other small ones, quite as airy and well lighted, but not so clean. A bulging straw mattress lies on the bunk. No one occupies it. They say this is the only punishment chamber.
COMMUNIST REICHSTAG LEADER
We are taken into another large building. Here there are six tiers of cells. The door is thrown open in one. A cheerful individual looks up surprised, rises, and instead of saluting or coming to attention he comes forward to shake hands with the secret police official. They talk amiably while it is explained that this is Herr Kaspar, well known Communist leader in parliament. He has been playing chess with Grube, another Communist parliamentarian.
“Do you like it here?” asks the secret police. And Kaspar comes back with a deep, challenging, “Jawohl!” He replies in similar fashion to a number of other questions. When one asks, “What do you think of the political future of Germany?” Kaspar booms out, “In prison I do not discuss party politics.”
A number of newly arrived prisoners are lined up in the courtyard as we leave the building. They are dirty after days in braunheims and city jails. They all appear to be in their middle thirties. Guards are looking through their meager baggage, which in all cases is wrapped up in a newspaper; and they are allowed to retain everything but keys, knives, and instruments that might be used in a fight.
There are a few Jews among the new arrivals. It is possible that they may have special cells for Jews or at least keep them apart from other political prisoners. We ask and are told that there are “thirty or forty” Jews in the prison. Since the creation of the zuchthaus eighty prisoners had been released, but officially it was not known whether any of these had been Jews. Outside the walls it is commonly said that no Jew has come outside the prison alive.
Prisoners, we are told, are up every morning at six. They wash and have a half hour of setting-up exercises before breakfast. At eight, those who perefer to work may do so. The others “play” until lunch at twelve. The same routine goes for the afternoon period. At six they eat. At nine lights are out. They may write to relatives once a week; and they receive mail as frequently as it comes.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
