1 Nisan 2019 Pazartesi

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

//Ed. Note: Fuad Bey's French and German lessons 
continue apace.  And his friends' flirtations with the local
Russian girls - and Fuad Bey's drafting of the letters to
them in French - continue, as well.//


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7 September 1916 Thursday
I got up a bit late. The weather is nice. We chatted a bit, saying 
comforting words to each other to relieve the distress that sometimes 
arises. In the afternoon Saffet and I went to the other side to see 
Eskişehirli Hakkı. We wrote some German. I stopped by to see Şerif. 
Then we spoke with a German in that house named Smith in French. 
Upon my request, he said that he would be able to write the German 
equivalents of French sentences. Today I finished Halis’s pants but I 
don’t think he was all that pleased. Again we read German (we had a 
lesson). Tonight once again I became sad for some unknown reason. 
I experienced some very affecting moments deep in sadness. I went 
to bed early. Early in the morning the Captain’s son brought a chicken 
to the room. While everyone was sleeping the chicken began to 
squawk, which I found comical. I had a good laugh.

8 September 1916 Friday
I got up early this morning. The weather is quite nice. The sky is 
cloudless. In the afternoon I sent some French words and sentences 
over to the German prisoner to get the German equivalents. He’s a 20 
year old Gimnazya (Sultaniye School – Galatasaray) student evidently.
Today I took apart the government-issue pants on my foot and reversed
them. In the afternoon Şerif came and we read the French book. At 
mid-afternoon the weather got bad and it rained. Before dinner the 
French notebook I had sent over to the other side came back. He wrote
the German equivalents. I’ll work on them with increased interest. We 
had a new lesson in German today. At night I had some strange dreams. 
But I didn’t recall whether I spoke with my father. Today I had some 
minor depressions but I was able to overcome them. Our conversations 
are boring.

9 September 1916 Saturday
The weather is bad, it rained a few times. I finished the pants I started 
yesterday and put them on. In the afternoon Saffet and I went to the run
-down house and wrote some German words we got from the German 
fellow. This evening we learned a few new German verbs. Distress
again today. I was affected by a feeling of hate for my environment. 
Someone is for you, someone against you, someone’s your friend and 
someone unknown is your enemy. God save me and give me life in a 
good place…the things, these distresses, are all due to the problems of 
our early upbringing.

10 September 1916 Sunday
Morning came. A dream woke me up. In the dream I was having a 
terrible fight with Salah. The reason was something bad he said about 
me. In the morning while Halis and I were working on our lessons 
everywhere was under the effect of some very cold morning air. 
Just then Hikmet opened the window while the other fellows were 
sleeping to wave to a Russian girl who was passing by. The others 
told Hikmet to close the window and Halis said so, as well. Hikmet 
got mad at Halis, seemingly considering him the ringleader, and said 
‘what’s it to you? Are you one to talk?’ Of course, Halis resisted and 
they had a shouting match. Right away I closed  the window and the 
problem was solved. At this time I stuck my head up in the air all of 
a sudden and smiled. Halis surmised that I had done this on purpose 
or that what he did looked bad so he became angry, thinking that even 
his closest friend was laughing at him. He felt badly and cried. This 
affected me too and I explained to him what had really happened, 
trying to console him. Hikmet is a heartless man. He’s married, too, 
with children back at home. How shameless for him to court a Russian 
girl…we had a German lesson again. I went to bed late.

11 September 1916 Monday
I got up early. The weather is neither good nor bad. Long before the 
evening meal I wrote some words to the German prisoner (John). We 
didn’t have a new lesson in German today because Süleyman was sick. 
We did some jumping around in the garden this morning and played. 
After dinner I felt bloated in my stomach and lay down on my bed. I 
remained this way until bedtime. This evening Arap Hamid and Cemil
Bazergan, who had gone to the provincial capital, came back.
Hamid settled in our house and the other one went to the house next 
door (Adalfinski).

Ferries are Coming to Vetluga

12 September 1916 Tuesday
The weather was nice in the morning. Toward mid-afternoon it went
 bad. Rather heavy rain and it got cold outside. In the afternoon Halis 
and I went to the riverbank and walked a bit. We had a new German 
lesson today. We’re making progress. I went to bed  late at night. 
Zühdü and I had a talk. He explained clearly why he had not come to 
Süleyman’s German lesson. I found his position to be right. At night 
Kazim wrote me a long letter in which he asked me to explain my 
feelings to him about drafting his letters. Once again I agreed to do 
it. I couldn’t refuse him. Ferries are again coming to Vetluga.

13 September 1916 Wednesday
I got up a bit late. After drinking tea I tried to write German book type 
settings in my notebook.  went downstairs and memorized words. 
The weather is bad. It drizzled a couple of times. Today we looked at 
the German noun plurals. While walking in the garden I got hungry 
and cold. In the evening I felt a weariness in my body. After the 
evening meal I lay down for three hours. At this time the Commander 
came so we all got up. I felt a little better and didn’t lay down again 
until bedtime. The Commander was pleasant. He told us a few things 
and said that another 25 officers would come to Vetluga. Everyone 
will stay in the house they’re in now. 

News: fierce fighting in Galcia and Oğvid. The allies want to occupy 
the Balkans and with the Bulgarians separate the Turks from the 
Germans. This way they can join up with the Russians. The Captain
to whom we gave the material for the heavy shirt sewed it and brought it. 
The same with the underwear. In the morning I drafted a French letter for 
Kazim. Later I got the draft and ripped it up. Kör Mehmet came in mid-
afternoon. He rubbed iodine on his face. He talked as though he and I 
had been friends for 40 years. In a comical way we greeted each other 
and ?left in debt?. But he’s a jealous, crude man. Tonight Süleyman 
tried to go to a Russian girl’s house. According to rumor, he went and
came but was caught in the other (prisoners’) house. He was ashamed. 
I felt great regret about this.

14 September 1916 Thursday
The weather is bad. It rained a bit. We had a new German lesson. Today 
passed uneventfully. I thought about the past tonight and felt sad.

//END of PART XLIII//

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