Chapter 8

Instituting the Association's Four-fold Program in Prison Camps: From Saving the POW's Soul to "Keeping Body and Soul Together"

1 The Association program that Archibald C. Harte introduced and expanded in German prison camps was based on the "Four-fold" Program developed by the American YMCA before the war. The Association sought to improve young men, concentrating on the development of social, educational, religious, and physical skills to promote sound minds and bodies. The organization's inverted Red Triangle symbol reflected the three principles of the YMCA's welfare objectives: development of the body, mind, and spirit (the inverted triangle was supported by invisible hands, which indicated the Christian basis of the organization rather than depicting a standard triangle standing firmly on the ground). American and neutral WPA field secretaries established social and welfare services for war prisoners that reflected various dimensions of the Association's program. By the third year of the war, secretaries recognized the problems of troops who lived under military orders twenty-four hours a day. Soldiers had no privacy in their barracks or tents, and they were removed from ordinary life. Troops in the field did, however, receive regular passes, furloughs, and visits from time to time. These luxuries were not available to war prisoners. The POW was surrounded by barbed-wire stockades, and rare walks took prisoners into hostile country. Correspondence was strictly limited and controlled by censors. There was no privacy inside the prison camps, and POWs faced the possibility of starvation or insanity. Rather than allowing POWs to wallow in self-pity and idleness, the YMCA saw incarceration as an opportunity for these men to improve themselves and to leave the camps as better men for the experience.1

Educational Programs

2 One of the best means to combat boredom in prison camps was the prison camp library. Not only did books provide light entertainment to divert POWs' minds from their incarceration, but prisoners could also continue their studies or expand their skills through academic and professional texts. The American YMCA, the German YMCA, and the World's Alliance of YMCAs focused their resources on obtaining books for prison camp libraries. Several problems were associated with book acquisition. The supply of books in Slavic tongues was extremely limited for Central Power POWs in Allied prison camps. For Allied prisoners in German prison camps, however, there does not appear to have been as great a shortage of books in their native tongues. While books in Russian, Indian dialects, and Arabic may have been in short supply, the level of literacy of prisoners from areas where these languages were spoken was often relatively low, and thus the demand for books was limited.2

3 The greatest challenge to American secretaries attempting to purchase books for prison camp libraries was meeting German censorship requirements. The censors passed only pre-war books that did not address politically sensitive issues. Working through the German legation in Bern, the Association established an extensive book exchange system for POWs. Books for French prisoners in Germany were collected in France, and books for German POWs in France were obtained in Germany and passed through Switzerland. The German government provided a considerable sum of money for this exchange program, and the YMCA distributed the French books in Germany. Student prisoners in German POW camps checked off the books they desired from an approved list of textbooks, and the American YMCA provided these texts. The success of this program led to the establishment of similar exchange programs in Britain and Russia with Germany.3

4 The American YMCA had the most difficult time obtaining books in Russian for POWs in Germany. During the early part of the war, there was an acute shortage of these books. By September 1916, however, the Association was able to supply a total of 306,000 Russian texts and Scriptures directly to Russian prisoners. The YMCA also provided 56,700 Russian books to prison camp and hospital libraries. The most direct approach to solving the book shortage was for the Association to print Russian texts. In 1916, the German YMCA began publishing elementary Russian textbooks, while the American YMCA set up a Russian publishing firm in Bern, Switzerland. The shortage was further relieved by a shipment of 110 small libraries by Princess Helen of Altenburg from Russia as her personal contribution to Russian war prisoners.4 The American YMCA also scoured German bookstores for works in a wide range of Allied tongues. Between 1 August and 1 October 1917, the WPA Headquarters in Berlin shipped out 96,914 books in seventeen different languages, including Tartar, Turkish, Flemish, Finnish, Estonian, English, French, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, and Armenian. In addition, the World's Committee published a monthly magazine, The Messenger to the Prisoners of War, specifically for war prisoners. The World's Alliance published editions in English, French, Russian, and Italian, and these journals were freely distributed in German prison camps. The YMCA also helped support prison camp newspapers in many POW camps, including The Wooden City: A Journal for British Prisoners of War in Göttingen; Le Camp de Göttingen: Les Manuscripts non inseres ne sont pas rendus, also in Göttingen; The Barbed Wireless in Rastatt; The Rembahn Review in Münster II; The Döberitz Empire in Döberitz; and In Ruhleben Camp in Ruhleben. These newspapers gave prisoners a chance to liven up social life in the stockades, spread some gossip, and improve morale.5

5 The Deutsche Christlicher Studentenvereinigungen  (German Christian Student Union or DCSV) also played an important role in the POW book exchange program. The initial concern of Dr. Gerhard Niedermeyer and other Student Christian leaders was the welfare of German academics imprisoned in Russia. They provided these POWs with scholarly textbooks as Liebesgaben (charitable gifts) and Harte developed an exchange system with the Russian government. In the meantime, the DCSV began to collect and distribute professional literature for French, Russian, and English POWs in German prison camps. The Ministry of War approved this plan, which allowed students to continue their studies. The DCSV systematically set up libraries of technical books in several prison camps. The DCSV also collected German professional texts for German POWs in Allied prison camps, and was soon sending large consignments of books to prisoners in France and England. In conjunction with the American YMCA, the DCSV drew up wish-lists, which allowed academics to request special books required for their studies and research. The DCSV estimated that their program assisted approximately twenty thousand academics in continuing their research during their incarceration. By the spring of 1916, the American YMCA had received permission from the Russian government for the DCSV to prepare libraries for German POWs in European Russia and Siberia. The DCSV immediately sent three hundred libraries containing three hundred volumes in each set to Russia for use by students in POW camps. Thousands of books were to follow this initial shipment. However, this exchange program was not without problems. Under Russian regulations, bindings on books had to be removed prior to shipment to facilitate censorship inspection. As a result, the Association had to send along binding material, cardboard, cloth, and paste, so that the POWs could rebind the books once they received a shipment.6

