My Encounter with America

Zadok Ekimwere

Part 10: Rudolf Hess was privileged compared to prisoners in Uganda

By Zadok Ekimwere

zomwere@hotmail.com

Each time I visited Berlin, there were two compelling stories I thought I would write and catapult into international fame. The first one concerned the most renowned prisoner of war, Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's number two man. He acted strangely when he flew to Scotland on a so- called peace mission in 1941 and handed himself over to be tried and imprisoned by the British authorities. He was returned to Germany in 1945 to face the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg for war crimes and given life imprisonment.

Hess, who died in prison on August 17, 1987, at age 93, (other accounts claim he committed suicide) spent the rest of his life in Spandau prison. Initially, it was meant for at least 600 inmates. Hess spent most of the prison days alone in this establishment. He was privileged because he had a lot of space to himself with plenty of fresh air to breathe.

In my country, Uganda, some prisons, which were meant to house a mere 200 people now have 20,000 inmates. You can imagine how distressing and inhumanly uncomfortable that situation can be when it comes to sharing common facilities like bathrooms. And food, your guess.

Hess also enjoyed the best medical attention from the most qualified specialists in human medicine. I was told that specialists were flown from any part of the world to attend and treat Hess. The irony was that though the Allied powers wanted him in captivity, they wanted him in a very healthy person.

Had he been a war prisoner in my part of the world, he would have regretted being born. There are stories told of mere suspects plotting to fight the government who get the most horrific treatment. In some cases, it is alleged they are locked up with beasts like snakes or in rooms where they can only stand with heads above the water. They can be treated to a starvation menu or given very unpalatable food. If guards get tired of them, they sneak in with a 20- pound hammer and land it on their bare heads.

Why was this war criminal getting VIP treatment in prison? The resources spent on him alone would have done many useful things for the needy innocent people elsewhere in the world, since there is no shortage of them. I was told to get permission to enter Spandau was like a camel trying to pass through a needle's eye, for one had to get permission from all the Allied powers. I just gave up.

The second story concerned Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The horror stories we were told were so disarming that to this day I have not had the guts to write a story about my visit there. You cannot imagine normal human beings subjecting other human beings to such suffering and torture.

Here in the U.S. I have heard complaints about treatment of prisoners on death row, or how the lethal injection causes suffering to the victim. But the way people were killed in those camps does not merit repetition anywhere. In fact, my advice to the guide was never to allow African leaders to visit that historic death camp. For the simple reason that it would teach them better ways of torturing their opponents. That is why I refused to write that story.

(Next week:

We go to Moscow.)