TRANSLATION BY THE LONDON DELEGATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS COMMITTEE (German)

STALAG VII A

Visited on the 21st April by Dr. Rossel and Dr. Lehner.

British Camp Leader  R.S.M. Charles Henry Burgess No.123703

Strength  43,841 of whom:

                 4,537 are British and Americans

                 viz: British officers                198

                       Indian officers                  13

                       British - other ranks     3997

                       American - other ranks  329

                British staff   3 doctors at the lazaret 2 in Labour Detachments, only 9 medical orderlies (a request has been sent in for more)

Site and Accommodation

        The camp has in no way altered since last visited by a delegate. The huts are identical; moreover, one may be permitted to remark that the window panes of the galleries are often replaced by planks, for lackof glass. This renders the rooms even darker than they would otherwise be.

        The prisoners complain of being cramped for space; in fact, the huts are filled to their maximum capacity.

        The question of bringing water to the camp has not progressed in any way. The prisoners have only the most primitive installations to use for toilet purposes, the water supply for these has to be pumped by hand. Heating is at present discontinued: it was, however, adequate during the winter.

Food

        The prisoners receive the regulation rations. The head cook checks them. The potatoes issued are of good quality. Here is a specimen table of rations issued:

        Besides this, the fuel necessary for the preparation of food from collective parcels is often not available.

Clothing

        The Camp Leader controls the clothing consignments from the Red Cross. Each spring the pullovers are collected. In previous years the Red Cross pullovers were collected with the military pullovers and thus eluded the control of the Camp Leader. A recent decision of the Camp Commandant has made it possible to carry out two separate collections and to keep the Red Cross pullovers in a separate store.

        Condition of Clothing of British

                On the whole this is bad. Underwear in particular is lacking. Here is a statement of the items received and issued and the stocks remaining in hand: the period reviewed being from 20th January to 20th April 1944:

Collective parcels

        The Camp Leaders control the Collective Parcels. Procedure in respect of these is not proceeding smoothly' there are many complaints.

        The British Camp Leader is not at all satisfied with the arrivals of collective parcels. He has not been able to build up any reserve stocks. The strength of the camp includes numerous prisoners who are not yet on the register; as these many have not yet any numbers, they receive neither mail nor individual parcels. The Camp Leader urgently requests that notice should be taken of his numerous appeals; he would like to have the same reserves in hand as all the other camps for English prisoners of war.

        From the last consignment, 16 large packages were stolen (24,000 cigarettes).

Canteen

        Prices for goods on sale are posted up. They are the normal ones. The prisoners run the canteen; thus they have the control entirely in their own hands. Beer can be purchased at will.

Hygiene and Sanitary Installations

        No alteration has been made in the sanitary installations of the camp; the quantities of water available are everywhere too limited.

Lazaret

        The lazaret comprises:

                1) One hut for surgical use, which is very well equipped with operating theatres, both septic and aseptic, a dressings-room, an electrotherapy room (Short wave, Ultra-violet and Infra-red) an X-ray room, a laboratory and a pharmacy.

                2) Seven huts for medical cases. These huts are of the ordinary kind, and barely suffice for requirements. The hospital is no longer heated. In one of these huts 3 members of the medical staff have to sleep in the patients' wards as there is no room elsewhere. The German authorities are well aware that there is not enough accommodation; as soon as it is possible, these men will be housed separately.

                3) The lazaret also comprises three huts meant for the use of prisoners suffering from active tuberculosis; these huts are in no way different from those which compose the remainder of the camp. No separation has been installed between the beds. The delegates were able to visit these huts in which far the greater number of the patients were of a nationality other than British; the British prisoners do not, fortunately, remain in these wards; they go before a Mixed Medical Commission and are repatriated.

Drugs

        The British doctor is waiting to receive some sulfanilomides and two stethoscopes. He begs the Red Cross to send these without delay. They are urgently needed.

        Statement of the Food-stocks available at the lazaret:

        On the day of the visit, the whole lazaret contained 200 patients. No serious epidemic has occurred in the Stalag.

Leisure and Intellectual and Religious Needs

        The British prisoners would like to receive two complete sets of equipment for football, some tennis-balls and tennis-racquets, some foils (for fencing) and some fencing masks. No special remarks were made otherwise.

Work and Pay

        There is nothing particular to report in regard to the nature or the duration of the work. The life in the Labour Detachments is normal.

        At the British Camp, about 800 N.C.O's are still not on the register. The Camp Leader has great difficulty in getting certain of these men to undertake the work which he allots them inside the camp; although this work is for the benefit of all the prisoners.

Correspondence

        British Camp  Mail arrives satisfactorily, and takes about three weeks. Unfortunately, the 800 unregistered N.C.O's receive little or no mail.

Discipline

        This has lately been very much tightened up.

Interview with the Camp Leaders (without witnesses)

        This interview touched on all the points mentioned above; certain special questions were then put to the Camp Commandant at the final interview which the delegates had with him.

        800 N.C.O's have been waiting (some of them for 6 months) to be allotted to a camp and put on the register. They have at present no numbers and cannot as a result receive any mail. Reply This depends on the Defence Ministry ("O.K.W.") The officer representing the O.K.W. who accompanied the delegates on this occasion replied that immediate steps should be taken to put this matter in order.

        The medical staff are not able to move freely around the camp from the lazaret. Reply Permission for them to do so cannot be given. This is a security measure taken by the representative of the O.K.W.

Conclusion

        On the whole, this is not a bad camp. Some of the installations are, however, sometimes, defective.