In 1919 the Australian Government issued a booklet entitled "How the Germans Treated Australian Prisoners of War". It was published "By Authority" and issued by the Defence Department, Melbourne, Australia. It included extracts from Statements made by Repatriated Australian Prisoners of War, most of whom had been wounded. Some of these Statements make disturbing reading and it appears that many Allied prisoners of war were very badly treated. It should, however, be remembered that conditions in Germany, during the last years of the war, were very difficult with food in short supply as a result of the Allied naval blockade. Most Allied prisoners of war would have starved to death if it were not for the Red Cross food parcels that were sent to them. Four typical sample accounts are given, followed by the Report of the Acting Consul for Switzerland, in charge of German interests. This contrasts the accounts of the Australian Prosoners of War with the way that German Prisoners of War were treated at the Holdsworthy Prisoner of War Camp in New South Wales where there was no shortage of food. http://www.vlib.us/medical/pow/index.htm
