I was very much impressed with the fair and systematic handling of our parcels, letters and money; even letters and postcards which arrived for me after I had been sent back to England, were re-addressed and sent back. A remittance of five pounds which arrived for me after I had left was even returned to me in England, instead of being applied to the pressing need of the German War Loan.—(Daily News, January 25, 1918.)
An acquaintance of my own, a lecturer in a technical school, spoke to me to the same effect. He told me, as an illustration, of a parcel sent to him which had become quite shattered in transit (p.p. [7]). The Germans transferred the contents to a sack, and, as he said, the temptation to pilfer the sorely-needed foodstuffs must have been great. My informant also spoke of the very thorough inoculation against disease.
Altdamm.
On December 31, 1914, Mr. Damm reported to Mr. Gerard on the Camp at Altdamm near Stettin. The general arrangement, he remarks, is the same as that of the camp at Stargard on which he had reported previously.
“It appears to me that every effort is being made to treat the prisoners of war as humanely as possible in the two camps I visited. Dry and warm shelter is provided, the food is simple and perhaps monotonous, but of good material and well prepared, sanitary arrangements are good, and the health of the men is carefully looked after.”
Rumours v. Inspection.
But the general inspection of all camps had not yet been agreed to by the German Government, and on February 23, 1915, Sir Edward Grey wrote to Mr. Page (the American Ambassador in London) complaining that no definite replies to his questions were forthcoming. “His Majesty’s Government,” he continues, “have only unofficial information and rumours on the subject to guide them, which they trust do not accurately represent the facts.” The “unofficial information and rumours” had, however, attained wide publicity, and obtained still more later.
The German authorities agreed on March 17, 1915, to general inspection of detention camps and consideration of complaints. The reports now to be cited were made after this date. [Misc. 11 (1915)]. I propose to give examples of almost all the earlier reports, for it was in the earlier stages of the war that there was most difficulty everywhere in providing accommodation for prisoners. We ought not to forget that the earliest reports on our own camps which the British Government have published begin with February, 1916.[2]
Dœberitz.
On March 31 Mr. Jackson reported on the camp at Döberitz, a large camp with between three and four thousand British prisoners. “So far as I could ascertain, British soldiers are called upon to do only their share in fatigue work.... So far as I could ascertain, after inquiry of a number of men, nothing was known as to the stopping of either incoming or outgoing correspondence.... The camp at Döberitz is in a healthy location, and the barracks are new and of a permanent character.... They are at least as good as those used by the Germans at present in the same neighbourhood. As was to be expected a number of men had individual grievances, but there were no general complaints, except with regard to the German character of the food—and those were the exact counterparts of complaints made to me by German prisoners in England.” I have italicised the last clause as it will surely, to a fair-minded man, seem a somewhat important one.