TRANSLATION BY THE LONDON DELEGATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS COMMITTEE

GERMANY

STALAG IV B

Visited by Drs Wenger and Lehner

August 21 1942.

Camp Leader: Hindoo: SINGH Dahp, No 1224.

Strength: British 481 (of whom 37 are English and 444 Hindoos) out of 13,078 prisoners

        5 doctors

        3 dentists

      52 medical personnel

Situation and Quarters

        The Camp is about 3 Km. from a village in a sparsely inhabited plain. The climate is healthy.

        The prisoners of war are housed in 22 large hutments divided into two by a section built of stone, in which are the latrines and washing places. These hutments are thus composed of two large rooms quite independent of one another. The men are very crowded - about 225 to each half hutment. The three-tiered bunks are in four rows. The mattresses, which are filled with "ersatz" wool, are changed regularly. All the prisoners have three blankets, partly supplied by the Red Cross and partly by Germany. The ventilation is good and the windows can be left open at night. There is electric light everywhere. There is an adequate provision of tables and chairs. The prisoners do not complain about the heating arrangements. As they are working in a mining district, they get enough fuel. The hutments are the same for all nationalities. The Hindoos receive from the Camp authorities blankets which they can use for praying mats. The British are in a hutment about 200 m. away. They are much less overcrowded; their quarters are quite satisfactory.

Clothing

        All the prisoners have a uniform in more or less good condition.

        The Hindoos have all "battle-dress", received through the Geneva Red Cross. They have also received drawers and shirts. The question of clothing for the English who are only temporarily in this camp (pending their transfer to an English camp) has been satisfactorily settled.

        All the prisoners have two sets of underclothing.

        In general the leather shoes are in a bad condition. In the camp the prisoners wear sabots. Worn clothes and shoes are repaired in two large work-rooms where 50 tailors and 50 shoemakers work. The tailors have the necessary material for making and mending; the shoemakers are short of leather. It is true they have some leather from the Red Cross, but it is of very bad quality. The Hindoos have also complained about their shoes. They have received a sufficient number, but most of them are too large. They ask if it would be possible to send them shoes of sizes 7, 8 and 9.

        In general the Camp Leaders say that the clothing question has been dealt with in a relatively satisfactory way in the camp, but that in the different detachments it is just the opposite, because the employers do not provide any part of the working clothes for the prisoners; uniforms are therefore very quickly worn out.

        The linen is washed outside the camp. The German Commandant explains that the necessary amount of soap and soap-flakes are provided by the laundries.

Food

        A head cook prepares the meals according to French recipes. The kitchen is well-equipped. The Camp Leaders had not hitherto had control of the food rations. We checked them and established that they corresponded to the regulation amounts. Henceforward the Camp Leader will control them. There is not a sufficient quantity of basic food and the men complain especially of the potatoes which are very bad and of which only 60% are eatable. The Hindoos have their own kitchen where meals are prepared in accordance with their religious customs. Great consideration is shown them. The English get their food from the general kitchen.

        The prisoners have special kitchens with 4 to 5 stoves for preparing the provisions from collective parcels. Besides this a special system has been adopted. A prisoner has made a sort of little oven out of food tins, connected with bellows. This piece of mechanism is set in motion by means of a kind of hand motor. In this way very little fuel is used; with half a bricquette several litres of water can be quickly heated. This very ingenious system has been reproduced and several hundreds of ovens made.

Canteen

        Toilet articles can be bought here and a kind of lemonade; but apart from this very is not much.

        The Camp Leader has control over all the profits of the canteen and uses them for the benefit of the prisoners as he thinks fit.

Hygiene

        The prisoners' toilet rooms are well-equipped. Each hutment has one with 24 taps. The latrines are in a good condition; chloride of lime is sufficient to disinfect them. The prisoners can have a hot shower every week. The hindoos have their own equipment to enable them to wash their long hair. There is also in the Camp a place for de-lousing.

        At the time of the Delegates' visit there were in the infirmary, which is very well kept, 118 patients of whom 4 were Hindoos. The patients occupy four large hutments with 4 to 20 beds. They are all in bed. The consulting room and the room where the dressings are done are provided with everything necessary, and there is no lack of medicaments. Several branches of medicine are functioning in the camp. At oto-laryngological branch undertakes small operations. More serious cases are treated at the hospital. The doctors are nearly all internees, as well as the German doctor at the camp. There is a large laboratory adjoining. All bacteriological and microscopic analyses can be carried out. Two assistants work there. The tubercular patients, numbering about 40 to 46, have their own bed linen. They have extra food. Cases of active tuberculosis are separated from inactive cases, and the latter from all other patients. Serious cases are taken to the hospital.

        There is a section devoted to physiotherapy, according to the usual methods (steam, baths, massage, short waves etc.).

        Four dentists of different nationalities work at the dental establishment, which is very satisfactory, but the material for dentures is lacking; their work consists chiefly of extractions, fillings and treatment of the gums etc...

        There has been no notification of epidemics lately; there have been 258 deaths in two years.

Unfit for Service

        This camp has the character of a camp of transit and of assembly for prisoners unfit for service who came from different camps of Wehrkreis IV. The question of repatriation is regulated for each nationality separately.

        Those who are unfit for service are not allowed to work; they are sometimes under treatment at the infirmary.

Recreation and Intellectual and Moral Needs

        Catholic worship is regularly conducted. There are three priests at the camp.

        The Hindoos practise their religious rites and every facility is granted them (prayers mats.).

        A large hutment in the camp has been fitted up as a theatre with 600 to 700 seats. Sometimes films are shown and sometimes there are theatrical productions. There are also lectures halls (university).

        Two large sports grounds have been arranged at the camp, where different games can be played (football, hand-ball, volley-ball). The prisoners can make use of a swimming bath.

        They have enough card games, chessmen etc..

Correspondence

        The prisoners write the number of letters and cards provided for. The N.C.Os employed in the Labour Detachments, the medical personnel and the doctors can write double the number. All the prisoners receive the number of labels to which they are entitled.

Collective Parcels

        The Red Cross parcels arrive in good condition. The Camp Leaders have complete control of them and distribute the food as they think fit. It is the same with the parcels of clothing. The Hindoo Camp Leader has also absolute control over the parcels of supplies. He looks after the English too, as they have no Camp Leader of their own. The Hindoo Camp Leader asks the Geneva Red Cross to send him English provision parcels for 20 to 40 men. This is about the number of English who are continually passing through the camp. The camp has adequate premises to keep provisions for four weeks.

Pay

        Pay is regularly received. There is no complaint on this score.

Discipline

        The German Commandant of the Camp states that the discipline is good. Disciplinary measures are very seldom necessary.

Interview with the Hindoo Camp Leader

        On the whole the Camp Leaders are satisfied with their camp. They have absolute control over the collective parcels.

        They complain in general of the bad state of the clothing and the bad quality of the food.

        The interview with the Hindoo Camp Leader took place in the presence of all the Camp authorities. The 444 Hindoos who are in the camp were taken prisoner four months ago at Benghazi. They stayed three months in Italy and were transferred to Germany. It is possible that they may be sent to a warmer country (Italy) in winter. There are representatives of four religious sects among them: Mohammedans, Hindoos, Sikhs and Marattas. They are well treated and all their wishes are attended to.

Requests

        For the Hindoos, Mohammedan, Hindoo and Sikh prayer books, hockey sticks, battle dress, shoe sizes 7, 8, 9, volley-ball, football and blankets.

Conclusion

        The camp is good.