12 
LAND & WATER 
January ii, 1917 
Inhuman Treatment of Russian Prisoners 
ONE of the things missing in that unreal dis- 
cussion about the enemy's cry for Peace is the 
(■\-idence — which cannot yet be pubUshcd in 
any but a most fragmentary form — of the abomin- 
able cruelties he has practiced upon the helpless prisoners 
in his hands. 
■ We say only fragments of it can be published, though 
the time' will come "when the punishment proper to such 
crimes can be inflicted, for soon the testimony will need 
to be subjected to no such discretion as is at present 
unfortunately necessary. 
We know something in this country of what Prussian 
calculation can be in such matters. We know how 
British prisoners have been treated when the enemy 
believed his victory to be secure, and we shall not soon 
forget the lesson taiight us. It is well that we should also 
know what his actions have been in the case of our 
Allies; and though very little indeed of the whole terrible 
story can be told, examples which have been "specially 
put before Land & W.'^Tiiu and will be cited here, may 
be of service. 
A Studied Policy 
When the full story is known tliere will be no one left 
so fatuous or so blinded as still to talk of terms and 
accommodation with the brutes guilty of these things. 
Jf the special cases laid before us much the greater 
part deal with one branch of Prussiay policy, which has 
been consistent throughout in the case of the Russian 
prisoners. And that has been the attempt to compel 
them to commit treason and to act against their own 
country. Why the Russians should have been singled 
out for this particular form of vileness we may sur- 
mise, but \vc need not delay to describe. It is in part, 
perhaps, their greater numbers, in part the fact that the 
enemy seems to have believed that no reprisals would 
follow. At any rate, the evidence submitted is crowded 
with cases of this kind : The order to dig trenches under 
lire and against their own brethren in arms, ^nd torture, 
exposure, starvation and death, as the penalty' for refusal ; 
the evidence from all sides, of all kinds, and from all 
nationalities who were witnesses : From Neutrals, from 
Englishmen and from French prisoners and, what is very 
valuable, from Russian prisoners themselves who have 
escaped, and whose story is corroborated by independent 
witnesses of other nationalities. Jo recite all, even oi these 
selected indi\idual cases, would be a mere monotonj^ of 
horror ; It is always the same story, but here are some 
citations textualjy in the witness's words : 
.\n Englishman, an eye-witness, says : 
" They refused to go and dig trenches. A guard was 
put round them to starve them into submission. The 
]'-nglish tried to give them food, but the guard was too 
Strong and they could not manage it. At the end of a 
week they again refused, and the guard fired upon them, 
killing several and wounding many." 
A Russian prisoner who has escaped gives this en- 
dorsed evidence : 
" They were told that if they persisted in refusing they 
would be shot. The Commandant at the camp came to theni 
armed with a revolver and a sword and along with him 
200 soldiers and about 15 officers. The Commandant 
was the first to kill one of the prisoners, and then all 
began to use their bayonets. When it was ended eight 
men were found dead, and a great number of wounded. " 
There are — even in the few cases .selected for the 
purposes of this article — dozens of such examples ; and it is 
specially to be noted with what lack of the military 
spirit and of chivalry the Prussian Officer ha;^ delighted 
in personal violence and murder in the case of these 
unfortunate disarmed men. It is a characteristic of 
the Prussian Service we know well enough and of which 
Belgium and Northern France are full, but it is well to 
be reminded of it. As for instance this piece til exidence 
— again textually quoted : . 
" The Cieneral himself came out and began .1 ^^l>^ cch." 
(This was in the case of the men being marched off to 
do work the nature of which was concealed from them, 
and which ^vas, therefore, presumablv treasonable). 
" Then ordered his soldiers to beat them with the butts 
of the rifle, and stood looking on. Suddenly, as if seized 
by a lit of rage he began to shout. to his men to strike 
harder, to kill the defenceless men if they could. Seizing 
a piece of board himself he ga\'e a terrible blow on the 
head to one of tlie prisoners and then struck a second 
man and then a tliircl. \\'e prisoners had to bury one of 
the men and to send the others to the hospital. This 
is but one of the occasions, which were very frequent 
on which the General in Command struck prisoners 
with his own hands." 
That is the Prussian service all over, and its apologists 
tjiemseh-es know w ell that the terrible indictment is true. 
No other service in the world is guilty of these things. 
Another category of infamies is the starving of men 
to compel them to work against their own army, and 
to help in the destruction of their own comrades : 
" About thirty of us were stripped and left for two 
days in -the frost without food. Then they offered us 
beer and spirits and food, thinking that when we had 
satisfied our hunger we would go and work." 
That is one out of any number of Russian testimonies. 
Here is an English civilian medical witness, speaking 
of some himdreds of Russians exchanged against German 
prisoners. 
" They hardly had the semblance of human beings. 
Anything more pathetic it is impossible to conceive. 
The}' came bent, dazed and limping. The less feeble 
4ielped the others to walk. Every man was emaciated 
to the last degree. Some had lost their wits and memories. 
They adx'anced slowly, \\-eakly and with their eyes on 
the ground, without a smile. No voice was raised in 
response to the cheers with w'hich they were greeted, 
and as the waiting people saw what they were like, the 
cheers died away and the awful procession went on in 
silence." 
Remember that is the sober testimony of a British, 
subject, highly educated and trained in medical work, 
and contrast what he has to say about the German 
prisoners whom tlie Russians had held and who were e.\- 
changed at the same time : 
" The contrast was almost ir^describable. There was 
not one German prisoner who was not in his full uni- 
form, which had been taken from him on his arrival 
in hospital, and carefully kept and returned to him 
clean on his discharge. The lame were without exception 
furnished with proper crutches. They were well nourished : 
they laughed and joked with us and among themselves." 
The whole thing is characteristic of this war. Of 
the gulf there is between the executioners of Prussia and 
.the State which it is their duty and also their necessity 
to destroy. 
Here is another Englishman out of many score wit- 
nesses : 
" At one of tlie factories " (that is, munition factories 
where these unfortunate men are compelled to produce 
that which will kill their brothers) " a prisoner who 
refused to work was shot point blank through the head. 
The bullet went straight through his head and came out at 
the back, killing tlie man on the spot." 
Here is another from a neutral witness : 
" Russian non-commissioned officers were told off on to 
a numition factory. On their refusal to work against 
their country, one of them was singled out and made to 
stand for seven hours every day with the sun shining in 
his eyes, and forbidden to move. At the slightest move- 
ment on his part he w-as prodded with the bayonet and 
beaten." 
Here is a Russian giving testimony : 
" In these munition works those who objected to work 
had liot irons applied to their bodies." 
Here is another, also Russian, who w-as compelled to 
work in the lines : 
" Twenty men refused to work. They were made to 
stand upright for 26 hours and on the second day we 
stood up with nothing on but our shirts and no food 
and drink. They submitted then." 
This bestial practice of starving merf into submission 
and of humiliating them by nakedness is pcculiari\' 
Prussian, ^'ou liud it occurring oxer and o\('r as^aiu 
