Report of the third meeting of the International Prisoners Organization (I.P.O) on 1.5.45 (May 1, 1945) at 17:00 hours.
The presiding Partick O’Leary opens the meeting at 17:35 hours, and leaves the word to the present American captain M. A. (?) Agather.
Captain Agather said: If it pleases you, I will speak German, as I have not mastered the other languages well enough. Thereafter, he calls for the individual representatives of the different countries:
England, Russia, Belgium, Austria, Spain, France, Holland, Hungary (not present), Italy, Luxemburg, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Balkans, Greece, Norway and Germany.
The point is that you should return home as soon as possible. To make that possible we need your assistance. So here we have a question form. Every inmate of the camp has to work on it. We request that you establish groups of each nation, making sure that we are helped by these question forms. You may choose as many co-workers as you like. That depends on the size of a group. To have that accomplished fast, the Major, our assistant-officer will make sure that any questions are answered correctly. This evening I will instruct you how to fill the question form correctly. So I pass over now the question forms to you. The questions are printed in both English and German, and should be filled in using print letters. Pay attention, there are some questions that need explanation. The question after profession regards to the civil profession. The question after the place of your arrest means the spot where you became POW. The rubric details asks after circumstances of capture, cruelties you experienced. A US military court will be established inside the camp. Anybody who committed cruelties will be sentenced by this court. Next page, line 6, there is the question whether you ever have been verdicted for criminal deeds. This question needs to be answered very correctly. In this camp there are individuals present for criminal atrocities, we need to know that. The next question refers to anything of the previous one: date, court, trial, date of release - everything has to be answered correctly on the question form. We need four question forms for each person. As we need these forms quickly, only one of the forms needs to be filled out. As soon as a question form is completed, we will ask you to copy it on the three others by typewriter and sign it. I ask any person present here how many forms we need for each nation. Can you tell me this now or do I get the answer later?
(Mr.) Domagala: An estimated number of prisoners is as follows:
Russia 3900, Belgium 810, Österreich 200, Spain 200, France 3700, Holland 460, Hungary 650, Italy 2200, Luxemburg 435, Poland 9200, Czechoslovakia 1500, Yugoslavia 3200, Balkan inhabitants (Albania, Romania, Bulgaria) 150, Greece 180, Norway 80, Germany 1100. I should add, that the number of jews is not included in these nation-groups, but listed seperately, their number is about 2100.