6 Another key component of the Association's program to improve the mental condition of POWs was the introduction of education systems in prison camps. Education service varied greatly, depending on the backgrounds of the prisoners. A large percentage of Russian and Serbian POWs were illiterate and were interested in learning how to read (Conrad Hoffman estimated the illiteracy rate among these prisoners at between 75 and 85 percent). The Senior Secretary discovered that approximately 60 percent of the Italian prisoners in German POW camps were illiterate as well. The YMCA emphasized to these prisoners the importance of learning how to read. The most immediate benefit of reading and writing classes for illiterate POWs was their ability to write and receive letters from loved ones at home. This was a great source of joy for these men. By spending their time in captivity studying basic math and reading skills, these men could return home, get better jobs, and improve their families' standard of living. At Worms, Carl T. Michel found over one hundred illiterate Russians in a single company, and immediately set up a school with the support of the camp commandant. Camp officials provided rooms for classes, and the American YMCA provided textbooks. Michel reported that over 150 students enrolled when the school was opened.7

7 Association schools also catered to more advanced students. While the YMCA provided equipment to operate schools, the prisoners provided the labor to run the classes. Field secretaries sought volunteers from among the camp population who had experience as teachers, professors, or professionals to teach eager students. With the assistance of the secretary, the POWs formed an Education Committee as part of their camp's Association. Then the WPA Headquarters sent textbooks, office supplies, musical instruments, laboratory equipment, tools, and other necessary support. Sometimes schools started in the open air, but most camp commandants provided rooms, if not buildings, for YMCA-sponsored classes. The courses offered reflected the expertise of the prisoners in the camp. Most Association schools offered a variety of foreign languages, business skills, sciences, literature, mathematics, and vocational education. Prison camps often had over one thousand students attending the Association school; advanced students did not want to waste time during their incarceration. The Germans exempted imprisoned university students from labor detachments, which allowed them to continue their studies. Through the American YMCA, the prison camps at Ruhleben, Göttingen, Heidelberg, Dresden, Cottbus, and Villingen established special relationships with professors at neighboring universities. Professors agreed to teach classes and give lectures to advanced students. These universities and the Royal Library in Berlin even extended book-borrowing privileges to war prisoners. Advanced students also received special consideration from German officials. Forty-five French officers conducted scientific research in prison camps using equipment provided by the YMCA. Lieutenant Dr. Beszenoff, a Russian bacteriologist before the war, worked in a special laboratory in Frankfurt-am-Main during the war.8

8 The YMCA was also concerned with the large number of boys in German prison camps. When fathers received their mobilization orders for the Russian and Serbian armies, many of their under-aged sons joined them in the ranks and followed them into captivity. A large number of the young prisoners had run away from home to join the army-they wanted to drop out of school and join the great adventure. William Lawall noted the presence of these boys in most of the prison camps he visited. Most lacked supervision and were learning a variety of vices from the older soldiers. Due to their age and military experience, the Germans refused to exchange or repatriate these boys, since they could return to the ranks. As a result, Lawall approached the Ministry of War and recommended that all the youngsters in German prison camps be concentrated in one facility where the Association could set up a program for them. German officials welcomed the proposal, and the YMCA received the support of a Russian physician. The Germans had found these boys difficult to control and agreed that they should be segregated from the older men. By the fall of 1916, the Ministry of War decided to send the boys to Hammerstein, and asked the American YMCA to set up a school for them. These boys now had the opportunity to learn a trade so they could be gainfully employed once they returned home after the war. The American YMCA assumed responsibility for over 1,500 boys incarcerated at Hammerstein.9

9 Another special target group for Association education programs was seriously wounded and invalid prisoners. Most of these men would not be able to return to their pre-war trades. When they returned home without any means of making a living, they would be a burden on their communities; their families would suffer a lowered standard of living, since their primary bread-winner would no longer be employed. To avoid this, the YMCA strove to rehabilitate these prisoners by building up their physical condition and teaching them new skills. First, YMCA secretaries encouraged the POWs to play sports (especially volleyball) and exercise through gymnastics. Physical activity helped these men recuperate in the fresh air, regain some use of their wounded limbs, and learn how to accommodate their new disabilities. Lawall was instrumental in organizing Association invalid programs. At Hammerstein, Lawall established a school for crippled Russian prisoners in the summer of 1916. Approximately 85 percent of these men had been farmers before the war and would no longer be able to work in the fields. At this school, invalids learned shoemaking and tailoring skills. He then set up an invalid school at Schütt in the fall of 1916. The Germans assigned two thousand wounded and crippled Russian prisoners to this military hospital (the patient population had doubled by September 1917). At the Association school, these POWs learned to read, write, weave baskets, weave braid for straw hats, weave horse-hair for watch chains, and carve wood. For the YMCA, invalid rehabilitation was an important component of post-war reconstruction.10

Religious Services

10 Under the agreement with the German government, the American YMCA made no attempt to conduct sectarian religious services. The Association did, however, promote spiritual relief among depressed prisoners. WPA field secretaries provided an ecumenical service to POWs, opening the Association programs to all men, regardless of creed. YMCA huts were not only open for Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Jewish, and Muslim religious services, but space was specifically allocated for separate altars for each religion. When not in use, Association officials partitioned these sacred areas off from the general public to guarantee sanctity. For the general prison population, WPA secretaries offered non-sectarian religious and moral talks, usually on Sunday evenings. They also organized Bible study groups for weekday evenings to help prisoners translate religion into daily life. The field secretaries usually worked with the religion committee of the camp Association and the German military authorities to invite civilian priests or rabbis to the prison, or to support incarcerated clergy who could conduct services. These religion committees strove to increase attendance at church services and maintain the church when ministers or the Association secretary were unavailable. Red Triangle secretaries did lead Protestant church services for POWs in many prison camps (a large number of American secretaries were ordained ministers). They also conducted evangelistic campaigns among the Protestant POWs, which were open to other interested individuals. Hoffman and James E. Sprunger supervised a major revival at Ruhleben, and the Senior Secretary conducted drives in other camps. On a rainy night at one prison, Hoffman held a meeting in a large tent that contained British, French, and Russian POWs. Hoffman opened the evening with a moral talk and the singing of old Gospel songs. French and Russian prisoners soon gained interest in the activity and joined the English POWs. The American secretary remarked, "here it was unnecessary to 'go out to all nations and preach the Gospel,' for here all nations had come together."11

