4 Mart 2019 Pazartesi

TNT Matchbox Diary: A Turkish POW in Russian Prison Camp (1915-1918)/Part XXXII

//Ed. Note: Money woes trouble Fuad Bey as June 1916 
ends.  Nevertheless, 2 Austrian POW soldiers are sent
to Fuad Bey's house as servants (!) for the officer POWs
there.  An Arab Ottoman captain causes an uproar in the
house, too.//

 vetluga russia ile ilgili görsel sonucu
                  A Russian Orthodox church in Vetluga.


21 June 1916 Wednesday
After morning tea, I worked on completing the family history that I 
couldn’t finish at Sarıkamış. We played games a bit and chatted. We 
heard that in the afternoon we would go to the Command and get some 
money as an advance. Our salaries will be given to us on Friday. After
lunch we went to the Command, our names were read off and they 
gave everyone an account receipt with our names on it. Then they took
it back. They did some other things we didn’t understand. Then they 
calculated the 60 rubles we got  as three salaries at Sarıkamış and 
although this was really 50 rubles they cut 30 rubles from us saying it 
was extra. So, in short, we went empty handed and left the same way.
We’re being very badly affected by the lack of money. Since we 
didn’t have any evening bread, we borrowed from someone and ate.

22 June 1916 Thursday
The weather is somewhat overcast. It rained a bit too. We heard 
something today that really irritated us. This is it: one of the married 
officers, secretary Şakir, petitioned the Command for permission to 
speak with his family. In order to get his petition accepted he bragged 
about providing his utmost services to the Russians in Erzurum 
(seeming to mean spying). When we heard this we were outraged and 
wrote a note to be given to the committee. In the note we demanded 
that he be expelled or punished. Everyone signed it except Tahir for 
some reason. After signing, it was given to the head of the committee, 
Osman. In the evening the Commander came. He thanked us for the 
calmness our group had shown by wisely avoiding some unnecessary
actions and he rebuked the other senior group by implication. He gave
permission for the children of the married fellows to come to see their 
fathers.

23 June 1916 Friday
The weather is bad again today and continued that way until late 
afternoon. We went to the Command before lunch to get salaries. After 
they made some calculations they took 54 rubles from those who had 
received three salaries at Sarıkamış and 45 rubles from those who had 
gotten two, for table d’hote and other things. They cut these debts in 
one fell swoop.  So although we had hoped to get a salary, we each 
had to give four rubles extra. Again we’re broke. Upon returning home 
we were able to find bread money by borrowing from here and there. 
Had I not found any money I would have gone hungry. We got two 
more servants in our house today. They’re Austrians. One Austrian, 
one Hungarian.

24 June 1916 Saturday
The weather is nice, clear. In the afternoon nine of us went outside for a 
walk. We watched the Vetluga River shore intently and sat on a 
somewhat high ridge. There was greenery on all sides. We passed by the 
public garden (park), which is a simple place but it has a good view of 
the plain. There are no flowers here, just  trees, grass, fixed chairs and 
plane trees. I passed the time in the house, sometimes with games and 
sometimes with gymnastics. I also learned the game ‘King and Minister’.

25 June 1916 Sunday
The trials of captivity. I’ve been separated from my family for a long 
time. I wonder whether they’ve gotten my letters and I reflect on my 
situation and the future. Sometimes I’m sad and sometimes I’m 
consoled.

 vetluga russia ile ilgili görsel sonucu
                                        The Vetluga River

26 June 1916 Monday
The weather is gloomy but  there’s no rain. A light breeze spreads a 
sweet coolness. Today passed with chatting and game-playing. As 
the result of yesterday’s application, we each got a three-ruble 
advance. I gave two of these for table d’hote and one to pay a debt.
I’m broke again. The amount of time we’re allowed to walk around 
in the evenings has been increased from one and a half hours to three 
hours. A nice Russian gesture.

