With the arrival in this country of the first Englishmen and Englishwomen who have been prisoners of the Germans in East Africa since the outbreak of war, and who were released when the Belgians captured Tabora, a picture in proper perspective is available of the foul treatment meted out to them by the Germans. The record of the degradation to which English civil and military prisoners were subjected, and of the terrible experiences of English ladies was as revolting as any in the history of German Kultur. The specific purpose was to discredit British prestige in Africa and to make the English appear before the natives as slaves of Germany. So strongly is this felt that a formal petition, accompanied by sworn statements, has been sent to General Smuts to hold a commission of inquiry into a course of conduct many details of which are too loathsome to be made public, but the knowledge of which will at once show the impossibility of the Germans ever being allowed to return to their colony.
Among those who returned home a few days ago is the Rev B F Spanton, Principal of St Andrew’s College, Zanzibar, who was on a tour of school inspection in the German colony. On the outbreak of war, in conversation with Reuters’ representative, Mr Spanton said: “The real point is that the Germans from the first did their best to destroy British prestige. They were brutal and cruel in the prosecution of a deliberate policy to this end. They made both civilian and military prisoners do the lowest kind of work in order that they might lose caste before the Africans. For great distances throughout Africa the news was passed that we were German slaves. This was drummed into the people on every opportunity and by all kinds of propaganda, and even the native German soldiers referred to us as slaves.
“British prisoners in the scantiest of clothing were set to pull a lorry through the streets - work usually done by oxen - in full view of the jeering natives. And one could see one English university graduate hoeing up a native gardien patch or a wealthy rubber planter clearing out native latrines. All this has had a great effect on the native mind, and the news of the degradation of British and other European men and women, flashed as it has been across Africa, is a source of wonder to tribes hundreds of miles distant.
SELECTED FOR BRUTALITY.
The commandant at Tabora was a man who had been warned by the German Government on account of his brutality, of which he had been officially convicted. He was once publicly horsewhipped by a German servant, yet he was appointed officer in charge of the prisoners’ camp at Tabora. The same plan was followed in the case of the ladies’ camp at Kisboriani. The man placed in charge here bore such a character that the local chiefs sent their wives and daughters out of the country. His own wife had committed suicide as a result of his vile conduct and he was deliberately chosen to take charge of ladies of gentle birth and education.
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At Tabora 88 of us men of all nationalities and stations in life were herded in a corrugated shed which was so crowded that the beds touched one another. Sanitation there was none, and as we were locked up at 7 at night until the next morning the conditions were awful. The Germans made native soldiers with loaded rIfles march up and down inside the shed all night. lt is quite clear that from a military point of view the sentries were useless - it was only meant as another degradation for us, for one could not imagine a greater outrage than to place a native guard in a white man’s bedroom.
The ladies were required to do their own housework and also six hours’ work for the Government every day. They protested against being set to tasks whIch would assist the enemy, and were threatened with confinement with bread and water.
While being conveyed from one camp to another 30 English ladies, nine Englishmen, and about 40 native prisoners were shut up in an iron railway shed, again without the slightest pretence of sanitation, for one whole night, and most of the next day. The natives were not allowed to go out under any pretext, while for many hours the Englishmen and women were refused facilities for the ordinary decencies of life.
On another occasion a caravan of men and women were sent on a long march of 10 days under escort. It was pointed out that, in the interests of decency, tents must be provided for the ladies. Although these were obtainable, the officer applied to refused permission, and replied: “What have --- English women to do with decency?”
A CONTRAST
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As soon as the Germans began to see that their colony was going grievances were redressed. When the advancing Belgians were 50 miles from Tabora the German attitude had completely changed. The Belgians behaved splendidly to the Germans on entering Tabora - a great contrast to the manner in which the latter had behaved to us.
One Belgian officer said to me: “I have seen my father, teether, and brothers massacred in Flanders, and my sister outraged.” One can imagine the difficulty in which such a man would be placed under the circumstances in repressing his natural feelings.