Item 59: Internment camp diary, November 1917-August 1918 - Page 22

<p>[Page 22]</p><p>Ruhleben, etc receive about 27 Mark for &nbsp;&pound;1, which is a premium of 30%, whereas here they charge us a discount of 30% and more. Since there is no other trade between Germany and England, this differential is not justified. The governments should have reached an agreement to convert on both sides at the old exchange rate, and Germany should have been able to force the issue since the amount of money that flows as aid into wartime Germany is surely a lot higher than the amounts that flow from Germany into England and its colonies. Even in these matters we upright and naive Germans have let the English put one over us.</p><p>Not only we 45-year-olds can&#39;t get away from here, even the sick who desperately need a climate change or a type of surgery that is only available in Europe won&#39;t be released. Among the Tsingtao people there is a Mr Gabriel who participated in the siege as a corporal and whose cranium was dented inward on one side by the</p>