11 They sang hymns, read passages from the Bible, and closed the meeting with the Lord's Prayer. Then Hoffman offered the men hot chocolate and white bread for refreshments. He found the prison camps a fertile ground for religious work. In addition, the WPA field secretaries provided Bibles and spiritual tracts to all Christian prisoners. The American YMCA worked closely with the World's Sunday School Association, which had provided three hundred thousand New Testaments to POWs for the YMCA to distribute by July 1915. They then planned to get one million New Testaments for POWs through a nickel campaign. Harte requested Gospels in English, French, Russian, and Flemish to meet demand.12

12 The American YMCA focused a great deal of its religious work among the Orthodox POWs, particularly the Russian, Serbian, and Romanian prisoners. While French and Italian POWs had ready access to German Roman Catholic priests, the Orthodox prisoners were relatively isolated from spiritual comfort. Before the war, Mott had worked to gain access to Orthodox nations-although with few tangible results-as part of the YMCA's campaign to "evangelize the world in this generation." From an Association perspective, working with Eastern European POWs in the Central Power prison camps offered the opportunity to introduce the YMCA program at the grass roots level. While the secretaries hoped to imbue the Association spirit in as many Russians as possible, and possibly even attract future secretaries (the YMCA recognized that native secretaries were more readily accepted than foreign Red Triangle workers), their primary goal was to build friendships and name recognition among these prisoners. When these men returned home, they would remember the Association's work. In the future, when a Foreign Work secretary arrived in their hometowns, it was hoped that the former POWs would welcome the organization and help get it started in Orthodox countries.13

13 The Association supported Russian Orthodox services in a number of important ways. Many Russian prisoners sent in requests for religious mementos to the YMCA. The Petrograd WPA Office sent three hundred thousand icons and small crosses donated by Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna to the Berlin office for distribution among Russian POWs in Germany. The American YMCA also presented Russian Gospels and Scriptures to prisoners upon request. More importantly, the Association supported Orthodox religious services in German prison camps by supplying Orthodox ritual books to priests through the YMCA office in Stockholm. Through extensive diplomatic negotiations, the Association was able to procure antimensia (special altar cloths essential for Orthodox church rituals). These cloths could not be procured in Germany because they were required to be produced under strict religious standards. The antimension had to be blessed by the Bishop of the Greek Church in Petrograd, and could not be touched by any lay people once consecrated. But shipping antimensia to Germany for use in POW camps presented difficulties, since German customs and censorship authorities insisted on examining all incoming packages. Such an investigation would violate the sanctity of the altar cloths. The YMCA negotiated a solution to this dilemma. The Russian Holy Synod agreed to bless and deliver a dozen antimensia in a carefully sealed package carried by a Russian Red Cross sister. Hoffman met the sister at the frontier, accompanied by an Orthodox priest. The Russian clergyman opened the package in the presence of German officials for visual inspection. Once approved, the cloths continued their journey to prison camps, so that thousands of Orthodox prisoners could enjoy religious services.14

14 Celebration of the Christmas season was another important facet of Association work on behalf of POWs in Germany. The yuletide season fostered depression among the prisoners, who were far from home and yearned for their families. Hoffman and Sprunger were limited in what they could accomplish for POWs during the first Christmas season of their work in December 1915, but the expanded force of American secretaries strove to spread Christmas cheer to as many prisoners as possible the following year. Michel noted that, as the holidays approached, some men asked for passes to cross the border as presents, which demonstrated they still had a sense of humor. Several Allied officers were willing to pay a small fortune for a turkey or goose for their Christmas dinner, but such delicacies were becoming rare in Germany at any price. The WPA Office in Berlin prepared well in advance for Christmas. The office workers sent out hundreds of entertainment boxes to prison camps for distribution to labor detachments. Each box contained several games and one or two musical instruments. The YMCA conducted a Christmas card design contest among the POWs, and the Association had 10,000 copies of the winning entry printed. These cards were then distributed among the POWs to send back home. Thousands of other Christmas cards followed for posting by the prisoners. The YMCA also had thousands of specially designed New Year's cards produced for Russian and Polish prisoners. The WPA field secretary in Saxony, E. O. Jacob, conducted similar operations for POWs in Saxon prison camps.15

15 Foreign welfare agencies took advantage of the American WPA secretaries' direct contact with prisoners during the Christmas season. Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden sent thousands of gifts and photo-cards with pictures of the princess and her children with Christmas greetings to war prisoners recovering in infirmaries. A Russian countess donated five hundred Marks to the American YMCA for secretaries to purchase sausage in Denmark for two hundred sick and crippled Russian POWs in a military hospital in Berlin. Another man gave three thousand Marks, with which the Association bought sausages and tea in Denmark for over six thousand Russian prisoners in another lazarette. On January 7, Orthodox Christmas Day, American secretaries distributed these parcels along with other gifts. They also provided Christmas trees with electric lights and a gramophone with Russian records for a concert. The Swedish and Norwegian National YMCA Councils sent thousands of presents to needy Russian prisoners to remind them that they were remembered during the holidays. In addition, relief organizations in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark sent thousands of individual parcels for the Association to distribute among the more than three hundred refugee children at the internment camp at Holzminden in Prussia.16

16 Individual secretaries did all they could to spread Christmas cheer. One American secretary hired an automobile and played Santa Claus. He drove between working detachments in his region, giving gramophone concerts and distributing books, pictures, games (chess, dominoes, lotto, and Halma), puzzles, mouth organs, Jews' harps, accordions, cigarettes, chocolate, small parcels, and Christmas cards as presents. A senior Russian prisoner passed the hat to give the secretary a small token of their appreciation as a Christmas present. Other secretaries purchased oranges and apples for the sick prisoners they visited. They arranged special seasonal concerts, vaudeville performances, lantern-slide lectures, and religious services. In several prison camps, the YMCA provided Christmas candles, trees, and bags of fruit. For example, the WPA field secretary assigned to Württemberg supplied the Christmas trees for the Allied prisoners in the military hospital in Stuttgart.

