24 Nisan 2019 Çarşamba

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

//Ed. Note:  Quite a fight erupts between two of Fuad Bey's
fellow inmates but routine camp life essentially goes on.//

fuat tokad ile ilgili görsel sonucu
Years later, the book on long-distance telephone
circuits that Fuad Bey would author.



8 November 1916 Wednesday
The weather is clear. Nice. Our allies have taken Bucharest…this is very 
good…this will result in many prisoners being taken and lots of 
provisions and ammunition will be collected…many things will
happen…toward noon Şerif passed by the door and visited us. He 
wanted a loan and I gave him ten rubles. The Commander came at 
lunchtime and inspected. Then he left. Zühdü was released
from the hospital today and came home. The place where the boil 
was has not yet healed but he’s not in pain. At night Franz and I worked 
on German and French.

9 November 1916  Thursday
The weather is nice. Not a cloud in the sky. News: our forces are 
attacking.  Again, another regrettable incident: we had finished lunch 
and were shaving. A number of fellows were walking around below. 
Others had gone to the hospital. We heard a noise in the big room. We 
figured that two fellows were roughhousing and didn’t think anything of
 it. But it increased so we listened. It didn’t sound like joking. I stopped 
shaving, went in and saw that Mustafa and Hurşid were having quite a 
fight. They were cursing at each other so fiercely it would make a person
blush because there were the harshest curse words. I separated them 
twice and wouldn’t let them at each other. But then they clashed for a 
third time and I stepped between them again. I nearly got hit in the 
mouth with one or two chairs. At this point an arm pulled me away
from the two of them. But they separated anyway. The one who had 
pulled me away was Halis, who said to me ‘what are you doing? Your 
duty? You’ll be crushed for nothing.’  And he held me back. I went 
back to shaving but a bit later they started fighting again. Then Çerkes 
Mehmet came in and said to them ‘aren’t you ashamed! And you’re to 
be officers! Porters don’t even do what you’ve done. Mannerless 
animals!’  The fighters were chastened and calmed down…Çerkes 
Mehmet acted as though he would tell the Russian ustarşi (supervisor) 
and inform on them. I was very sad about all this. We’re always being
 embarrassed in front of the Russians. Damn these things! We had
a new German lesson today. At night Franz corrected some German 
I wrote.

10 November 1916 Friday
The weather is rather nice. News: the Russians have supposedly scattered 
our army in the Ogund area. But this had been erased, censured in the 
papers. Perhaps it’s not in their favor. They’ve advanced from Dobruca
to fifty kilometers away from the Russian front. The Romanians are 
retreating to Russian territory. The newspapers concede that the Russian 
left flank is in danger and that the Russians cannot bring troops from other 
fronts. The French have lost a number of positions…today money was 
collected to make up the shortfall that resulted from some people
not participating and from others’ miserliness in the project to get a 
samovar so a lot of people could have tea to drink. Each person’s  share 
was 43 kopeks. After this we each gave another 20 kopeks so we would
 have tea to drink until the end of the month. We won’t use chits anymore.
Yesterday we got two funts (24 oz./820 grams) of sugar at a cost of two 
rubles per funt. In mid-afternoon I started to think about this and that. I 
realized how unlucky I am. Because I’m constantly being crushed and 
pained during these past four or five years of calamities. I want
to be saved but there’s no one to protect me. Would that my beloved 
father could rescue me but they want to hurt and crush the poor fellow. 
And my poor mother! She’s mixed day with night, she’s thinking, crying. 
And look at my situation. Prisoner, unknown, a life in darkness…
Dear God save me! I saw my cousin Mesrur in a dream tonight. He told 
me that Ekrem had died, my father had disappeared and my mother had 
gone mad. I felt very bad…

11 November 1916 Saturday
The dream I had at night really shook me up. I thought a bit. But I really 
don’t believe in such dreams. I told Halis and Zühdü about it. May God 
grant peace soon so we’re reunited with our families. We had a new 
German lesson. After the evening meal we sang songs and Ethem was
singing too but he was singing differently, making a mess of the song. 
It seems that Ethem wanted to give the song a different meaning and sow 
mischief. I didn’t realize it, though. What a jerk! Halis and I chatted at 
length at night, in particular about the heaviness and coldness between us
these days and we resolved to forget them forever. In any event, these 
things don’t result from deliberate anger we have toward one another but 
rather from the aggravations of our environment. From now on we won’t
 leave each other in the lurch, nor abandon each other. Whatever our 
failings, we agreed to keep this promise. Then we went to bed. The 
weather is completely overcast, dark.

12 November 1916 Sunday
I had a heavy cold when I got up in the morning. Additionally, I had a 
pretty significant cold too. Right after lunch I lay down and although I 
went to bed early in the evening I couldn’t sleep. I tried to sweat.
Poor dear Halis found some ginger after dinner and boiled it. He had me 
drink it and it had a good effect. I perspired quite a bit but because I went
outside to relieve myself while I was sweating I felt badly.  News: our 
forces are still on the attack. The French have taken over the Greeks’ ships
and plant their own flag on them. Russian writers are angry as they admit 
Russian defeats and are urging the pro-war government to think about the 
consequences as it acts, as they scold the government for its mistakes. 
The weather is cloudy. There’s a thin layer of snow on the ground.

13 November 1916 Monday
When I awoke in the morning I noticed that the cough had eased 
somewhat. But when I breathe there’s still a grating sound. As soon as 
I got up I went to the hospital with Zühdü and Saffet. An elderly doctor
examined me and gave me a prescription. We came back but I can’t sleep 
during the day. I got the prescription from the pharmacy – cough powder. 
Today we had our 36th German lesson. News: the Kingdom of Poland has 
been formed and a king will be chosen in a few days (accession to the 
throne ceremony)…Halis and I commiserated and argued. As the result of
misunderstanding, I told Halis to reject something that had been 
proposed to him. In fact, I insisted that he reject it. As it turned out, there 
was a  misunderstanding. It seems that I’ve got an obsession about some 
people here that I hate. Since he is my friend, I don’t like Halis talking 
with these fellows I hate. It bothers me. Halis said he would put my mind 
at ease…Halis bears no fault in this…my childhood…baseless things. 
The weather is cloudy, there’s quite a bit of snow on the ground.

14 November 1916 Tuesday
The weather is cloudy. Quite a bit of snow all around. News: three people 
were slain in the uprising in Moscow and it has spread to other big cities 
like Harkuf. I’m quite out of sorts today. The reason is my closest friend 
Halis.  During our argument last evening, while expressing myself I was a 
bit rude in my statements and I evidently used some very strong language 
(I was unaware of it). He got quite angry. In fact, his blood was boiling. 
When I got up in the morning Halis was in bed as if he were sick, with a
sad face. I wasn’t listening to what I said and didn’t respond. This attitude 
and the effect it has on others around us really bothers me. I got mad, too,
 and in the evening I said ‘let’s talk frankly about everything after dinner 
and settle things.’ I said to him ‘my dear, do you love me?  Do you hate 
me? Do you want to talk with me forever or be cross with me forever?’ 
In response he said that he still had the same love and affection for me 
and still cares for me. So I said ‘then we love each other so let’s avoid 
doing things the other doesn’t like. Let’s refrain from doing anything the
 other doesn’t want to do. Really, we’ll live a lot more happily if we 
always act the same way.’ He agreed with this completely. We discussed 
a few more things related to this and reinvigorated our friendship.


//END of PART LIII//

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