3 Mayıs 2019 Cuma

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

//Ed. Note: Fuad Bey continues his German studies with
the Austrian private Franz, reports more war news and 
enters into a long self-discourse about his plight and the
hope that it might prepare him for a brighter future 
(it did).//

kibrit kutusundaki sarıkamış-sibirya günlükleri ile ilgili görsel sonucu


11 December 1916 Monday
Cloudy again. Very cold. News: Greece’s situation is very tight. Turkish 
troops have taken a few important hills in Iran. Tahir, Nuri, Osman, 
Şerif, Sadık and Hüseyin Ağa from the other house came for a visit. We 
bought a portable mirror, a notebook and three yards of towel cloth from
the market.  Halis had quite a time working with the edges of the cloth. 
I had a shave. Tonight only I studied German. I worked on the German 
words that Uzun Hakkı sent. We chatted amongst ourselves. Halis and I 
talked about our environment (Turkey’s envioronment) and what’s wrong 
with it.

12 December 1916 Tuesday
The weather is overcast. Snow is falling now and then. News: Apparently 
the French Parliament has decided to continue the war. Bucharest has 
fallen for sure. On the Manastir front there’s a German offensive and 
around Siroz the Turks and the English are going head to head. A French 
battleship went out for an inspection and didn’t return…today Halis 
brought the cloth he bought the other day but he didn’t have the shirt 
cloth sewn. The shirt is for me, the cloth for him. The shirt was sewn
well but the cloth was too long and big so we decided to shorten it. 
The laundry came without having been washed. At night we changed 
our laundry.

13 December 1916 Wednesday
The sky is cloudy. Light snow is falling…we worked on lessons a bit 
during the day. Later, I tried to sew the cuffs of the cloth that came 
yesterday. Halis worked seriously on his lessons today, which made me 
very happy. Because Franz didn’t come at night we worked on a few 
sentences. Halis and I talked again at night. I asked him why he’s 
avoiding Zühdü with whom he used to kid around each day. I asked 
Zühdü too but he didn’t say anything. Halis said that he hasn’t liked 
Zühdü for a long time and the feeling is mutual. But he had said this 
to me once before. His words and actions don’t match. Who knows, 
maybe they had a fight.

14 December 1916 Thursday
The weather is overcast. Quite cold too. In the afternoon eight of us 
went visiting – two to Malaşova, two to Lebedof  and four to 
Adlizewsky. We talked with Hakkı and Şerif and then with Osman. I 
gave Hakkı a few German words. When we returned we heard this news: 
there will be new soldiers at Yaroslav. The mujiks have risen up and 
murdered the commander and all the officers there. Tonight we had 
Franz correct the many letters we’ve written and we practiced some more. 
Halis and I chatted again at night. I told him that I had complete trust and
faith in him and that our friendship is forever. I advised him to live 
happily from now on. Really, I felt badly that up to now I have made him 
worry about some things.


15 December 1916 Friday
The weather is overcast. Cold. During the day I wrote in my notebook a 
bit and finished the leg of the longjohn. In the afternoon four of the 
fellows who arrived most recently came to our house. News: a military 
writer says the following: right now there are a few million soldiers ?under
the machine?. This has reduced the front from 800 verst (853.5  
kilometers) to 200 verst. A new situation will be created here and when a 
sufficiently large force leaves for there it will march to the Balkans where 
it will expel English General Herail. Right now there are two million 
equipped soldiers in German military drilling grounds. If the war continues, 
there will be quite a storm in Russia’s west in the Spring. A solution for 
this must be found now. Our allies must henceforth help us…the 
Romanian King’s brother has been appointed governor of Bucharest. 
Lots of refugees have gone from Romania to Russia. The Russian 
Government can only give them one million boots…again, the writer 
says ‘Russian cannot feed itself, how can it look after refugees?’ We 
had a German lesson from Franz tonight.

16 December  1916 Saturday
The weather is like every other day. News: there will be a meeting in 
Berlin, at which all of the German government’s princes and kings, the 
ambassadors of neutral countries and a representative from each of the 
allies will attend. At this gathering the German Prime Minister will say
 ‘we have put forward quite a few conditions for peace. In fact, we’ve 
adjusted some of them somewhat. Up to now they haven’t been accepted. 
If the modified conditions are not accepted this time and the war goes on
then the responsibility that arises from this belongs to the Allied Powers.’ 
Some other things…Şerif came in the morning. We sat for quite a while 
and we talked. I wasn’t able to do a lot of work. Anyway, we had no 
lesson tonight. After doing a couple of things I went to bed earlier than
usual, before midnight. These days the daylight is quite a bit shorter and 
the nights are longer. In the evening the sun sets a bit after three thirty 
and rises at eight in the morning. This means tha daylight lasts six or
seven hours.

17 December 1916 Sunday
The weather is different than other days: pleasant, cloudless, sunny but 
there’s bitter cold. As small piece of spit freezes before it hits the ground. 
News: the German Prime Minister said in the Reichstag that ‘again we 
are making a peace proposal to our enemies. We’re close to victory. 
We’ve adjusted  our conditions compared to what they were. If they 
accept we’ll make peace. If they want war we’re prepared. We want to 
do a service to humanity. Because the entire world is in grief.’ All
the German dukes and the ambassadors of our allies were present at the 
Reichstag. Afterwards, the four allied governments sent separate notes in 
this regard to the Pope for him to pass along to the enemies. Each one of 
the enemies responded separately and decided to continue the war…
in the afternoon we went to visit the Adelfinski house. Then we went for 
a stroll outside. We went as far as the riverbank and walked around in the 
park there, watching the ice skating Russians. We read German a bit with 
Franz at night. I showed him some French. I had a mixed-up dream at
night in which I was able to recognize my father, mother and brother. 
Then Çerkes Mehmet, acting like he was a commander, struck Halis and 
Salah. He was about to do the same thing to me but I escaped. What’s the
use, I can’t escape. I woke up at this point.

18 December 1916 Monday
The weather is overcast. Anymore we’re aggravated. I don’t know, when 
will this imprisonment end?  When will there be peace and when will we 
be able to meet with our families, about whom we know nothing? Or will 
we meet them in eternity? Please God, save me. Bring happiness to all
of crying and grieving mankind. Ah…my minutes as a youth are passing. 
Still among a thousand torments and thousands of different thought I’m 
being crushed. Sometimes I’m all alone among the clouds of tragedy 
collapsing over me and I’m disappearing. Wherever I look (or go) there’s
an emptiness in front of me. Whatever I think, I see nothing but vexation 
in my path. It seems probable that my life will remain under a thousand 
torments. My hope, my every desire, is dependent on what my arms can 
bear and the attitude of determination to sustain my existence and for life 
not yet ravaged. The thought of being alone is tossing me about! My
desire, in particular, is for happiness for myself and to do something 
worthwhile for my beloved nation in the future. I’ll strive for this all by 
myself. But if there’s not the slightest help, will fortune  show me a 
helper? Otherwise, instead of help will it open doors to sadness and 
tragedy? It seems that all me desires will be eclipsed. I don’t know, I 
don’t know. There’s not a minute that passes that I don’t feel like life is 
being crushed out of me. Because anymore the minutes of youth are 
fading away and I’m continually affected by the as yet unknown 
calamities that await me. But I’m maintaining my resistance and 
consoling myself with the hope that these painful days are preparing 
me for a bright future.

//END of PART LVII//

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