WW1 Internee -Theodor Wilhelm Schmidt

Interned at Stratford, transferred to Knockaloe where admitted on 21st August 1915 and given camp number 19543 and from December 1915 had a spell in the camp hospital diagnosed with cardiac debility and angina pectoris, then repatriated as an invalid via Stratford. There is only an extract in the note from Berlin complaining about treatment of various internees, there may be more still held in the German Archives at Koblenz. It would appear from this and other such documents that the German Government took sworn testimony from repatriated internees when they arrived back in Germany. Stratford Camp was a common source of complaints about the very poor accomodation. The crossing from Douglas to Liverpool was probably in the Tynwald.

[From TNA FO 383/162]

Text

Ship's cook Schmidt appears before the court and having been duly sworn states as following: My name is Theodor Wilhelm Schmidt. I was born at Altona. I am married. I am a ship's cook by profession.

I was at Stratford Camp from August 9th to the end of September 1915.

The place in which we were lodged was a dismantled factory and exceptionally unhealthy. The roof needed repair and let the water through, so that there were large pools on the floor; many of the beds even were thoroughly soaked.

The sleeping accomodation was in the highest degree dirty and injurious to health. We slept in bunks and had three blankets each. During my stay the straw mattresses were not renewed nor the blankets cleaned. Other people were put straight into bunks which had been used by sick prisoners.

The lavatory arrangements were primitive, the washing arrangements were extremely defective. There were 1,000 prisoners in the place and we had at the outside 40 washing basins. The bath arrangements were good in themselves but there were not enough baths and towels for the number of men.

The food was well cooked but insufficient. The tea in the morning was un palatable and the bread likewise. The mid-day meal consisted chiefly of Irish stew, sometimes we had soup as well. In the evening we again had unpalatable tea and bread.

A Doctor came once a day at mid-day. There was no real medical attention, however of the sick. One day I was screwed up with cramp pains in my heart and carried to the Doctor. The Doctor left me lying there without examining me and on the following day turned me out of the sick room.

My eyes meanwhile had got worse again, but the doctor refused to send me to the hospital, which, he said, was not intended for prisoners. Patients who were quite helpless were taken to the German Hospital where some of them died.

At Stratford we were made to work, having to carry cinders, collect stones and dig ditches. Even those who were ill had to work, although sometimes it was beyond their strength. We got no remuneration ...

On February 3rd, 1916 we were transfrerred from Knockaloe to Liverpool.

Our journey was as follows:- the prisoners who were ill and lay in bunks unable to walk, were hauled out, loaded on to an open cart and carried to the Station at Peel in pouring rain. The others were stuffed into a motor, one on top of the other, so to speak. When we arrived at Douglas the prisoners who were most ill had to lie about on the steamer in pouring rain without any protection whatsoever for half an hour. The crossing from Douglas to Liverpool was so bad that our small boat took in a lot of water. There were 192 of us prisoners, making with the escort a good 200 between decks. We were practically without any sitting accomodation during the journey. There were only a few benches which were occupied by those who who were most ill. The water entered our cabin in great quantities, so that we were standing in water all the time. The crossing lasted five hours. The cabin was unheated and stank. When we arrived at Liverpool one of our number was in extremis. From Liverpool we were taken by train to Stratford. During the train journey we were given each a cup of tea and a small biscuit. This was the only food we got. We arrived at Stratford about 10 p.m. There we were given bad tea, good bread, and some magerine. At Stratford we we lodged for the night in the Internment Camp described above, and we were given beds to sleep in which had been used by other persons and not cleaned. From Stratford we were taken to the port and carried to Flushing on a Dutch ship.

Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received The Editor HTML Transcription © F.Coakley , 2018