Separating Russian Prisoners from Vermin 



The Germans have special stations 'on the Eastern 

 frontier for "de-licing " friends or foes from Russia 



GERMANY is more afraid of vermin 

 than of machine guns. To the 

 German military surgeon a filthy 

 Russian Cossack — and there is nothing 

 f il thier — is 

 more to be 

 dreaded than 

 screaming 

 shrapnel. 



Germany, in 

 particular, has 

 to deal with the 

 problem in a 

 serious way. 

 Thousands of 

 Russian pris- 

 oners of war 

 have been 

 brought into 

 German con- 

 centration 

 camps literally 

 swarming with 

 lice. One of 

 the accompanying photographs shows four 

 Russian prisoners as they arrived at a 

 camp. Their caps of fur, their whiskers, 

 and their heavy clothes were veritable 

 breeding places for vermin of all kinds. 

 The men were not long in the camp, how- 

 ever, before these caps were discarded, the 

 whiskers and the hair removed, and new 

 clothes supplied. Then they appeared as 

 in the right-hand photograph below. 



One of the disinfecting stations at which the Cossacks 

 are deprived of their fur caps, coats, whiskers and vermin 



Every man, nobleman or commoner, 

 friend or foe, who enters Germany from 

 Russia must be "de-liced." There are 

 special stations along the eastern frontier 

 for that pur- 

 pose. Even 

 royalty is not 

 spared. Prince 

 Adelbert, one 

 of the Empe- 

 ror's sons, had 

 to be thorough- 

 ly disinfected 

 and purified, 

 not because he 

 needed it, but 

 because it was 

 the military 

 law. He re- 

 ceived a guard- 

 edly phrased 

 certificate to 

 the effect that 

 "His Royal 

 Highness, Prince Adelbert, is, for the time 

 being, free from lice." The military disin- 

 fectors were not guaranteeing the future. 

 Provision is made in all armies for the 

 extermination of bacteria-carrying insects. 

 All men occupying the same quarters at 

 the same time, or for alternating short 

 periods of time, are regarded as a single 

 unit and are transferred to a receiving 

 station equipped with cleansing apparatus. 



Photos (Q) Brown and Daw 



This is a "Before and After" photograph. At left four Russians are shown as they appeared 

 when first taken prisoners. They came out of the de-licing station cleaner i| not happier men 



no 



