Bey but, nevertheless, activities inside the barracks and the
camp continued apace. Contrary to what was seen in the
other Russian POW camp reports published recently by
TNT, the Vetluga commander responded agreeably to the
complaints expressed by the prisoners to a visiting Red
Cross delegation.//
A Red Cross delegation, including an Austrian countess
and an English general, visited Fuad Bey's barracks.
20 September 1916 Wednesday
Yet another faithless day. Our time in
captivity where fortune has sent
us are spent with complete distress and suffocation. Our hearts and
bodies can perceive no sort of tranquility. On the contrary, most of the
time we’re continually flailing
about in the face of bad news and being
crushed psychologically. Once in a while we’re buoyed by
one or two
pieces of news that make us happy but then we’re soon moaning
under a terrible new
calamity that erupts for some other reason. In this
horrible life of captivity all of us, children of
the same nation, are
fighting with one another because of shortcomings in our upbringing.
We’re
playing with and struggling with matters of honor and fear –
what a terrible state we’ve fallen into. On
one hand, we’re shaking
with the misery and bitterness of captivity, and on the other hand, the
soul-squeezing, heart-crushing distress of our circumstances is
multiplying…Dear God, this is really an
unbearable situation. With
your grandeur, please quickly engender a cause for a peace agreement
so
that not just us but the entire world will be saved.
The weather is cloudy. News: the headquarters of
the German,
Austrian and Bulgarian armies, initially at Tufrakan, has moved
forward from
Tatarpazarcık toward Silistre, putting Romania into
confusion. Again today a regrettable situation: some
noises came from
the adjacent house and there were some Words spoken against
Osman…Yahya (First
Lieutenant), whose nickname is ‘tailed Kurd’,
came to our house, saying these things in an effort to
cause trouble for
Osman. When this happened Osman had those who have spoken badly
of him summoned
and he investigated. At night it appeared that nothing
had happened…May God set us straight. Just
like this we’re forever
fighting with each other…damn such ugly things! Halis and I went for
a
short walk in front of the house today. We had a German lesson.
Zühdü was sick today and in fact
has been since yesterday. I also
felt a bit strange toward evening and there was a weariness I felt in
my body.
21 September 1916 Thursday
When I got up in the morning I felt a
rather severe weakness in my
body, together with some mild shaking. I didn’t pay any attention to
it.
I judged tha this was most likely the effect of a dream I had during the
night and that this
dream had rattled my body somewhat. Almost
until noon I walked around but just before
lunchtime I felt an aching
in my body and I had to lie down. My pulse was beating 93 at
this time.
I drank three cups of tea after lunch, which made me sweat quite a bit.
As I perspired
my eyes began to open. I drank another two cups
of tea after the evening meal and sweat
heavily. After sitting for quite
a while at night I went to bed. The fellows are visiting me and
wishing
me good health. Ethem had Halis ask about my condition, which made
me feel somewhat embarrassed…poor dear Halis, he’s
constantly
fluttering about, first here, then there,
all around me, like a mother’s
little darling who’s just begun to fly. He’s maing tea, rolling
cigarettes,
helping me drink tea with his own hand. Whatever I say he runs and
does it right away. In
truth, I won’t ever forget today. I will always bow
to and respect Halis’s humanity and
good-heartedness.
Today a letter was written to Osman about Kazim, in which it was
stated that 40
rubles of every salary Kazim gets will go to Osman
for Kazim’s debts and that this process
will continue until all of
Kazim’s debts are paid. In the event that Kazim does not agree to this
the
fellows want him expelled. Kazim accepted this. Toward evening
I fell under the weight
of an unwanted distress. Zühdü consoled me
once again but I couldn’t break free entirely from
the torment. At
night Saffet found three rubles for his debt and gave it to us.
22 September 1916 Friday
When I got up I felt a bit better but my
illness had not completely
passed. There was still a slight weakness in my body. Nevertheless,
toward evening I regained my full health. In the afternoon Halis
went for a walk to the
hospital. I went to the other side to have the
German fellow write some German sentences. We had
a German
lesson. I couldn’t give good responses in today’s class because of my
illness
yesterday and the previous depression.
At about 11 at night when a four-person prisoner
inspection
committee came to our house. One of them was an Austrian lady.
Another was an
English general seconded to the Russian Red Cross.
Our Commander and First Sergeant
accompanied them. This lady
is said to be a royal countess. They spoke with Osman at length in
French.
The committee gave each of us fifteen rubles. Half of this
money had been sent by our
government and half by the Austrian
government. They asked us whether we had any complaints. We
just said that we couldn’t get any letters from Turkey. The married
fellows requested that
they be allowed to go to their houses. They
asked what we needed and we said that we
desperately needed
overcoats and a pair of boots each. They promised to send them and
left. The
sad feeling evident in the air had an effect on all of
us. They gave five rubles to each of the
privates. The weather was
bad.
23 September 1916 Saturday
The weather is overcast. In the morning it
was foggy and cold. Toward
evening the clouds lessened. We had a shave after morning tea. Then
Halis and I went to the market. We bought a bed sheet and pillow case,
along with sugar and some
other things. I went to the riverside early
in the afternoon by myself. I sat on a bench for a while,
looking at
nature’s beauty. But I couldn’t stay for long because I felt cold and
went back. We didn’t have a
German lesson because of the other
fellows’ laziness. I went for a walk in the garden after the
evening
meal. Halis isn’t feeling quite right, he’s suffering from a cold. I
went to bed sort of early.
Thoughts…nation, families, refugee,
past, future…
24 September 1916 Sunday
I got up a bit late. The weather is
overcast. The Commander summoned
us before lunch and we went there. We were assembled in a big room
this time. The Commander came and asked whether those who hadn’t
asked the inpection
committee that had come for an overcoat needed one.
He also asked all of us what else we needed.
The other fellows asked for
overcoats and we said that we didn’t need anything else. The Commander
then said that he felt badly about the things Osman had said the night that
the committee came.
That evening Osman had said that the Commander
had the authority to let Osman go to his
home for the whole night but
that although he had given his word of honor that he would not escape
by
morning the Commander only let Osman go for four hours rather than
for the entire
night. Osman said that this reflected the Commander’s
distrust of him because he had promised not
to try to escape and that the
Commander was trying to restrain him. Anyway, Osman and
the
Commander argued about this for what seemed like hours but it was
decided that the
married fellows would only have four hours free, like
before. Later, the Commander got angry with
Istanbullu Hakkı for
something he had done and told him not to do it again. He forgave
Hakkı this time but said that Hakkı must make any appeal directly to
him and to no one else. We came
back to the house at two o’clock.
Again we weren’t able to have a German lesson. In
mid-afternoon
Kör Mehmet came with the mannerless Ismail. I really find them
irritating. They think
they can talk to me like we’ve been friends
forever. Halis still has a cold and is suffering. May God
grant him
health. At night we sat around for a while and Osman told us some
stories.
//END of PART XLV//
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