Camp reports – Erfurt

Transcript from copy held at US National Archives.

Source Document: US National Archives Washington (NARA) ; RG 84 Records of Foreign Service Posts ; Diplomatic Posts – Great Britain – Volume 0763

Report of an inspection of the Detention Camp at Erfurt made by Drs. A.E. Taylor and Dr. D. J. McCarthy on Thursday, May 18,1916.

The plan and organisation of this camp has already been described in a report made by Mr. Jackson on April 24, 1915.

Within the last three weeks this camp has been evacuated, the prisoners of war, with the exception of a small number necessary for the care of the place, having been transferred to Langensalza. Fifteen British are still retained at the camp and in addition to the work about the camp they are occasionally employed in unloading coal at the railway station When so employed they are paid at the rate of 50 pfgs per day. Sergeant Thomas Massey, 1st Dorsetshire Regt., reported that there was no complaint to be made as to treatment, housing or food. The men occasionally ate the camp food but depended mainly on their packages which came regularly. The men likewise had no complaints to make. They were housed in a barrack room 72 x 24 x 12 feet; two windows and a large doorway with 2 windows and a doorway in the adjoining barrack room gave sufficient light and ventilation. Built-In bunks of wood construction with straw mattresses furnished the sleeping arrangements. All the men had sufficient clothes, underclothes and shoes.

The baths were satisfactory and the men were permitted to bathe as often as they chose.

The latrines were of the trench type and in good condition

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While the packages arrived regularly as above stated, letters had not been received for six months. The attention of the camp authorities was called to this and they promised to look into the matter and correct it as far as possible. It is quite possible, they stated, that the transfer of the parent camp to Langensalza, might be responsible for the delay.

A E Taylor

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