News: Erzurum has passed to us. We hopt to God that this is true and 
rejoice. We sat around quite a while at night. After everyone had gone 
to sleep I talked a lot with my bedmate Nuri. We talked about Turkey,
progress and the future. We went to bed as the sun was rising.

"Şah Mat" ("Checkmate" - playing chess)

27 June 1916 Tuesday
The weather is cloudy. Toward evening it rained heavily. I wrote 
another letter in French to my father  today concerning my health. Dear 
God , let them learn about my health and I about theirs because I’m 
worried. Of course who knows what they may be thinking. In the 
afternoon Şerif came and we worked on Russian a bit. Then we 
passed the time with games and chatting. I played chess and I learned 
a lot. I won right away because of the mistakes that newcomers
make. Today another terrible thing: from now on getting oil and eggs 
from the market is forbidden. The cause of this unreasonable thing is 
the impertinence of a sergeant in the Command. This sergeant is one 
of the noteables around here…damn it!...dirty rascals.

28 June 1916 Wednesday
The weather is still cloudy. Late in the afternoon there was some 
drizzle.  I passed the time playing games and chatting. Also, I’m 
thinking about my parents a lot because I’m the one hope for those
poor people. They haven’t had joy and happiness up to now and now 
they have no news from me. Who knows how they must be worrying. 
Dear God, let at least one of the letters I’ve written reach Them and 
free them from worry. This is my wish. 

Halis and I mended fences tonight. I proved to him the problem that 
had come up against him was completely unintentional. He accepted 
this.

arab ottoman soldiers ile ilgili görsel sonucu
Ottoman Turkish and Arab soldiers on the Sinai front in 
Egypt.

29 June 1916 Thursday
The weather is still cloudy with occasional drizzle. Today there was a 
big outrage and the reason was that Captain Hamid ripped up the netting
protecting us from the mosquitoes, on the pretext that it was shabby 
and ill-cared for. He threw it on the floor in an insulting manner, looking
at our faces with a hateful look. With the aim of defending us, Salah 
asked him politely why he had ripped up the netting. The situation got 
worse and the rascal was seething. He began to dress us down in a
very judgemental fashion. In the evening the committee met and the 
matter was presented to everyone. It was clear that Hamid was in the 
wrong but when it came time for him to apologize he blindly refused. 
Finally he said that he didn’t recognize the committee and that he 
didn’t trust anyone. In fact, the mannerless rascal had the nerve to 
insult us by saying ‘you’re disregarding your own consciences and 
lying.’ We protested this and the meeting broke up. This man is an 
Arab anyhow. It’s impossible for Arabs to mix with Turks because 
of their bad ways. Damn such rascals! 

News: the Turkish army has crossed the Russian border and seized 
two important positions or cities.

//Ed. Note: From another Ottoman-language source of 
37 reports about Turkish POWs in Russia, this Captain 
Hamid wrote an undated letter, describing his situation at 
Vetluga:

"Letter sent by Artillery Captain Bağdatlı Hamid Hakkı 
Efendi, a prisoner in Russia: The commander of the 
Vetluga command in the  district of Kostroma would not 
give prisoners their letters.  We were held in inhumane 
conditions and under duress.  Even though we received 
a salary of 50 rubles, the value dropped to 2 kuruş.  
Purchase of officer prisoners’ food was taken care of by 
the guards so a third of our salaries went to the guards.
Petitions sent to the commander were ripped up and 
thrown away."//



30 June 1916 Friday
The weather is nice. We gathered again at night and decided 
unanimously that Arab Captain Hamid must leave us because it 
wouldn’t be possible (as the result of yesterday’s incident) for him to 
live with us anymore. 

News: on the Riga front, the Germans have taken an aggressive
posture. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to measure the duration of the 
night accurately. The shortest night is about five and a half hours 
from sunset to sunrise. At this time there’s no other star visible in
the sky other than the shepher’s star that rises toward morning. I 
gave myself a haircut. Zühdü’s obstinacy left my mustache in a 
mess.

//END of PART XXXII//

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