20 Mayıs 2019 Pazartesi

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

//Ed. Note:  Inmate relations and German lessons 
dominated Fuad Bey's diary in late January 1917.  
Although Vetluga is not in Siberia, the cold was Siberian -
in the negative 30s.//

russian winter 1916 ile ilgili görsel sonucu


26 January 1917 Friday
The weather is clear again but it’s bitter cold. At night it was 35 degrees 
below zero and 30 below in the morning. Another problem: this morning 
Franz told me that the guard ustarşi was sending him to the Kazarma 
(main barracks). I asked why. Finally I found out that Hikmet had sent 
a letter via Franz who gave it to a German child to pass to a German girl. 
?Sadaldat? saw this and gave it to the ustarşi. The ustarşi pressed them 
and got the letter. He have it to the Commander. We asked the ustarşi to 
leave it here and we got his word on this. This Hikmet is such an 
unfeeling, vile fellow. He was scorned for this before, too. But nothing’s 
changed. News: ın England a giant factory was destroyed in a great 
explosion. This caused such great damage that the nearby area
and places in a 100 square kilometer area were in complete and utter 
confusion. There were quite a lot of casualties and much damage. I got 
a paper from Şerif in the morning. He asked  who it was that was talking 
badly about their house and wrote asking me to help to prevent gossip
such as this by defending them when such talk arises. Ismail came about 
this, too. We talked a bit. The response to Halis’s telegram came tonight. 
It said that his family had gone with the refugees to Sivas. He was glad 
about this (that they weren’t in enemy hands but, nevertheless,
he couldn’t free himself from being captive of certain thoughts. I tried 
for quite a while to console him. Franz got sick at noontime, he had a 
very high fever. We couldn’t have a lesson.

27 January 1917 Saturday
The weather is still cold. Clear though. I didn’t go outside. Franz was 
ill again today so again we couldn’t have a lesson. The Commander 
came in the afternoon. He asked Yaroslav what should be done about 
Hikmet but he still had not gotten a reply. After the Commander left
some rumors circulated about us moving to another house so everyone 
was very interested in this. But there was no basis for it. Again today 
I’m sad and aggravated. My environment is still the nasty environment 
of captivity…I’m lost in thought. A person cannot be saved from
grief. I’m angry at and cross with my fortune, that in life I’m always 
marooned in these painful, aggravating circumstances. I had a dream at 
night: Halis and I are at school. It’s time for class and although all the 
other fellows are ready, both of us are late. A duty officer approached 
us and asked why we were neglectful. Just then, he smacked Halis twice. 
He was going to hit me too but I said ‘please stop! It would be bad.’ At 
this point,  I awoke amid discomfort.

28 January 1917 Sunday
The weather is still not very nice but the bitter cold has eased. I felt 
aggravated until about noon. After that it went away but Halis got sick. 
A little later everyone went for a walk. Only three or four people 
remained in the whole house. I shaved at this time and after that the 
fellows came. I seemed to catch some of Halis’s illness so I lay down 
until evening. We had the evening meal. Halis said ‘I’m cold.’ Right 
away I put my blanket and my coat over him. First the poor fellow’s 
chest was hurting and now he has a terrific headache. He didn’t eat 
dinner this evening. A bit later he again started to say ‘I’m burning.’ 
but I didn’t take anything off him. I told him that he would be uncomfort-
able but the illness woud pass quickly. I asked him to be patient and bear 
up. I had him take asprin and antipyrine a couple of times. It was around 
midnight and I was continually at Halis’s bedside. Everyone else went to 
bed but I couldn’t sleep at all…Zühdü gave me a thin blanket. I went to 
bedquite  late, without taking my pants off. In fact, I slept with my jacket 
on. I still couldn’t sleep as I kept an eye on Halis and covered him up as 
soon as his blanket came off. This went on like this till morning. I always 
wish for good health for Halis. Franz felt better today. We didn’t have a 
lesson. I sent my German notebook as a gift to a Turkish youth named 
Sergeant Mehmet Sayıd of Bukhara, from the Kazarma (main barracks), 
who is going to study German. He wants a primer that is required
for this to be written. It’s understood from his writings that he’s very 
interested in the Turk-Turan issue.

