The
camp was practically deserted by the Germans and I understand
that the German doctor did not make as many visits to the camp
as the situation required.
At the time I visited the camp the typhus epidemic, of course,
had been stamped out. The Germans employed a large number of
police dogs in this camp and these dogs not only were used in
watching the outside of the camp in order to prevent the escape
of prisoners but also were used within the camp. Many complaints
were made to me by prisoners concerning these dogs, stating that
men had been bitten by them. It seemed undoubtedly true that the
prisoners there had been knocked about and beaten in a terrible
manner by their guards, and one guard went so far as to strike one
of the British medical officers. There were about thirty-seven
civilian prisoners in the camp who had been there all through
the typhus epidemic. I secured the removal of these civilian
prisoners to the general civilian camp at Ruhleben, and the
conditions at Wittenberg may be judged by the fact that when
it was announced to these civilians that they were to be taken
from Wittenberg to another camp one of them was so excited by
the news of release that he fell dead upon the spot.
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