17 The candles that added the magical touch to Christmas trees were especially difficult for Hoffman to find for the Christmas 1917 celebrations. Because fat had virtually disappeared from the German market by this time, candles were a challenge to obtain. The Senior Secretary was able to procure over two thousand candles during the year, which permitted the WPA Office in Berlin to send each prison camp in Germany a few candles. In addition, the YMCA sent wine and bread to camps so that the POWs could celebrate High Mass during the Christmas services. The secretaries also promoted the Christmas spirit among the incarcerated by encouraging Association Welfare Committees to remember the needy prisoners among them. At Dyrotz, British POWs saved part of their food parcel supplies for several weeks as Christmas gifts for poor Russian POWs. In an officers' camp, the men collected 7,500 Marks to purchase gifts for deserving privates in other prisons. At Ruhleben, the internees collected four hundred pairs of woolen socks for poor Serbian POWs. The American YMCA distributed Christmas presents to as many Russian, Serbian, and Romanian prisoners as possible. In some camps, the Association set up a lottery system where lucky POWs could win oranges, apples, gingerbread (Lebkuchen), cigarettes, Christmas cards, or crucifixes. Serbian prisoners at Halbe appreciated the American YMCA's Christmas cheer, echoing the other POWs in their fervent Christmas wishes for peace and the chance to return home.17

18 Hoffman reported on his own efforts to spread Christmas cheer among the POWs in the vicinity of Berlin. On Christmas Eve in 1916, Hoffman and four Russian doctors visited a military hospital for Christmas celebrations. A sea of sick and wounded prisoners included English, French, and Russian men, along with one lonely Senegalese. Two Christmas trees with lighted candles were the highlight of the festivities. Hoffman described the scene:

One instinctively felt the effort being made to drive away those painful thoughts of the loved ones at home, to replace by temporary distraction the yearning in the hearts of many. For these men, there was no Christmas dinner. For many it was their third Christmas in prison.18

19 After the entertainment, Hoffman visited those POWs too sick to leave their beds. He wished he could have given them eggs, milk, bread, or fruit, but the Allied blockade made these items too scarce. On Christmas Day, Hoffman took his four-year old daughter, Louise, to visit Ruhleben. He never realized the "heart hunger" of these men until he saw their response to the first child they had seen in almost three years. She ran around the Association hall and men came from all over the camp to see the miracle of a child. Many cried, others stood in line for the chance to have her sit on their laps, and most were able to forget the bitterness of imprisonment in the thoughts of their little ones at home.19

20 Christmas 1917 was even more difficult for Hoffman. The WPA program was hampered by the loss of American secretaries after the United States entered the war and replacement secretaries from neutral nations were slow in arriving. As an enemy alien, Hoffman no longer enjoyed unlimited prison camp visitation. All he could do was invite his Sunday School class to his rooms for a little Christmas entertainment. He had saved enough sweets from his rations to give each guest two pieces of candy, an apple, and a small piece of cake. He also put away cocoa and a can of condensed milk for the celebrations (although his guests had to bring along their own cups). The Senior Secretary had a difficult time deciding on gifts for his friends, especially since inflation had increased prices so much in Germany. "Old rubbish that had been stored away for years was commanding staggering prices," he wrote. For Hoffman, December 1917 was a difficult Christmas, since his hands were tied when POWs were in their greatest need.20

21 The American YMCA did not forget German guards during the Christmas season. Hoffman had a budget of two thousand Marks, which the Association used to bring these men-"many just as lonely and homesick as the prisoners of war"-a little Christmas joy. The YMCA distributed Christmas parcels to these lonely guards that included games, musical instruments, and Christmas candles. The Association also made sure that other German officials were not forgotten. The YMCA sent cigarettes to labor detachment guards, and cigars to bureaucrats in administrative departments. While "Y" officials recognized that maintaining good relations with German authorities was important, this service to guards during the holidays was given in the spirit of the season.21

22 The American YMCA spared no expense to make the Christmas season as festive as possible for Allied POWs in Germany during the war. For Christmas 1916, the Berlin WPA Office distributed 1,700 games, 1,650 candles and holders, 165 musical instruments, 4,500 cigarettes, and 1,100 cigars to POWs in prison camps across the breadth of the German Empire. For the millions of Allied prisoners incarcerated across Germany, these gifts barely met their needs, although the Association sought to supply presents that would benefit as many men as possible through Christmas tree decorations, games, and music. Due to the Allied blockade, Red Triangle secretaries found it difficult to obtain supplies that could be distributed as Christmas presents, but prisoners appreciated even the smallest gifts as they passed through the Yuletide far from family and friends. In December 1917, the American YMCA spent two hundred thousand Marks on Christmas supplies alone. Hoffman recognized the Association's efforts were but "a drop in the bucket if all the prisoners of war were to be reached."22

23 Another aspect of the Association's spiritual program was relief from mental anguish through communication between POWs and their families. Under the Hague Agreements, POWs in Germany could send two letters a month and one postcard per week from the camps, and were entitled to receive unrestricted correspondence. Letter writing was supported in a number of ways. At a personal level, WPA field secretaries encouraged prisoners to write home by providing stationery and postage-paid envelopes. They often visited hospitals and wrote letters home for incapacitated patients. At Czersk, Lawall worked among three thousand sick and wounded Russian POWs and helped them communicate their situation to their families. Prisoners often feared that inaccurate information about their condition could cause their loved ones unnecessary pain. A naval officer at Worms who had escaped the sinking of his warship was frantic because he had received no news from home. Michel arranged to have a cable sent via the Netherlands to assure the officer's family that he was safe. Secretaries provided letter-writing services to illiterate prisoners, but also encouraged them to learn to read and write so they could correspond directly. At the national level, the YMCA maintained an extensive POW information bureau in the belligerent nations' capitals. These administrative bodies provided POW families with information regarding the physical condition and location of their incarcerated loved ones, and offered services such as the transmission of money and correspondence. Maintaining contact with friends and family helped POWs maintain a healthy mental attitude.23

