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| ROMANIAN PRISONERS IN WORLD WAR ONE (7.05.2007) |
| (2007-05-07) |
| Last updated: 2007-05-07 16:05 EET |
World War One caused the largest number of human casualties known until then, namely 10 million. The mankind had never known so much bloodshed. The war was the acme of an unprecedented hyper-excitement the world had been going through starting with in 1890s. This war was wanted by everybody for different reasons. But they were not aware of the disastrous consequences for the whole mankind when hatred and revenge would be unleashed. The great tragedies that were to come, apart from human casualties, were extensive damage to buildings and goods, thousands of invalids and war prisoners, social fractures and enmity among nations.
Like all the other states, Romania entered the war to settle some territorial claims. Just like the other belligerent countries, it had to pay a dear price for the territories it gained. Romania was also not spared the traumatic experience of war prisoners.
Some of the Romanian soldiers and officers, particularly those who had served in the Austro-Hungarian army, were sent to Russia as war prisoners. Others had been captured by the Bulgarians following the battle of Turtucaia in August 1916 or were captured by the Germans during the 1916 autumn campaign. Some of the Romanian prisoners in Russia joined the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and fought together with the Russian Red guards. Witnesses said that prison conditions in Russia were acceptable. In Germany, they were a bit harder, due to a generalised crisis. In Bulgaria, however, Romanian war prisoners were treated extremely harshly. The 28 thousand Romanian soldiers and officers taken prisoners following the Turtucaia battle were sent to Stara Planina where they were administered severe treatment and were subject to all kinds of humiliations. They were forced to work without having anything to eat, or without medical care and heating, and were forced to live in dirty lodgings. The Romanian war prisoners were detained there until June 1918 although the peace with the Central powers had been concluded in March 1918. The Romanian prisoners detained in Germany had been instantly released after the peace treaty of March 1918 .
General Pantelimon Comisel fought in both world wars. He was 100 years old when he was interviewed by our colleagues from the Centre of Oral History of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation in 1988. According to his testimony, he was a young junior lieutenant when World War One broke out and he volunteered for the war. Comisel joined a machine gun company and thus began his odyssey as a war prisoner in Germany.
”During an assault made by the Romanian army, my company advanced on a rainy mourning in the dark woods. The area was covered by thick forests. As it was pretty cold for the month of August, I called on my soldier to bring me a greatcoat to put on before unleashing the attack. He brought me a German greatcoat that he had found around. <>. I put the German greatcoat on. While we advanced, we were supposed to get over an artillery blockade and I also had to change the location of some machine guns in my platoon. But we fell into a German ambush, without being able to make a single move. Any movement would have cost me my life and the lives of the soldiers around me.”
Caught in a foreign uniform, which runs counter to war-laws, Pantelimon Comisel was not killed, at the mercy of the German officer who investigated him and finally decided to spare his life. After a short detention in a Romanian camp, he got transferred to Germany. The Germans set up labour camps on the occupied territory for the prisoners who remained in Romania and whom they used for farming works.
”They took me to a German major who saw me in the German greatcoat and asked me from where I had got it. I explained the situation, using both German and Romanian words, as he had an interpreter. He told me to go on his right side. I instantly realised that a bullet was there, waiting for me. After the interrogation, he asked me once again how old I was. I told him I hadn’t yet turned 19. At that moment, he took me by the hand and placed me on the left side. He finally understood that I had told the truth and maybe because I was so young he decided to spare my life. This is how I ended up as a prisoner in the camp in Ramnicu Sarat, and then got transferred to a camp in Starlsund, in Pomerania, Germany.”
Living conditions were extremely poor in the camp of Stralsund, which was located on an island in the Baltic Sea. The food was insufficient and of poor quality, just like the living conditions, the heath assistance and the heating. There were many prisoners, which was depressing for general Comisel.
”I got scared, even frightened when I got in. I thought the whole Romanian army was in there, in front of me. One of the prisoners was a division general, I think he was called Costescu. He and his entire division had been taken prisoner. Overall, I think we were some 3-400 officers of various ranks. I remember that two of them still had their swords with them. We asked ourselves why was a prisoner allowed to carry a sword in the camp. We were told the two officers had been taken prisoner while fighting with the sword to defend their country and the German appreciated that. The two officers were major Pirvulescu, I think ,and colonel Tarnovski.”
Life in the camp was not only harsh but also monotonous. According to Pantelimon Comisel, those who were actually working, mostly soldiers, received better quality food. A general crisis, caused by the war, was the main cause of the poor conditions in the camp. Pantelimon Comisel:
”We wanted so much to get out of there, at least for a short while, that we would pray for one of us to die so as to accompany his coffin to the cemetery. I remember the winter of 1917-1918, when the weather was very harsh there. 10-20 prisoners died then. They used to give s such a small quantity of coal, and we used to stay all around the stove. We used to lit the fire and stay there for an hour, an hour and a half, until the fire was put out. Electricity was also a problem, as the Germans were confronted with an energy crisis and they had to save energy. I know that earlier, a British prisoners camp had functioned there. They had so much food that they threw the German food on the walls. They didn’t need the Germans’ food because they received food from home.”
Yet, WW I was not a history lesson for mankind. A second world war had to take place and totalitarianism had to make much more victims for mankind to understand that it had to instate a long lasting peace. War prisoners are examples of the tragedies that the war always produces.
(Steliu Lambru)
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2025-02-05
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