29 Mayıs 2019 Çarşamba

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

//Ed. Note: Fuad Bey spent this week of February 1917
mostly concerned with relationships with his fellow
Vetluga inmates,  but news of the revolutionary tumult
shaking Moscow came to him, as well.//

vetluga russia ile ilgili görsel sonucu



17 February 1917 Saturday
The weather was clear and sunny until mid-afternoon. Then it started to 
cloud up. The cold increased, too. News: supposedly 17-year old 
children in Turkey are becoming soldiers. In Russia children taller than 
two yards and four fingers (in other words, 145 centimeters) are being 
taken in as soldiers. The American Government has sent a telegram to 
its ambassador in Switzerland concerning reestablishing political 
relations with Germany. The English government and the Germans have 
announced that they will accept these negotiations to discuss interests. I 
changed my laundry today. There were in terrible shape. Again, I found 
a flea on myself. It’s not just me. Many fellows have the same problem. 
My God, what kind of a situation is this! We still haven’t been able to 
save ourselves from this misfortune. I had my hair cut today. Today 
passed more or less in torment. We read some German at night. I went 
to bed before everyone else.

18 February 1917 Sunday
The weather is clear and sunny. The cold has increased. News: German 
submarines have been seen at the Cape of Good Hope, in the Indian 
Ocean and in the Far East. They’ve found secret waystations for shelter. 
This blockade is not just for Europe, it’s worldwide. Very good. In the
afternoon we toured a part of the city but because of the bitter cold we 
came back early.

19 February 1917 Monday
The weather is clear, sunny and it’s rather cold. A Russian who came 
from Moscow says that there’s quite a major revolution underway there. 
The problem came about this way: like everywhere else, sugar is 
distributed to the public from on place. Most people have to wait days  
this. So it happened that they came continually for four mornings and 
stayed till evening but there were many people who left empty handed. 
When this occurred the crowd, whose patience had run out, immediately 
began to loot. But even though the Moscow government sent soldiers to 
suppress then the soldiers refused, saying ‘these are our mothers, fathers, 
brothers. We can’t fire on them.’ The police were then brought in and the 
police fired on the crowd. When the soldiers saw this they fired at the 
police and killed them all. This wasn’t the end of it though. They raised
the flag of rebellion and threw the scene into tumult, shouting ‘we want 
peace!’…the outcome is unknown. Tonight we read some German again.

20 February 1917 Tuesday
The weather is clear like yesterday. The cold is minus 28 degrees. When 
I got up I heard that Salah has gone to another house. I’m glad to hear it. 
In his place Uzun Şerif and Şakir Efendiler came from the other 
(Adlifinski) house. Besides this, Hamit Efendi moved here from 
Malaşova. It is said that two more people will come here. Çerkes Mehmet 
reallywanted Şakir to leave. In fact, he said to me ‘if Şakir stays here our 
situation will be worse than before and he asked me not to tell anyone this. 
In any event, Şerif stayed and Şakir went. I’m aggravated again. The 
reason is that Halis is being much too nice to Ethem, wo has come to live 
here and whom I don’t like at all. Halis knows very well that I don’t like 
him and about the incidents that occurred between us before. But I don’t  
think it’s appropriate for me to say anything more to Halis about this. In 
the same way that I always want to commiserate with my dear friend, I 
think it’s right that we talk about problems that arise between us here not 
with others but with our conscience. At night we had a tea party for 
Hamit Efendi. We didn’t have a lesson.

Cavid Bey has Become Finance Minister

21 February 1917 Wednesday
The weather is overcast. The cold has eased. News: (Tercüman) Cavid 
Bey has become Finance Minister. According to reports of the Russian 
newspapers, Cavid Bey has borrowed 150 million liras, with the 
Germans playing a big role. This money will be spent on roads, railroads, 
factories and agriculture. The rebellion in Moscow has gotten more 
violent. In fact, the call-up for transport for newly-selected soldiers has 
been delayed in this connection. The soldiers here have been dispersed 
too. We couldn’t have a lesson again tonight. The time passed with idle 
chatter. We had a tea party for Şerif at night.

22 February 1917 Thursday
The sky is somewhat overcast. The cold is not so bad. The Russian 
municipality gave us each a funt of sugar for 28 kopeks. But it’s in 
powder form so we still have to get sugar from the market for 
((kırtlama)). Time is qute boring, captivity is bearing down. We can’t 
go to the market nor can we visit the other houses. Everything is 
forbidden except now and then we can go out for a walk with a bunch 
of guards. And that only after begging and pleading. Ah, let there
be peace! We read some German at night. I’m starting to feel progress 
slowly but surely. Hopefully, this servant will stay here for a while 
(Max).

23 February 1917 Friday
The weather is like it has been. Another thing happened in the morning: 
there was a complaint about Max, who is giving us lessons. He was 
sent to the Kazarma (main barracks) in the afternoon. Gendarmerie 
soldier Mehmet came in his place. I felt bad about this. Supposedly, the 
reason was that  he can’t make tea well. But this is a lie and our interests 
weren’t given any consideration. The real reason is this: Süleyman 
wanted to send a letter to his fiancé via this soldier. When he didn’t 
agree Süleyman instigated a complaint and as a result he was moved 
from here. In any case, there will come a time for Süleyman and he will 
fall. In the evening, he moved to another house at the request (to the 
Commander) of his housemates because he couldn’t get along with them
there.  Salah, as well, has started to have trouble fitting in there. After 
Şerif left I was glad that Salah didn’t come again. At night all of a 
sudden I felt a great despair. I started to think about my situation, my 
condition, the things I’ve gine through, my parents, my brother and the 
future. The despair has been building gradually. Zühdü tried to console 
me but the despair didn’t go away easily…again, we baked bread in the 
oven.

24 February 1917 Saturday
The weather is clear. The cold is -23. News: English troops in 
Mesopotamia are being withdrawn. Again (Tercüman) writes that in 
response to our allies’ attacks, the Russians are counterattacking
and retaking their positions…we had a lesson with Gustav at night but 
we didn’t get much benefit from it because we can’t understand him very 
well. His pronunciation and ability are lacking. Max was much better 
than him. But what can we do, chance always puts many obstacles in 
the way of benefit and ((nefiham)). Patience and fortitude are essential.

25 February 1917 Sunday
The weather is clear and it’s very cold. Some serious news: starvation 
has begun to show itself in England and Russia. In fact, in recent days 
even the Russian newspapers have written about death from starvation. 
In England workers understand that they’ll go hungry because of the
submarines and they’re asking what’s being done to counter this. 
However much the government says that everything possible is being 
done, the workers know this is empty talk and cry ‘we want peace!’ 
Anyway, large and small rebellions are taking place all over Russia. 
Very good. A letter came from Istanbullu Hakkı today. He writes that 
troops are constantly moving to the borders, that the soldiers are made 
up of 17-year old children and that they go to the front amid
guitar playing, as if they were going to a wedding. We didn’t have a 
lesson at night. We didn’t do anything at all. Halis and I commiserated 
a bit. My soul is a bit aggravated again today.

//END of PART LXVIII//

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