29 January 1917 Monday
The weather is clear and sunny. I didn’t go down at all. The other fellows 
went out around mid-afternoon. It seemed that Halis’s illness tapered off 
a bit in the morning. Most of the fever went away. The rapid pulse he has 
eased and he began to regain his health but again he didn’t eat his
lunch. He lay down until evening and perspired somewhat. Unfortunately, 
I couldn’t find any milk although I looked high and low for some. In the 
morning, I borrowed five rubles from Dursun, through the intercession of 
Rıfkı. I bought some tincture of iodine and five asprins. Toward evening
I changed Halis’s sweat-soaked clothes. He seemed to regain all of his 
appetite in the evening. I had some rice soup cooked for him. We didn’t 
have a lesson again today. Franz came to see us at night and told us some 
things about the war. We listened. We went to bed at 11 o’clock.  
Knowing that Halis has fully recovered, I fell asleep. I woke up at 
midnight, covered him up again and went back to bed. At night Süleyman 
Efendi was getting some German words from Franz. The guard ustarşi 
came and with an unruly manner said ‘the servant has to go.’ Süleyman 
said ‘why?’ and the ustarşi said in response ‘that’s what I want.’ There 
was quite an argument. Ultimately, we complained about the usarşi to the
Feldfebel (senior Russian sergeant) who came to the house at night (so 
he would tell the Commander.)  This man told us that Osman Bey will go
 to a warm place…

30 January 1917 Tuesday
The weather is crystal clear. Sunny. But very cold. Again, Halis didn’t 
cover himself completely at night. So because he had a sleepless night 
he caught a bit of a cold. His pulse was racing somewhat. He had a 
fever in his head and body again. In the morning he decided to go to 
the hospital. I went with him because of the weakness and debility that 
has arisen from his hunger over the past couple of days. I wanted to help 
him any way that I could both going and coming back. We had quite a 
time getting to the hospital and my uncovered ears got cold and froze 
because of the bitter chill. We waited for two hours before Halis was 
treated. My ears returned to normal after the effect of the frost, because 
of the warmth in the hospital’s treatment corridor. But then they swelled 
up and got big. Halis was mad at me because of this and said ‘why did 
we come here? So that you could harm your ears?’ Anyway, he got his 
treatment. On the way back Halis insisted on giving his hat to me. So
it turned out that instead of me helping him he was helping me. In any 
event, we came to the house.  We spread some cream on my ear and 
wrapped it in cotton. Halis felt better toward evening. Today’s coldness 
was 33 below zero. In the evening the Commander and the Felfebel 
came. He said that we would be able to get lessons from Franz freely 
from now on. Unfortunately, though, Franz took ill again. In a dream 
he had tonight, Halis saw Gendarmerie Captain Şevket kill me and 
Halis using a revolver in his hand…what’s that all about?  Tercüman 
newspaper Came Again This Evening

31 January 1917 Wednesday
The weather is clear, sunny. It’s quite cold, too. In spite of the clear 
weather, it was 35 below zero today. After morning tea I sent Halis to 
Haydar Bey to get some medicine from him. But this man, who talks 
about his royal bloodline, was didinterested and consequently didn’t 
accept it, although we had given him some medicine. Fortunately, 
Artilleryman Hikmet had some yellow-colored medicine which we 
mixed with the tincture of iodine we already had. Since both the upper 
and lower parts of my ear had swelled up the doctor first used a scissors 
to cut this and made the fluid that had gathered there flow out. Then he 
spread this mixed medicine and bandaged it. Again today we couldn’t 
have a lesson. Franz was still sick. Halis is completely better but some 
of the weakness caused by the illness remains. We put medicine on my 
ears again at night. Tercüman came again in the evening. It was written 
that there was a clash between a very small force of ours and the 
Russians around Kemah. Wilson has sent a second note to the 
belligerants. At night we talked about becoming rich. Then the subject 
turned to this place. We talked about this a bit. Then we went to bed.

//END of PART LXIV//


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