Social Services and Entertainment

24 Another important element of the Association's Four-fold Program was entertainment for POWs. Mental diversions allowed POWs to temporarily forget about the situation they faced. Music was one of the most important parts of this service. The American YMCA provided a variety of musical instruments and sheet music so that the POWs could organize orchestras, bands, and choirs. Between March 1915 and June 1917, the American YMCA spent twenty thousand Marks on musical instruments for POWs in Germany. Once organized, bands, choruses, and orchestras provided evening performances for the POWs and the guards, as well as music for religious services, at theatrical performances, and at funerals. Most camps had talented musicians among the ranks who worked hard to develop the music programs. Not only did they lead the bands and orchestras, they offered lessons to POWs, who were eager to learn how to play a variety of instruments. The prisoners could draw up a wish list of instruments and musical scores and send it through the YMCA field secretary to the WPA Office in Berlin. At Döberitz, the POWs organized the "Prisoners' International Orchestra," and the Association provided a cornet, flute, French horn, violoncello, castanets, and a tambourine to fill out the orchestra. The Association sent an organ and stringed instruments to the officers' prison camp at Werl for Russian prisoners. At Königsbrück in Saxony, Jacob equipped a Serbian gypsy orchestra, while Michel organized and equipped an orchestra at Worms. The YMCA also provided sheet music for the chorus at Schneidemühl, which allowed the prisoners to produce a show that greatly helped improve camp morale. Often, the musical talents of field secretaries helped ease prisoners' suffering. Michel reported that POWs at Friedberg took special comfort in his music. The benefits of music could even be extended to far-flung labor detachments by sending musical instruments and scores to POWs at work sites. Michel pointed out that "music, especially singing, had charms to soothe, cheer, and bless" the hapless prisoner of war.24

25 Handicrafts also diverted many prisoners from wasting idleness. The American YMCA provided tools and raw materials so that POWs in the prison camps, military hospitals, and labor detachments could participate in wood carving, leather work, basket weaving, carpentry, furniture making, book binding, needle work, toy making, flower arrangement, and a variety of other hobbies. These crafts not only helped pass the time, but also improved prisoners' quality of life. The Association set up workshops in prison camps, where trained artisans taught apprentices. These trainees returned to civilian life with new skills and improved their families' living standards. Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden arranged for an exhibition of POW handicrafts in Stockholm in 1916. At the end of the bazaar, the articles were sold to the public, which gave the prisoners some additional income. The sale was scheduled to last for three days, but it ended after the opening day because every article had been sold. The next year, POW handicraft exhibitions followed in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.25

26 Association WPA field secretaries also played an important role in entertaining the POWs. The American YMCA provided a wide range of equipment to ease the monotony in prison camps and hospitals. Secretaries carried gramophones and a library of records so they could set up an impromptu gramophone concert on demand. Stereopticons, radiopticons, and lantern slides also supported lectures on a wide variety of topics. Probably the most popular of all YMCA entertainments was motion pictures. Secretaries brought mobile motion picture projectors to camps, set up sheets on the side of a barrack, and showed American movies in the open air for as many POWs as possible. When German authorities decided to encourage prisoners to work on labor detachments by banning all amusements in the prison camps, it was a major blow to WPA secretaries, but early in 1917 the Germans reversed their decision and again permitted motion picture performances.26

27 The Association hut was the center of social life in German prison camps. Most featured a game room where POWs played a variety of games including chess, checkers, dominoes, Halma, cards, and lotto. The Entertainment Committee often organized chess tournaments with prizes for the winners. These games helped prisoners pass the time and cheered their hearts. The POWs also set up organizations like debate clubs, which addressed important issues. The YMCA also provided a great deal of support for theatrical societies in prison camps. Most Association halls had a stage, and the WPA Office in Berlin sent scripts, costumes, and stage props to theater companies operated by Allied prisoners. Secretaries helped organize stunt programs and comical performances in addition to serious dramatic presentations. Entertainment helped to break the monotony of camp life and promoted a cheerful atmosphere, even if only for a short time.27

Physical Relief Services

28 The fourth pillar of the Association's program was physical fitness. This was especially important among POWs because the maintenance of their health was the key to their survival during their incarceration. The physical element of the Red Triangle program was based on athletic competition and exercise. The German authorities required POWs to participate in drill and gymnastic exercises, but the YMCA provided a wide range of athletic equipment so the men could also participate in sports. WPA field secretaries provided soccer balls, tennis equipment, volleyballs, basketballs, ice skates, and baseball equipment. The secretaries and athletic committees in the camps then organized teams and set up leagues, complete with championships and prizes. Field secretaries arranged with commandants to allow prisoners on parole to take walks outside the camp barbed wire. Walking excursions were important not only from a physical perspective, but also promoted mental health among the POWs by providing them a change of venue. During their prison camp visits, American secretaries sometimes recommended changes in prisoner exercise regimens because of deficient standards. At Werl, Olandt reported that the space for outdoor exercises was far too limited. He suggested to the camp commandant that German authorities rent a nearby walled garden, which could serve as a tennis court or playground. The commandant accepted the recommendation, and French, British, and Belgian officers were soon enjoying tennis matches. This exercise resulted in a decided improvement in their general condition.28

29 Association secretaries also addressed the problems of sick prisoners. While this type of relief fell under the purview of the Red Cross, the YMCA still took an interest in offering these men as much assistance as possible. WPA field secretaries visited POWs in military hospitals and offered them entertainment, reading material, religious books, cigarettes, and delicacies. Secretaries had dentists visit the camps; Michel had a prisoner's false teeth repaired at Darmstadt, which helped the POW eat properly. Association secretaries also tried to procure special food and fruit to augment the diets of sick prisoners. This was a difficult service because the Allied blockade caused a drastic food shortage in Germany. Where food was available, it could be obtained only at high prices. As a result, secretaries distributed oranges, apples, oatmeal, and bacon to ill POWs whenever such supplies were available. Secretaries also visited disabled and seriously sick prisoners who were about to be exchanged to Switzerland or Sweden. They provided them with a few comforts before their long trip and give them last words of encouragement and farewell. The secretaries strove to make their trip from Germany as cheerful as possible, and tried to ensure that their last thoughts were of the YMCA.

