My dear Marie
You have asked me to describe what life is like here. That is not an easy task. You have probably read what the Berlin papers write and know of this or that, and all I can tell you is above all – it is worse than anything you have read. Probably far worse. I know you as a strong woman and you will want to know the exact truth and not be spared on account of your sex, but it is still not easy for me to describe this to you.
Our camp at Königshütte and the other ones we have at Tarnowitz and Reuthen holds, we estimate, 20-30,000 people. Just across the border there is another one in a nearby city that may also hold as many. I cannot give you exact numbers because nobody knows for sure. People come across almost daily, looking for food and shelter, and people also leave, some who found friends or relatives to take them in, some who somehow managed to get passage to the United States or the colonies, or those who just go away. Especially children and young women are also offered positions or passage by white slavers who will unscrupulously sell them on to brothels in Berlin and elsewhere. Again, I only know stories that the refugees tell, but the police arrested a brothelkeeper accompanied by four young Polish girls in Gnesen last week whm he had told would work as housemaids in Hamburg. The girls were 11, 13 and 14. Sometimes, people also just walk away. we have no fences, no way of checking on them. We don't know where they end up, only that the police bring some of them back. with no proper papers or work permits, they can be arrested, but not expelled. If you consider that ours is neither the only camp, nor even the largest, the true horror of the situation strikes you.
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The system here is actually very good, all things considered. I know you would wish I could tell you horrible stories of the Church and its minions, but the Catholic charities are extremely helpful and cause us no problems at all. We operate our camp together, separting out anything would be pointless, and we all decided that we would pool our resources. There is little enough of everything. I was quite surprised when Pater Wishnewski agreed to the idea, but he is a very reasonable man and quite impressed with our organisation. Of course he preaches every time he gives out bread or clothes, but come to think of it, so do we. There are some in the camp who will not take anything from us, and some who won't take from the church, so it's a good thing we are both here. The authorities certainly are completely overwhelmed. I don't think I've seen a government agent doing anything useful in weeks. No, that is not really fair: We get paperwork for people crossing the border, and police to keep order in the camps – too few, but at least some. we have five officers for everyone here, and two of them speak Polish. It's funny: without the party organisation, they would stand no chance, and they know it. We have a few strong, disciplined workers here, and they joined our staff. They have armbands that say “Ordner” and officially, they have no power, but it's the closest to a police this camp has. Over at Reuthen it's terrible. They have robberies and rapes all the time. It happens here, too, but not as often, at least. One thing that really comes to mind is that we must organise our efforts. The aid committeees are doing sterling work, but we lose so much because we have no central control of our resources and no coordination. There must be something you can do in Berlin.
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Can you imagine what a sod house looks like? it is a hole in the ground, abnout as deep as a man's shoulders, with walls going up a little over head high, and the ceiling made of saplings and branches or old boards, or anything that comes to hand, with earth covering it. If you are lucky, you have an iron stove, but just a primitive chimney dug into the side is already better than many can do. Down in these hovels, you have whole families huddling under too few blankets until the next distribution of bread, or groats, or coal to keep them alive. The luckier ones have sheds or huts made from planks, about what a Silesian farmer would keep his pigs in. We are building those as fast as we can, but there's not enough of anything. You can make five or six sod houses from the timber one hut takes. And we always neede more room for improvised hospitals and kitchens, too. The building is mostly done by refugees, we organise it and pay them. This is where the generosity of the people has been wonderful. There is money and food to do that, at least, and things have become much better since we've stopped letting the people fend for themselves.
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Most days, we can find the people something to eat. the railways has helped us enormously, with sending trainloads of grain and meat at cut rates. If the farmers around here had any say in the matter, people would still be paying them gold and jewels for mouldy bread and sour milk. the extortion is unbelievable! It still happens, too. Women who need milk for their children, or sick people who need meat or eggs for broth are most at rtisk. the farmers sell wghat they have at fantastic prices. Many families have brought some valuables, jewelry or fine clothes, that the cossacks didn't take, but now they must pay these for a litre of milk or a quarter chicken. Some days, when there is not enough to eat for everyone, bread and groats also sell for silver and gold. When the money runs out, the families send their girls to get what they can however they can.
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It is interesting how many Jews are becoming a kind of camp aristocracy here. They are educated and literate and speak German, or Yiddish, which will do in a pinch. People trust them to talk to the authorities on their behalf. Some of them do business with the pimps and the farmers, but most are gernuinely helpful and they stick together more than the Poles and Russians. The Socialist workers are doing well, too, they are disciplined and cooperate, but we don't have many of them. Most stayed across the border to fight. The Russians have it worst: They were uprooted just like everyone else and often waled all the way across Poland until they found something to eat here. The Poles look down on them, and the Jews often hate and fear them. they have no friends here – there are no Russian or orthodox charities like there are Polish and Catholic and Jewish ones – so we are the only people they have. They are a pitiful band, mostly peasants, and unbelievably poor. I cannot imagine what things must be like in Russia if they chose to come here instead.
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