Germany: Prisoners, including: General Hindenburg: reported comments concerning German...

FO 383/298

1917

Germany: Prisoners, including:

General Hindenburg: reported comments concerning German medical personnel.

Mrs Mount: enquiries about various prisoners from the Royal Berkshire Regiment (names in docket no. 52683), with postcards from some of the prisoners.

Mr and Mrs Britzel, transferred from Togoland to the UK: request by Mr Britzel for permission to resume his employment on the Togoland Railways.

List (in docket no. 110810) of German officers and other ranks transferred to Switzerland between March and June 1917, with comments by the German authorities.

British officers interned at Mainz Camp: problems encountered in cashing cheques and forwarding business letters.

Jason Hagenbeck, a German subject: account of his escape from Colombo, Ceylon, to Aftonbladet, Sweden.

Arrangements by the German authorities for the repayment of money owing to British prisoners who had been exchanged, transferred to a neutral country, or were deceased.

Private A M Maclachlan, believed to be interned at Wahn Camp: enquiry from his sister, Miss Annie Maclachlan, about his welfare and whereabouts.

Rudolf Albert Ebelt, a German prisoner: confirmation that he had been transferred from Australia to the UK, and would be repatriated to Germany when possible.

Prisoners' Aid Society, Knockaloe Camp: request that the sons of certain German prisoners (names in docket no.56236) serving in the British Army should not be sent abroad on combat duties; confirmation that they would be performing non-combatant tasks.

Enquiries into the seizure of funds at the German Consulate in Cape Town by the Government of South Africa.

Dr Kastl of Windhuk (Windhoek), South Africa: permission for the transmission of letters from him to the German Government.

Treatment of British and Canadian prisoners in occupied territory, including:

• Information provided by various British prisoners (names in docket no.56528) on the withdrawal of letter-writing facilities while interned in hospitals in Germany and other occupied territories.
• Memorandum to the German Government requesting details of prisoners employed in working parties in occupied territory, with a list of various prisoners (in docket no. 99371) showing their dates of capture.
• Army Council Instruction No. 1208 of 1917, German Prisoners of War - Notification of Capture.
• Lists (in dockets nos. 179905 and 202901) provided by the Canadian Red Cross of prisoners believed to be held at Limburg Camp from whom no communication had been received.
• Complaints about the non-delivery of letters and parcels to Limburg Camp, with a letter from Lance Corporal Charles Bourne interned at Limburg.
• Enquiries regarding the non-receipt of mail by various interned prisoners, with a memorandum from the Newfoundland War Contingent Association.
• Memorandum to the German Government on the provision of postal facilities for interned prisoners, and the need for accurate records of prisoners to be kept.
• Lance Corporal W Brown, interned at Soltau Camp: copy of a letter stating that he had not received letters or parcels in the camp.
• Sergeant P F Notley, interned in France: copy of a postcard about the non-receipt of parcels.
• Lance Corporal F Peachey and Private F Lee, formerly interned in Belgium: extracts from interviews regarding restrictions on postal facilities during their internment.

Articles in the British Press regarding the delivery of parcels to prisoners in Germany, including:

• Articles from The Times of 14 March 1917 and The Daily Mail of 12 March 1917 regarding food shortages for prisoners.
• Paul Grand d'Hauteville, Director of the Berne Bread Bureau: copy of a letter to the Editor of The Daily Mail on the distribution of bread to prisoners.
• Information from Mr Gerard, former American Ambassador in Berlin, that the reports of starving British prisoners were unfounded.

Arrangements for payments to former employees of Messr Behn, Meyer and Company of Batavia, now interned at Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia.

Miscellaneous No. 9 (1917): Correspondence Respecting the Use of Police Dogs in Prisoners' Camps in Germany, Parliamentary Command Paper (Cd.8480), May 1917.

German memorandum proposing that retired officers under the age of 45 years detained in the UK and Germany should be awarded officer status: rejection of the proposal by the British authorities.

Cadet Akerman, interned at Neustrelitz Camp: request by his father, Mr F Akerman, for an application to be made for his release; German memorandum stating that he could be exchanged in return for six interned German cabin boys.

Mr E Wachtel, a German subject employed at Cape Mount Monrovia, Liberia: transmission of a bank draft to Mr Fred H Wachtel, interned at Lofthouse Park Camp, Yorkshire.

Treatment of German prisoners captured from airships or submarines, including:

• German memorandum requesting assurances that these prisoners would receive the same treatment as other combatant prisoners.
• Assurance by the British Government that these prisoners received the same treatment as other combatant prisoners, with the exception of an initial period of detention for the purposes of interrogation.
• Enquiries regarding the whereabouts of two German submarine officers, Ehrentraut and Kiel; information that they were not being held as prisoners in the UK.

Mr N M Cohen of Montreux, Switzerland, including:

• Recommendation by the War Office for enquiries to be made into his activities relating to prisoner exchanges.
• Copies of correspondence between Mr Cohen and Herr Theodor Wanner, the Swedish Consul at Stuttgart.
• Various letters from Mr Cohen offering his services to the British Government in connection with prisoner exchanges: decision not to accept his offer due to the official policy of opposition to individual prisoner exchanges.

Correspondence regulations for prisoners, including:

• German memorandum threatening reprisals against certain British military and civil prisoners in response to complaints about the postal facilities for German civil prisoners interned at Berrima, New South Wales, Australia, and in certain camps in South Africa.
• Frau Marie Scherer of Heidelberg, Germany: complaint by the German authorities about a letter addressed to her from Cape Town, South Africa, which had been destroyed by the censor.
• British memorandum on the modification of certain regulations regarding the censorship of letters sent from Australia and South Africa.
• German memorandum alleging that no books had been issued to the German prisoners at Berrima.

Code 1218 Files 52085-61961.

Files 52085-61961.

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