bread account but infighting among the inmates has
made his job that much more difficult. Meanwhile,
the Austrian servants are being sent to Siberia.//
//
7 March 1917
Wednesday
The weather is
neither completely clear or cloudy. The sun sometimes
graces us with its
warmth. The sky can’t been
seen because of some
fog and clouds. The cold has suddenly gone away. We went for a walk
and
looked at the big river barges being built on the riverbank. These
are really
quite large. A note was sent to
Major Mehmet Bey in the
morning in regard to solving the bread problem. A
decision was made
to
combine bread with table d’hote and for me to supervise this so I
took the
bread accounts. Right away I made
an estimate. I weighed
what we have (10 pud) and calculated the expenses. There was a
shortfall of
140 funts, which amounts to
21 rubles. The lowdown
fellows were resisting and insisting on
the bread problems before.
The shameless jerks were saying ‘we’ll make the
flour’. Who knows
what
tricks they’ve been up to. In any event, time shows a person in
a truer light.
The bread was cooked
and we distributed it at a fee that
everyone could afford. We bought a teapot
and a bottle of milk
at the
market. We studied German a bit at night, chatted and went to bed.
8 March 1917
Thursday
The weather feels like summertime. The sun is out in full
and the
clouds have gone back to where they were at dawn.
The little birds
are singing. One can’t feel the cold at all. If there wasn’t
snow outside
a person
would think it was summer. Two Tercüman newspapers came.
Supposedly the English will
blockade the German coast this time.
Tercüman says there’s no chance of this
happening. The Russians
are
celebrating the fall of Erzurum in Tblisi with a party. The Turks
have taken to Istanbul the
cannons the Russians left at Plevne as a
reminder of their saving the
Bulgarians from the Turkish yoke.
Today passed idley. I really don’t know why. For the past two
weeks I’ve had a
terrible sense of bewilderment.
Even though I’ve
wanted to study and keep busy I haven’t had the wherewithall, as if
I’m
not understanding things properly. Sometimes I prefer to
daydream or lie down.
I don’t have a concrete thought. I really don’t
know
what’s happened to me. If captivity goes on any longer we’ll
probably go crazy. According to rumors, all the servants in the
houses will be
sent to Siberia. At night
I explained some of my
old problems to Halis. A bit afterwards, rather late, I
went
to bed. Tonight I
had nightmares once or twice.
9 March 1917
Friday
The beautiful
weather we had yesterday is with us again today.
News (Tercüman): the Allied
Powers want all the
governments in
the world to join them with the goal of attaining the main aims
they
haven’t been able
to secure themselves. The Russian newspapers
write that an okka (2.8 lbs.) of
oil in Turkey (Izmir)
is now 40 kuruş
and that’s why there’s hunger
(in Russia). Tercüman is supporting
this and writes
that right now in most cities of Russia a funt is
selling for this amount and Turkey’s oil is quite a bit
cheaper. When
I got up this morning I didn’t feel any pain in my body, my mind
and
my brain were
healthy and happy. But this didn’t last long. I started
to feel a haziness in
my brain and the sign of an
aching in my body.
After lunch I lay down to rest and slept until evening. When
I got up I
felt much better.
I came up with two reasons for the way I’ve been
feeling over the past few
weeks but it may be
neither of them. One is
the irritation that comes from thinking too much and
the other
is too much
consumption. I’m guessing that I’m under the influence
of the first one, in
particular. Right now I don’t
feel very self-assured.
Ah, these are the bitter poisons that captivity
gives…three more of the
servants
were shipped out in the morning. Dursun and the German
soldier Fritz remained here. Four
Austrian servants came in their place
toward evening.
10 March 1917
Saturday
The good weather
is gone. The sky is completely overcast. There’s
quite a storm raging. And
snow,too. News: (Tercüman)
the English
have advanced in Mesopotamia, 100 miles from Bagdad. The prisoners
in Turkey are
being very well cared for. A Russian newspaper has
published the account of a
Russian who escaped from
Turkey. The
railroad has been extended from Ankara to Yozgat and from Ereğli to
Kayseri. Good paved highways go as far as Sivas.
Strong
reinforcements are being built around Sivas – 20 lines of hunter
trenches and six lines of barbedwire obstacles, along with many
cannon positions. If the Russians
attack in the Spring it will be
defended. I felt hazy again today, but not as
bad as yesterday. Time
is
passing with nothing to do. I’m not working on German…I don’t
know why. Wechatted and went
to bed.
//END of PART LXXI//
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