10 Nisan 2019 Çarşamba

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

//Ed. Note: Routine life continues at the Vetluga camp for
Fuad Bey and his companions. Possible peace talks raise 
hopes. Another play is planned but abandoned. The 
season's first snow falls.//

vetluga winter ile ilgili görsel sonucu


1 October 1916 Sunday
The weather is bad, the sky cloudy. Around noon there was light but 
extended rain. For a second at mid-afternoon it snowed. In the afternoon 
some of the majors came to chat at our house. I went to see Şerif and 
we worked for a while…news: yesterday’s news is being repeated. The 
Russians stormed a  forward Turkish outpost using bayonets (I wonder).
Supposedly on 16 October all the kings and emperors will get together 
and make a peace agreement . If it’s true…we played a bit at night. Halis
 and I chatted. Halis is sometimes making fun of me. I’m sure this is 
nothing more than just making a joke to pass the time. Because I’m 
certain of his sincerity and faithfulness. Tonight in a dream I was 
struggling with Rıfkı, who looked like Tahir. Today passed a bit 
distressingly. Istanbul is coming alive in my memory, making me sad.

2 October 1916 Monday
I got up a bit early. The weather is nice, sunny. The morning’s frost, 
with its snowy shape, dazzles the eye when the sun hits it. But it’s still 
cold. In the afternoon Osman had an argument  with the secretary. 
We’ve had enough! On one hand, we’re being harassed and the other the 
Russian soldiers see this and mock us. We had another German lesson,
which was filled with things I didn’t know. Şerif came by in mid-
afternoon and we wrote some French words. The nights are now longer 
than the days by 40 minutes.

3 October 1916 Tuesday
The weather is nice but clouded over toward evening. We went to the 
Command after lunch. Again we got 50 rubles each. Up to now I’ve 
gotten 39.5 rubles. We paid Osman 25 rubles we owed him. Around 
mid-afternoon a new table d’hote committee was elected – Trabonlu
Hasan, Rıfkı. This month we gave 25 rubles each for bread, meals and
 servants. The cost of provisions is rising day by day. Hikmet objected 
to this amount of money which irritated Salah so they had an argument. 
Anyway, it didn’t last too long and Hikmet didn’t participate in table 
d’hote. It’s snowing so we know that winter is coming. Everywhere 
is covered in white. Since it was the first snowfall it only amounted to 
a thickness of two or three fingers.

 Enver Paşa Promised He Will Send an Army for Romania

4 October 1916 Wednesday
The sky is somewhat cloudy. The sun peeks through now and then. All 
over (the plain and such) it’s white. News: according to Zarif, the French 
are willing to agree to a separate peace. The leaders of Germany, Austria 
and Bulgaria are negotiating with Enver Paşa: by taking soldiers from 
every front Romania will be eliminated; Russia will be forced to agree to 
a costly peace after an assault from Riga and the Carpathians, once there 
is peace with France; subsequently, in turn Italy and England will brought 
to heel. Enver Paşa promised he will send an army for Romania. May God
grant this. Again we didn’t have a German lesson because of neglect. In
the afternoon Şerif came and paid the five ruble debt he incurred recently. 
At night we discussed the idea of the tea we drink each day being a 
collective endeavor. We’ll get a samovar and elect a two-person committee.
Tea will cost four kopeks and payment will be made with chits. Tomorrow 
the plan will be proposed to everyone. Today we paid all of our debts.

5 October 1916 Thursday
The weather is rather nice. The sun shines intermittently. We went to the 
Command at 10 o’clock and although we waited a long time for the 
Commander’s representative the secretary ended up coming. He showed 
us an order that had come from Moscow, to the effect that the populace is
suffering because the prisoner officers are getting everything from the 
market cheaply. For the sake of the populace we cannot shop anymore. 
How ridiculous!...they forbid us buying cheaply but in fact they sell us 
everything at two or three times the price. May God save us. When we
returned, after lunch we presented the tea proposal from yesterday. 
Everyone agreed. I’ve started to make the chits…afterwards I went to 
the Kazarma (main barracks) and gave Halis’s and my own boots for 
repair. Once again we didn’t have a German lesson.

6 October 1916 Friday
The weather is nice. The sun is out. All the snow has melted. 
Nevertheless, it’s cold. All the little puddles were frozen in the morning. 
I went to see Şerif in the afternoon. Halis went to the market to see his 
fellow townsman. Later I came back with Salah and we thought about
a theater production for tomorrow. This will portray the participation 
of a few young fellows in an imagined war between Turkey and Russia
after this world war is over, and their lives. But we realized that even if
we were to do the rehersal more seriously at night it wouldn’t turn out  
well because we are all so unfamiliar with the parts. So we abandoned 
the idea. I would have had a role as one of the young fellows…today is 
the eve of the holiday. The past is alive in my mind. I was reticent. Then
I looked over and saw that Halis was too. I tried to console him. He 
accused me of being disloyal because I has supposedly been too 
responsive to Burhan and Zühdü’s remarks, giving their words too much
consideration while responding to Halis indifferently. I was able to 
console him by proving that the reverse was true. Apparently, this is a
distressing reality…

//END of PART XLVII//


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