CAMP NEWSPAPER

Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22792, 17 January 1944, Page 2

CAMP NEWSPAPER

Berlin Publication

Issue To Prisoners Of War

Copies of an interesting weekly newspaper, published in Berlin in the English language and distributed to British prisoners of war in German camps, have been received from a New Zealand prisoner recently repatriated. The paper, entitled the “Camp,” carries illustrations, and presents world and war news and extracts from English newspapers which would not otherwise be made available to the prisoners. While presenting the news from the German point of view, this newspaper gives prisoners at least some glimpse of the outside world, even if it is an outside world seen through Nazi eyes. The copies received are dated 1942 so that the news is old.

Extracts from English Papers Of the four pages which constitute the publication, the front one is devoted to a military summary, short paragraphs of world and war news, and at times an article on some special angle of the war. Coloured by the German outlook, with exaggerated claims of German successes, the news presented does not appear to be any different from that given to the German public. On the remaining pages, articles on phases of German life and development are printed, but by no means predominate. Perhaps the greater part of the remainder of the paper is occupied by extracts from English newspapers, mainly on neutral subjects, as, for instance, one article selected at random on the traffic peaks in London. There is also at times an article reproduced from English papers on the war situation, but this only when it can be read by Germans. One case is an extract from an interview published in the "Daily Telegraph” showing M. Stalin’s disapproval of Allied aid to Russia. A photograph of the London ‘’Times" is also reproduced demonstrating the hazards of convoying goods to Russia.

Dieppe Raid English sports results are also reproduced, together with news of the British theatre, American and British films, church and similar topics. A section is also devoted to original contributions from prisoners of war, while specially prepared lessons in German are also reproduced. One issue gives the names of prisoners of war for whom unclaimed parcels are held at the “Locating and Forwarding Department for Unclaimed Parcels to British P.O.W.’s,” attached to Stalag lII.A. The Dieppe commando raid of August, 1942, is given special prominence and is referred to as an attempted invasion. The story is carried as a despatch from the Fuhrer’s headquarters. This raid is referred to in subsequent issues, and always as an invasion. A column of one issue vigorously defends the German action in binding prisoners taken from the Dieppe raid.

German Point of View An editorial article entitled “The German Point of View” deals with the condition of the world after the war, and how it will affect prisoners of war in particular. “The prospects of the war soon ending are slight,” it begins. “The longer the war lasts the more changed life becomes in the countries concerned." Whichever side won the face of the world would have changed. Tire new form of the world would bear more resemblance to National Socialism and Fascism than to the liberal era of the past.

The copies of the newspaper available were, as stated, printed in 1942, when Germany’s war prospects were considerably brighter than at present. It would be interesting no doubt to see issues distributed since Italy’s defection and the turn of the tide of war in favour of the Allies.