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Authors: Catrin Collier
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lying on a straw mattress on a hard, wooden bunk; one of sixteen built in four tiers in a cramped compartment no bigger than my motherâs larder, set in this overcrowded wooden hut and likely to be here a while longer. I dare not even hazard a guess as to how much longer lest I go raving mad.
After reading this I realise that Iâm suffering from yet another dose of acute self-pity. Donât worry, itâs not terminal, or fortunately for us, contagious. For every depressed prisoner, or âkriegieâ as the German guards call us, thereâs always one who can muster a modicum of optimism to cheer the rest, and because we have to do all our own housework, cooking, washing, cleaning and in my case, nursing as well as doctoring, we have plenty to keep ourselves busy.
What I canât understand is how a woman, any woman, has time to do anything other than housework. It seems to take us the best part of half a day to collect food from the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Bethan stared at the lines obliterated by the censorâs heavy pen. Guessing that Andrew had mentioned the rations the Germans allowed them in addition to the Red Cross parcels, and suspecting just how scant they might be, she read on.
XXXXX and make lunch. And no sooner have we washed our tins and pans than itâs time to start on supper.
In my free time I attend as many of the classes my fellow inmates have organised as I can. Iâm learning languages. Itâs quite a little United Nations here between the Canadians, Australians, South Africans, French, Poles, Dutch XXXXXXXXXXXX and ourselves. We have a choir, but when I tried to join, the conductor unkindly diagnosed me as tone deaf. On that point, my love, he agrees with you. The drama group I wrote you about goes from strength to strength and theyâve finished building the theatre at the back of the church. We have a reading club (which would greatly appreciate any spare books no matter how old or decrepit) an art group, and even Iâve been roped in to run first aid classes. Iâve also taken up carpentry in the hope that it will help me with those odd jobs you keep threatening me with. So you see, I am busy if not happy. But then I could never be that again without you and the children.
I realise that you are facing problems too, my love, and from my fatherâs last letter I also know youâre working as many hours as there are in a day and night. He said that he and Doctor Evans couldnât manage without you. I feel so bloody useless locked up in this cage. All I want is to be home with you, working, helping, living but most of all loving. I really canât see that keeping thousands of men penned up in compounds all over Germany is contributing to the war effort of either side.
There I go, moaning again. Please, whatever else you do, donât worry about me. Food is no longer a problem since the Red Cross parcels started coming in regularly, and we are supplementing those by cultivating vegetable gardens between the huts. My swedes, cabbages and turnips have to be seen to be believed, Rachel could probably play with them in her dollsâ house, but they are growing every day. I only hope that none of us will be here in the autumn to harvest our crop. Our hopes have risen since the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX you see â news gets through even to us. Some of the gamblers are even taking bets as to when the first Yank will arrive.
Bethan smiled as she wondered at the censorâs command of English, didnât he know the English nickname for Americans?
Thank you for the photographs of the children. You can have no idea how much they mean to me. I have pinned them alongside my bunk, starting with the one of you and Rachel I had in my wallet when I was captured, and carrying on with the ones you have sent every month since.
I have missed out on their entire babyhood and all of your pregnancy with Eddie, years that I will never
After reading this I realise that Iâm suffering from yet another dose of acute self-pity. Donât worry, itâs not terminal, or fortunately for us, contagious. For every depressed prisoner, or âkriegieâ as the German guards call us, thereâs always one who can muster a modicum of optimism to cheer the rest, and because we have to do all our own housework, cooking, washing, cleaning and in my case, nursing as well as doctoring, we have plenty to keep ourselves busy.
What I canât understand is how a woman, any woman, has time to do anything other than housework. It seems to take us the best part of half a day to collect food from the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Bethan stared at the lines obliterated by the censorâs heavy pen. Guessing that Andrew had mentioned the rations the Germans allowed them in addition to the Red Cross parcels, and suspecting just how scant they might be, she read on.
XXXXX and make lunch. And no sooner have we washed our tins and pans than itâs time to start on supper.
In my free time I attend as many of the classes my fellow inmates have organised as I can. Iâm learning languages. Itâs quite a little United Nations here between the Canadians, Australians, South Africans, French, Poles, Dutch XXXXXXXXXXXX and ourselves. We have a choir, but when I tried to join, the conductor unkindly diagnosed me as tone deaf. On that point, my love, he agrees with you. The drama group I wrote you about goes from strength to strength and theyâve finished building the theatre at the back of the church. We have a reading club (which would greatly appreciate any spare books no matter how old or decrepit) an art group, and even Iâve been roped in to run first aid classes. Iâve also taken up carpentry in the hope that it will help me with those odd jobs you keep threatening me with. So you see, I am busy if not happy. But then I could never be that again without you and the children.
I realise that you are facing problems too, my love, and from my fatherâs last letter I also know youâre working as many hours as there are in a day and night. He said that he and Doctor Evans couldnât manage without you. I feel so bloody useless locked up in this cage. All I want is to be home with you, working, helping, living but most of all loving. I really canât see that keeping thousands of men penned up in compounds all over Germany is contributing to the war effort of either side.
There I go, moaning again. Please, whatever else you do, donât worry about me. Food is no longer a problem since the Red Cross parcels started coming in regularly, and we are supplementing those by cultivating vegetable gardens between the huts. My swedes, cabbages and turnips have to be seen to be believed, Rachel could probably play with them in her dollsâ house, but they are growing every day. I only hope that none of us will be here in the autumn to harvest our crop. Our hopes have risen since the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX you see â news gets through even to us. Some of the gamblers are even taking bets as to when the first Yank will arrive.
Bethan smiled as she wondered at the censorâs command of English, didnât he know the English nickname for Americans?
Thank you for the photographs of the children. You can have no idea how much they mean to me. I have pinned them alongside my bunk, starting with the one of you and Rachel I had in my wallet when I was captured, and carrying on with the ones you have sent every month since.
I have missed out on their entire babyhood and all of your pregnancy with Eddie, years that I will never
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