30 Most importantly, the secretaries did everything in their power to combat the mental suffering that POWs experienced. Hoffman lamented that in one prison camp where the Association had set up an extensive program, eighty-eight men still went insane, totally or partially. The primary objective of the YMCA's WPA program was to make sure that these unfortunate men survived the war, physically, morally, and mentally.29

31 One way to improve the chances of prisoner survival was for their families and government authorities to send money directly to the POWs. With money, prisoners purchased food on the local market to supplement or diversify their meager diets. Most families were loath to send cash through the mails because they feared the money would not reach their loved ones. To solve this problem, the American YMCA became an agent for the transmission of money. Because the Association had earned the confidence of the belligerent nations' governments and had both communications with most European capitals and direct contact with the prisoners, families could send money to the WPA Headquarters in their country and office staff would cable the cash to the WPA Office in the country where their family member was held. This office would have the prisoners' current address, and would dispatch a secretary to deliver the money during his visits. Most money was sent between Germany and Russia, although some cash was transmitted between Germany and France or Britain. German families sent several hundreds of thousands of Marks to European Russia and Siberia, in installments of five to one hundred Marks. Between March 1915 and June 1917, the American YMCA cabled 627,426 Marks, including three hundred thousand Marks from the German government, to German and Austrian POWs in Russia. From Russia, the American YMCA forwarded 108,000 Marks to Russian prisoners in Germany. The bulk of this sum was contributed by Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (approximately ninety-eight thousand Marks), and the remainder came from Russian families. The Association also distributed money from the Polish Commission and other foreign governments.30

The American YMCA and the Prisoners' Welfare Council

32 The original American YMCA proposal for providing relief to POWs in belligerent nations rested on the principle that Association secretaries would provide moral assistance, not physical relief. Red Triangle workers promoted physical recreation, mental occupations and diversions, and wholesome social relationships. At the Geneva Conference in January 1916, WPA representatives from Allied and Central Power countries agreed that the shipment of food parcels to Central Europe was outside the scope of the organization. Eventually, worsening conditions in Germany and Austria-Hungary forced the YMCA to change its mission objectives.31

33 The American YMCA realized by May 1916 that, in spite of all the mental and spiritual comfort they could provide Allied POWs in Germany, the starvation creeping across the country would result in the deaths of thousands of prisoners unless steps were taken to alleviate it. The Allied blockade of Germany and the Dual Monarchy was established early in the war, and included foodstuffs as well as raw materials. Under the Hague Agreements, POWs were to receive the same rations as troops of the same rank of the captive power. The Germans met this requirement during the early part of the war, but as the effects of the blockade began to affect the empire, the Germans had to cut back on domestic food allocation. The government set up a food rationing program and progressively reduced food allowances to POWs as well as the German civilian population. Only front-line troops and war industry employees received priority rations. As stated earlier, the Red Cross Societies of Britain, France, and Russia were responsible for the physical well being of their nationals held in Central Power POW camps. In addition, the Western Allied governments established official relief agencies to ease the suffering of the prisoners in Central Europe. The Central Committee in London arranged for British prisoners to receive three ten-pound food parcels fortnightly, as well as supplies of clothing.

34 French and Belgian POWs also received biscuits and bread on a regular basis, while French prisoners benefited from a number of relief agencies established on their behalf. In addition, private charities and individuals provided food and clothing, especially to Western prisoners. On the other hand, Russian, Serbian, Romanian, and Italian prisoners suffered grievously from the lack of food supplements. Despite reports in the Allied press to the contrary, Hoffman believed that the Germans made every effort to make sure that prisoners received their food parcels and prosecuted guards who stole food from the mails. Despite this aid, the food situation continued to worsen. The Association decided it was imperative for the organization to extend as much assistance as possible to starving POWs so they could survive the war.32

35 The American YMCA attacked the problem of food shortages at several levels. Individual secretaries supplemented POW diets wherever possible. As the war dragged on, the supply of food available at reasonable prices fell dramatically, which prevented secretaries from purchasing additional food. Association field secretaries also worked closely with camp welfare committees to collect food and clothing for distribution to needy prisoners. At Worms, Michel and Russian trustees packaged six hundred parcels of articles purchased for their fellow-captives at the suggestion of the camp commandant. These packets contained handkerchiefs, socks, toothbrushes, and drinking glasses. Russian prisoners then lined up outside the barrack by companies, and when a trustee read their name from a list, they filed singly into the building. They then turned in a signed card and received a parcel. The last company was composed primarily of crippled prisoners who gratefully received their donations. Michel planned to continue to provide packets to needy prisoners as long as he could obtain supplies.33

36 In spite of the efforts of individual WPA field secretaries and camp welfare committees, their resources were extremely limited. The terrible conditions in Central and Eastern Europe forced the American YMCA to seek relief at the international level. In May 1916, Harte recognized that the food supply in Germany was becoming insufficient to meet POW needs. While the quantity of rations met survival levels, the monotony of the prison diet had an adverse impact on prisoners. The International General Secretary concluded that the YMCA had to do something to supplement POW fare. Darius A. Davis called a conference in June to discuss this issue in reference to French POWs, and met with a representative of the German government. The Association sought to have an American or neutral YMCA secretary supervise the distribution of bread among French prisoners, which the French government shipped to German prison camps. After several rounds of correspondence, the Germans accepted Harte to supervise this operation. Mott and the International Committee agreed to finance the personnel to implement this plan, and the French government promised to pay all traveling expenses for them. The French requested that the International Committee dispatch eight secretaries to take over the bread distribution program in Germany. Despite the potential of this arrangement, the plan collapsed when the German Ministry of War disapproved of several of the proposed secretaries and the ministry failed to take definite action in authorizing the service. By December 1916, the American secretaries gave up hope of establishing a food distribution service for French POWs in Germany in conjunction with the French and German governments.34

