatriots. On their arrival m the camp the local authorities announced that they would be fed oil "war rations" until they changed their minds, tlie war rations being a bucket of lukewarm water with bits of beetroot, rice, and vegetable refuse floating m it. German soldiers brought a bucket every morning- to the foot of each group of ten beds, and nothing else was given the men all day. During- the first weeks things went calmly, niost of the men having brought a scanty store of provisions from home. Tliey used to wander about m their cage, every morning an officer asking the same grim question — "Are you changing your mind?" —and having 15,000 "Noes" "fired like a broadside m his face. STARVATION CAMP. The authorities then discovered that the men had a little food from home, and this was instantly taken and divided among the German guards. From that day the Cassel camp really was a starvation camp, an average of twenty to thirty men dying daily from sheer hunger. Here are three of the countless episodes. One Belgian, who had been de* ported from Avion, m Luxemburg, dc- ' spite the fact that he was very ill from tuberculosis, was among the first of the Cassel victims. His "bed" was on top of one of the tiers, and one evening when. he was retiring he told his com- | rades, "To-morrow I shall not get up, , for I feel that I shall never be able to • climb to my bed again." He stayed m bed the next day and died two days later, three weeks after bis deportation. Another Belgian, after weeks of war rations, started hunting after rats. He caught one and cooked" it, and died the next day. ! The third episode is also tragic. One of the youngest of the deportees, a mere Ind of "sixteen from Liege, managed to hide a bit of sausage smuggled from home. Every nijrht he cut a thin slice and ate it,' saying to his comrades, "When the sausage is gone I shall follow." The sausage daily dwindled until nothing was left but a bit of skin and cord, which the boy also ate. Three days later, when trying to climb to bed, he fell on the ground and died. ! During 'the last few weeks, m view of tho increasing mortality, the Germans have taken the View that it is better to

send the sick Belgians home m time to die there, but they are kept nnder the strictest military surveillance -.to prevent them tellinc tales of tho Casßcl camp.

i The cruelty with which the men are punished is also truly German. For the smallest offence the men are beaten, sent out m the cold bare-footed, and forced to remain motionless m the yards for three hours. Fifteen minutes are added for each movement. Despite all this 4 cruelty the men still refuse to work for the Germans. Out' of 15,000 locked up at Cassel, five, who were overcome by hunger, surrendered, and were immediately taken to Kruop's. They asked the Germans to conceal their names for fear, they said, of being dishonored when they returned to Belgium.