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6 THE INDIGENOUS AUTHORITY In Schwabach, Rosenbloom's first act is to report to an American Military Government (MG) captain who has arrived only a few hours earlier and has not yet had time to familiarize himself with the DP situation. The captain has a mountain of work to do-collect firearms and cameras, clear suitable civilian personnel, notify German authorities of the occupation policies and curfew, take steps to control hostile German civilians, establish controls over captured enemy material, and send out scouts for preliminary surveys of the industrial and agricultural status of the area. A very busy man, this MG officer, but he takes the time to introduce the CO to a Herr Schmauzer, who is to be our guide. Rosenbloom learns that Schmauzer has never been a member of the Nazi Party, and that he offered his services to MG because of his sense of civic responsibility. Rosenbloom brings Schmauzer to our vehicles and introduces him to everyone. Our guide is a thin, nervous, middle-aged man who possesses a sense of humor. When he laughs, his small Vandyke beard bounces. Like that of many Germans we are to meet, his English is excellent; he has lived in the United States in the late twenties. This is my first nonmedical contact with a German citizen, and I observe Schmauzer critically. After a while, I decide that he is neither irritatingly conceited nor arrogant, but perhaps such attitudes disappear quickly in the people of a conquered nation. Before the war, Schmauzer owned a factory in which phonograph and sewing machine needles were manufactured, but during the war, of course, he converted to more important things. He employed foreign laborers in his factory-Russian I 41 women-but he says he treated all the girls well. (Perhaps this was true. After we arrived at the Russian camp, some of the women seemed glad to see him.) He adds, however, that it would have been foolish for him to coerce his employees: if he had, they would not have worked as hard. He tells us about the capture of Schwabach. During the interval between the departure of German soldiers and Nazi officials and the entry of American troops, he and others tried to keep a semblance of order. At 6:00 A.M. a phone call came from the Americans, saying that if the roadblocks and other defensive barriers were removed the town would be spared. Schmauzer and other civilians cleared the barriers and waited. The Americans did not arrive until I :00 P.M. During the interval , there were reports of looting of homes and warehouses by Poles, but not by French or Russians. I am surprised to hear that the looting was limited. There are three different labor camps around the city. The Russian camp houses about 1,200 people, with individuals and family groups living in run-down, flimsy wooden barracks arranged in a V formation. Each building is crowded with ten to twelve double-decker beds, many with straw-filled ticks, and covered by blankets or blanket substitutes made of pieces of burlap. No towels, pillows, or sheets are in evidence. Occasionally , ropes are strung between the beds, and from them laundry hangs, or torn, coarse rags or even cardboard for nocturnal privacy . The shabbily dressed people flock about us, try to kiss us, follow us on our inspection, and chatter continuously. A clean kitchen contains four steel kettles, and enough food for about two days. The open-pit latrines are filthy. There are only twelve for the camp. In theory, sixty latrine seats would be desirable-s percent of the camp population. There is one central washroom in which leaky pipes are noticeable. A Russian doctor takes care of the sick; I talk with him briefly and check some of his patients and supplies. No communicable diseases at the moment. There is no organization-the German Lagerfuehrer (camp master) has disappeared. The second camp contains 400 French DPs and a few Ital42 I Tbe First Camp ians. Almost half the French claim to be ex-prisoners of war. Their quarters are in buildings similar to those of the Russians -single-story, low-ceilinged wooden barracks, heated by potbellied stoves. The floors are littered by trash. Nearby is an identical building in which a dozen French women live. These barracks are firetraps, I think, and particularly dangerous during air raids. (Later I learn that an unknown number of DPs has been incinerated in buildings such as...

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