37 The American YMCA also negotiated with the German government to establish Red Triangle canteens in prison camps. Davis assured the Germans that the French government would reciprocate by allowing the YMCA to set up canteens for German prisoners in French prison camps. The Association operated canteens at cost for Allied soldiers. The YMCA provided the initial capital to stock the stores and required canteen managers to charge patrons the cost of the items purchased plus a small mark-up to support welfare operations. This was not a relief program, in that goods were not given out freely. But by selling products at cost, store managers could purchase additional stock to keep the service up and running. The German Ministry of War was very interested in getting the American YMCA to establish canteens in prison camps in Russia, and put 150,000 Marks at the Association's disposal. German military commanders were concerned about the welfare of their nationals suffering in Siberia and recognized that the YMCA's canteen system would improve the lot of these men. Unfortunately, the canteen system was not fully developed in Germany, to the detriment of Allied prisoners. Problems with delivering supplies, along with German government reluctance to admit that they did not meet the physical needs of their POWs, hindered an extensive development of canteens in Germany. Instead, WPA field secretaries helped prisoners set up food cooperatives on a less formal basis. The WPA sent food to these organizations in German prison camps, where the welfare committees then sold the food at prices slightly above cost to prisoners who had the resources make purchases. The welfare committee identified needy POWs who would receive food supplements from the cooperative's supplies for free. Through this process, the cooperatives could purchase additional food supplies while providing an important service to poor prisoners who needed additional nourishment to survive.35

38 These obstacles did not deter Harte. After his appointment as International General Secretary, he focused on the problem of increasing the food supplies to prisoners in Germany, the Dual Monarchy, and Russia. In May 1915, Harte made a special journey to Denmark to procure food parcels for British and Canadian prisoners in Germany and arrange for regular food deliveries. During his second tour of Russia in the fall of 1915, he mailed the names of Central Power POWs who did not receive any food parcels from family or friends to New York. He proposed that Americans send food packages weighing less than ten pounds postage-free to Russia for these unfortunates. He planned to forward one hundred thousand names of needy prisoners, and relied on the Christian charity of Americans to meet this challenge. These efforts marked the beginning of Association food parcel distribution to POWs in Central and Eastern Europe. The primary difficulty was gaining the cooperation of the belligerent governments. Harte's solution was to establish a food relief committee under the patronage of Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden to supervise the delivery of food parcels. He found numerous German prison camp commandants who supported this humanitarian proposal. Harte also promoted the idea of sending raw materials such as cloth for trousers, material for underwear, and leather for shoes directly to prisoners. The production of these goods would give the POWs a source of employment, help itinerant prisoners learn a trade, and provide the inmates with goods that they desperately needed. The national YMCA committees in Germany, Austria, and Russia supported this plan and urged the International Committee to finance the project.36

39 Crown Princess Margaret agreed to act as patroness of the proposed organization, and a system was set up in September 1916. Association secretaries inspected incoming food deliveries at the palace in Stockholm and repacked them for reshipment and distribution to individual POWs. Diplomatic entanglements delayed the full implementation of the program until all of the Allied and Central Power governments accepted the plan. The British were the last to approve the proposal, in February 1917, when the YMCA was able to finally press ahead. By November 1916, Harte had established a WPA Office in Copenhagen and rented a warehouse for the storage and shipment of food parcels to Germany and Austria-Hungary. An American YMCA secretary, E. G. Wilson, supervised the food relief operations in Copenhagen. The warehouse in Denmark could accommodate sixty tons of food in preparation for reshipment to prison camps. The Association received permission from the Danish government to purchase food from local sources and import provisions from neutral countries for reshipment to war prisoners. This was a major concession on the part of the Danish government. The Allies had greatly reduced exports to Denmark as part of the Allied blockade strategy to prevent the reshipment of food and raw materials to Germany through neutral ports. To support this program, the German government remitted all postal charges and tariffs on articles imported for the benefit of Allied prisoners. In addition, the YMCA staff in Copenhagen could forward books, mail, and gifts from friends in small quantities to war prisoners. The Association maintained a file regarding correspondence with the Russian Red Cross in Petrograd. The YMCA sent thousands of food parcels from Stockholm and Copenhagen to Germany on a monthly basis. By June 1917, the WPA had sent twenty-six thousand individual parcels to Germany from Copenhagen. This number steadily grew as Wilson reported that he was shipping thirty thousand parcels from the Danish warehouse on a monthly basis by the beginning of 1918. Had adequate resupply networks been available to stock the warehouse in Copenhagen, Wilson estimated that the YMCA could have shipped one hundred thousand food parcels per month by the end of the war.37

40 Russian, Serbian, Romanian, Armenian, and Italian prisoners were at the greatest risk of starvation. Their governments were overwhelmed by the war effort and simply lacked the resources to send food. Political disorganization in these countries further exacerbated a bad situation. Even before their country was overrun by the Central Power allies, the Serbian government had forbidden the forwarding of food parcels outside the kingdom's borders. As a result, Slavic and Italian POWs had to survive solely on German food rations, and they suffered intensely. Hoffman reported that thirty to forty Russian and Romanian POWs were dying daily from starvation in the lazarette at Tuchel by the end of 1917. Lacking nourishment, the Slavic and Italian POWs became despondent and refused to participate in Association activities. They could not see the logic in learning how to read or developing a new trade if they would not survive their imprisonment. In response to pleas from the WPA field secretary to participate, they retorted with the demand, "Give us bread!"

