The British Interned in Switzerland

by Henry Philip Picot

The arrangements thus inaugurated continued without further adjustment till early in 1917, when, owing to increased numbers of British Interned, it was thought desirable to transfer part of the duties to trained Army Chaplains. The Rev. A. H. Sewell, Army Chaplain 2nd Class, of the Church of England, was appointed to Château d'Oex in January, 1917; and in the course of that year four additional Army Chaplains,—two Church of England, two Presbyterian,—were sent out from England to the various camps, but it was not till early in 1918 that a Roman Catholic Army Chaplain, Dom Chapman, replaced the Rev. Father Neville at Château d'Oex, on the latter receiving his commission and proceeding to France. Apart from this change, the arrangements for the Roman Catholics remained as before. With the arrival in Switzerland of the Rev. A. H. Sewell, who was entrusted with the duty of co-ordinating spiritual effort, the pastoral work gradually assumed the aspect to which the men were accustomed, thereby greatly adding to the comfort of the camps.

I feel bound, however, to pay a tribute to the Rev. E. Dudley Lampen, the Rev. A. Sutherland, the Rev. D. Matheson, M.A., and the Rev. Fathers Rowan, Neville, and Fahey, who did valiant work, and filled the breach, in the absence of the regular Army Chaplains, whose services were at the time required in more important spheres of labour. That they had a difficult task, and one that can only be appreciated by those who were intimately concerned with the daily life of the camps, goes without saying; but it was met in a hopeful spirit, and in some cases with considerable success. They were called upon to deal with soldiers who were sick at heart, and suffering from the harsh treatment of a long captivity, and who had been starved in mind and body, as a result of which they were physically and mentally debilitated, suspicious of their fellow-men, and without much sense of proportion. Moreover, the system adopted in the camps in Germany was calculated to weaken the influence of the N.C.O., and with it had come a relaxation of discipline and a levelling down all round.

The psychology of officers and men during the first year of their internment is one very difficult to analyse. I say expressly the first year, because at the end of that period the building-up process, as affecting both the physical and mental conditions of all ranks, had made headway, and new men were being evolved. After that period the problem had changed, fairly normal conditions had been re-established, and the British soldier of the type known to us all had emerged, differing no doubt from, but approximating to, our previous conception of him.

One of our temporary Presbyterian Chaplains, who gave his services entirely to the men during the critical period of the internment,—that of 1916,—and whose success amongst them was of a high order, has recently written to me of his experiences, which, from the point of view of that difficult question, "the psychology of the men," appear to me of special interest. I cannot do better than refer to his letters on the subject. He writes:—

I am not yet certain how to state the psychology of the life there (in the camp), nor how to justly analyze the why and wherefore of affairs as lived out by the men, but in case it may be a faint glimmer of the thing, may I say one or two things that impressed me.

In the more moral and spiritual region of the men's psychology I found that, given your purpose in being kind to them was on the basis of their humanity, and not to exploit them for your religious or Church ends, but desire to give them a lift in every way, they had a great respect for your sympathy and appreciation, and looked on that which R. L. Stevenson had so much of as evidence of the "true blue piety." Yes, just kind deeds and words, hoping the best for them amid their failings and faults, and doing the best for them in spite of these, and speaking the very best things in spite of these.

The work you gave me to do among the men in the form of religious services I came to feel could not compete in the influence over the men just like the human fellowship; for example, at the farewell one Tommy rose and said: "He was one we could go to in our joys and sorrows, and we found him give us his confidence and friendship, and some of us got it as much when we were bad boys in prison." That reveals a very striking side of the men, their estimate of the moral values of life.

I don't know if I can trouble you with my own spiritual work when I say that I adopted with the men a quite new line for me, which came as a kind of inspiration when I saw them and their natures. Instead of the usual line in our Church life of putting pressure on the men to become religious, or fall in with our ideas of religion, I represented my work among them in its humblest forms of service as a divine power that was seeking to help them….

How little we ministers reveal the true Master, and how much we camouflage Him, and also how much more religious the men are than we think. At Mürren, when Mr. Hobday was presiding with about 200 men on a Sunday night, I went over the last week of our Lord's life, and suddenly I realized that the events of conflict with unscrupulous enemies looked very like the experiences that the men passed through, and when I said, "Men, I feel as if I was describing the path you trod in Germany," there was a distinct approval…. I don't know if you have read the poem by Francis Thompson, called "The Hound of Heaven," well, it describes the pursuing of love, and I found that the best way to win the men. You could woo them into doing anything if you cared for them and they knew it.

I discovered also that the men have no real grievance against the Bible, but against the manner of its presentation, and if we would only be more human we would get them interested. I came to the conclusion that the men had more religion in them than I believed. They were so unselfish and considerate of each other, and they loved and idealized their homes and their children, and I also realized that though they had formed some bad habits, say, drinking too much, there was a great deal of it the result of their abnormal condition of mind, and perhaps we lay too much emphasis on these outward sins, and far too little on the inner faults of spirit.