His German teacher, the Austrian private Franz, is taken
to the camp's main barracks. Fuad Bey's health is a bit
fragile these days and he fears contracting tuberculosis.
Revolution is in the air in February 1917.//
1 February 1917
Thursday
The weather is
clear and sunny but at the same time it’s bitter cold. The
doctor came, opened up my ears and
spread the medicine on. My ears
feel a bit better. Even though Halis’s health has returned he’s
more or
less neglecting cordiality. We weren’t able to work on German too
much today. We
only had a lesson at night. I really want to work on
German in the worst way. But for some reason
I can’t work the way I
want to.
2 February 1917
Friday
The weather is
somewhat cloudy. Bitter cold. The Vetluga clock tower
shows minus 50. Another one shows minus
35. News: the Germans have
taken Riga. It seems that Austrian officer prisoners are coming to
Vetluga. We didn’t have much of a lesson in the evening. Today I felt a
terrible aching in my body.
This just about made me ill and I had to lie
down. I didn’t leave the bed the whole day.
Sometimes I feel cold with a
fever, sometimes I feel tired and sometimes I feel light-headed.
Halis is
constantly by my side and helps me with everything. I’m very grateful
to Halis.
3 February 1917
Saturday
The weather is
mostly sunny. But there are still some clouds in the sky.
It’s not as cold as
it was yesterday. News:
(from Tercüman) the English
say: ‘we want peace but as long as Germany’s might and military
strength exists the small countries will always be in danger of being c
rushed. That’s why for us
there can only be peace when Germany is
defeated.’ The Russians say: ‘Istanbul must be given to
us because most
of our exports pass through the Bosphorus! Henceforth, Turkey, which
disturbs the
world’s balance, must be ejected from Europe!’ Dirty
bastards! I was sick until evening and
somewhat worse than yesterday.
But from the time I went to bed until morning I
was comfortable. We
didn’t have a lesson. Şerif sent a paper in which he asked for a loan of
twenty rubles for
himself. Again, I’m experiencing some aggravation.
I really feel badly that
fortune is constantly
knocking me hither and yon.
Oh, captivity goes on…Dear God, give me happiness.
4 February 1917
Sunday
The weather is
clear and cold, especially in the morning. If the weather
is clear there’s a
bit of a change experienced
between noon and mid-
afternoon. Today the difference wasn’t more than five or six
degrees.
For example, the cold was minus 35 and at noontime it rose to -30 or
-29.
Right after tea in
the morning we went to the Command and again we
each got 50 rubles. So far I’ve gotten 590.5
rubles. Although the other
houses got their salaries yesterday, for some reason our house and
Malaşova were left until today. I went to see Şerif in the afternoon and
let
him the 20 rubles he
wanted. We chatted a bit and had tea. We gave
less money than last month for
table d’hote. We paid
our debts and
collected our loans. We worked on our lessons at night. Major
Mehmet
Bey moved into our
house today. While going to the Kazarma (main
barracks) to get his salary
Zühdü’s ears froze. He’s
like me now.
5 February 1917
Monday
The weather is
clear, the sky shining, sunny. The cold is especially fierce
in the morning.
News: the Germans sent a
note to the neutral countries
again. In the note it is written that ships
should not be sent to places
specified by Germany, that from now on ships seen in this restricted area
will
be summarily sunk and
that Germany will not accept any
responsibility arising from this. The
Americans got angry because
of
this note and cut political relations with Germany (from a Russian
newspaper). The Turkish 57th
and 75th regiments have launched fierce
attacks on the Russians on
the Riga front and are engaging
in bayonet
battles…we went to the market in the afternoon and bought material
for shirts (and
soap and socks too). We gave things to Mustafa’s wife to
sew. I felt down a bit
this evening. My
existing aggravation only
increased that much more because of the imputations
and accusations
about
the good things I do in every situation where I have to do
something. All the blame is on
me…because I’m not thinking straight.
No, I don’t bear much blame. But because
I’m not completely
free in
this unknown life that fortune has thrust upon me, every shortcoming
stems from this. But
I’ll bear any and all pain. Oh, the never-ending
aspect of these bad times is
really affecting me and
I’m afraid of getting
tuberculosis. God give me strength, resistance, health…in
the dream I
had
tonight I was in the fifth class of the military high school and I was
left
back as the result of the yearly test.
Although my classmates have
completed high school, I’m still in the final
grade. I’m aggravated
because of this…
6 February 1917
Tuesday
The weather was
bad, compared to what it has been. The sky is cloudy.
The cold has eased. The wind-driven snow
is not producing the terrible
cold we had before. Halis went to the market in
the afternoon and got
a
big basket and a towel. After the evening meal we gathered together in
the
big room. The majors
were there, too. We we’re having a discussion
when the Commander came. He talked about the
matter of Hikmet’s
letter. He scolded Hikmet a bit and said that the government has sent the
family of the girl Hikmet wrote the letter to far away. Haydar Bey made
an
appeal to the Commander on
behalf of all of us and the Commander
forgave Hikmet this time. But he ordered that Franz be sent
to the
Kazarma (main barracks) right away and then the Commander left. A
bit later Franz was
taken to the Kazarma together with a Russian soldier.
Franz, who tried his very
best to teach us German
is no longer with us.
We’ll see what will happen now. At night I was quite
agitated. Halis and
I were
sitting around talking when Halis took some vinegar spirits, put
two or three
grams in his palm and then
drank it all of a sudden. As soon
as he drank it he looked odd and started to
have trouble breathing.
Right
away, I brought him some water and had him drink it. He lay down
feeling feint for ten
minutes. Spit and saliva flowed out of his mouth.
Anway, quite a bit later he
came to his senses. But I
was really shaken
up…I got weak in the knees and my heart was beating like
crazy.
Because I was
frightened at the thought that he could be dying. But God
brought him back to
health.
//END of PART LXV//
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