41 Jacob faced a similar situation in Saxony. He was interrupted during an address to Russian POWs by a prisoner who complained, "Why does this man come all the way here to talk to us about services, school and music? Let him look after our stomachs; that's where our needs are now!"38 Jacob responded with a biblical reference: "My friend, you will remember that our Lord once went forty days and forty nights without food. Was it His stomach that He obeyed first at the end of that time?"39 The American secretary recognized that physical relief was essential to secure the gains the Association had made among POWs, but religious work was the only solace he could give these men.40

42 The situation among Italian prisoners in Germany was equally bad. After the Battle of Caporetto in October 1917, the Italian government was loath to send relief aid to POWs in Germany and Austria-Hungary because they considered many of the prisoners deserters. By early 1918, the food shortage had resulted in knife fights between Italian POWs over bowls of soup. Association secretaries noted Italian prisoners scouring garbage dumps for scraps of food; some even resorted to eating grass. As a result, WPA field secretaries sent the names and addresses of destitute Slavic and Italian prisoners to the WPA Offices in Copenhagen and Stockholm so that aid could be provided to these unfortunates to help them survive the war. To ease the plight of Italian prisoners, the International Committee cabled $35,000 to finance food parcel shipments from Copenhagen. In January 1918, the WPA organizations in Denmark and Sweden shipped 150 tons of food to Central Europe, but there were too many prisoners for such a small amount of food to make much difference.41

43 To solve the food shortage problems among POWs in Germany, the American YMCA realized that it was imperative for relief organizations to formulate a comprehensive plan. The Allied blockade threatened to starve out a large number of Allied POWs along with undermining Germany's war effort. The International Committee decided in August 1916, after consultations with members of the Wilson Administration and international lawyers, that a large-scale plan had to be conceived, financed, negotiated, and implemented. It was clear that the United States was the only country with the resources to provide food on a large scale. The International Committee helped establish a joint committee, called the Prisoners' Welfare Council, composed of the American YMCA, the Rockefeller Commission, and the American Red Cross in New York. The American Red Cross and the Rockefeller Commission had already taken steps to set up a similar food export system to Poland to help alleviate starvation in the East. Ernest P. Bicknell of the American Red Cross and Wickliffe Rose of the Rockefeller Commission helped establish the Commission for the Relief of Poland, and these organizations recognized the dangers prisoners faced in Central and Eastern Europe from starvation. These relief organizations had a great interest in providing physical relief to needy prisoners.

44 The Prisoners' Welfare Council consisted of four members: a chairman and a representative from each of the three major social welfare organizations. The committee members asked Mott to serve as the council's chairman, and the Executive Committee selected Harte to serve as the American YMCA's representative. The American YMCA would not have to put up any money for this program because the Rockefeller Foundation agreed to finance the start-up and overhead expenses, and the belligerent governments were willing to provide the operating funds. According to Ambassador James W. Gerard, the Rockefeller Foundation promised to pay $300,000 for the initial costs and agreed to place another $200,000 toward a general fund of $1 million to be used as working capital to buy supplies to supplement the diets of war prisoners. The objective of this committee was to export food, clothing, medical supplies, and blankets from the United States and other neutral nations to Central and Eastern Europe.42

45 The joint American relief committee then began a long and tedious series of negotiations between neutral and belligerent governments to put their plan into action. Harte conducted most of the negotiations in Europe and had to surmount several significant obstacles. He had to secure a pledge from the German government that all food shipped as part of this plan would go only to Allied prisoners. In addition, the Germans had to promise to maintain their current level of rations for POWs and not reduce food allocations as supplemental food arrived. These conditions were essential to persuade the Allies to accept the plan. Without these guarantees, the Germans could have used POW relief shipments to circumvent the blockade. Neutral governments also had to receive assurances that POW food shipments would not affect the import quotas established by the Allies as part of the blockade. By April 1917, the negotiations appeared to have reached a successful conclusion. The German government had agreed to British conditions in writing, and the American, Danish, Swedish, and Dutch governments decided to support the program. At the last minute, however, the scheme collapsed due to two crucial factors. The British Admiralty pressed the government not to weaken the blockade against the Central Powers, even if it meant starvation for a large number of Allied prisoners. As a result, the British government failed to sanction the final scheme, and the blockade remained in full force. More importantly, the entry of the United States into the war eliminated any available space for foodstuffs for POWs aboard American merchant ships. The U.S. government threw all of its resources behind the Allied cause, including surplus food supplies. Without access to American foodstuffs, and with no partial lifting of Allied blockade regulations, the European neutrals could not meet POW relief demands.43

46 The collapse of the Prisoners' Welfare Council's relief plan was a major blow to the WPA field secretaries. They had hoped to renew interest in Association programs among POWs by meeting their basic needs for sustenance. The failure of the plan had an even greater impact on Slavic prisoners. At one prison camp in Germany, Russian POWs had ordered eighty thousand Marks worth of food from the YMCA to meet the prisoners' needs for one month in anticipation of the plan going into effect. WPA field secretaries had to return their money because the food supplies were simply unavailable. While Harte continued to negotiate with belligerent governments throughout the course of the war, the continued lack of American shipping space made the plan unfeasible. As a result, Association secretaries had to continue to muddle through by purchasing local food supplies whenever possible and relying on scanty food parcel shipments from Copenhagen and Stockholm to help needy prisoners survive the war.44

47 Over the course of three years, the American YMCA's primary objective in Germany changed dramatically. Though originally sent to address the symptoms of "barbed-wire disease," as physical conditions deteriorated terribly in prison camps due to the Allied blockade, secretaries shifted the focus of their work. Their first efforts focused on making incarceration profitable for prisoners from a social and economic perspective, but eventually altered to striving to keep POWs in good enough physical shape to simply survive the war. The Red Triangle workers were about to face yet another major change in their objectives as Germany decided to renew unrestricted submarine warfare around the British Isles in January 1917. In the meantime, American secretaries set up similar WPA operations in Austria-Hungary. The next chapter will examine the Red Triangle relief work for Allied POWs in the Dual Monarchy.

<< Chapter 7 | Chapter 9 >>

<< Chapter 7 | Chapter 9 >>