22 August 1943              .

U.S.S. Antaeus (AS21)

c/o Fleet Post Office,

New York, N.Y.

        This is not a transcribed discussion but is rather a series of notes made after having talked with Lieutenant Skora and deals more with personal view points and sentiments than with actual facts.  Its importance lies in the fact that the expressions of feeling, integrated with other such talks with German prisoners or actual facts already known or suspected, may corroborate these facts or disagree with them.  The discussion was not an interrogation, but rather informal series of visits made in the quarters of the prisoner while underway.

        These notes are necessarily colored by my own interpretation of the prisoners answers, and interpretation brought about through the enthusiasm and interest which he showed on certain matters or the reluctance with which he spoke of others.

        The attitude of the prisoner was extremely pleasant and cooperative.  He tried in every way to abide by all regulations and caused no concern over his willingness to do what was asked.  He was friendly and eager to talk about Germany but would not discuss the German Navy except for general matters, such as uniforms, or rank, etc.

        The condition of his submarine before it was sunk seemed to be good, although he did say at one time that there had been some trouble and that was why they had surfaced and could not submerge.  However, later, he said that they were on the surface as they usually were at the time and the planes came at them so rapidly that they could not dive, or would not dive.  This would indicate that they had no radar, or that it was not operating, or was not manned if operating.  Rather than dive and try to get away, it was felt that it would be better to stay on the surface and engage the planes as they would not be able to tell what was happening on the surface if they did submerge.  He expressed a definite interest in our depth charges and seemed to infer that they were highly effective.

        Some general comparisons were made with our submarines.  He stated that he knew that our submarines were designed for definite areas of operation: Northern Zones and the tropics, whereas the German submarines were of one standard design and were used throughout the world interchangeably.  He knew about the ventilation and air-conditioning on our submarines and said that they must be hotels compared with his boat because the heat and the dampness in his boat was so great that it became unbearable at times.  They were continually wet, their clothing was never dry, and they were chronically ill with colds from clustering about the hatches when surfaced and having the draft blow on them through the hatch.  They were very cramped for space and utilized every available area for stores and other materials, even going so far as to close down the head and use the head for stowage of stores.  For relief they had a bucket in the engine compartment and it was emptied when they surfaced at night to recharge.

        Food was very good aboard his boat and there seemed to be no great lack of it.  Our food was compared to theirs in many instances and from the talks it seemed as if the army and navy were given all that they could use.  However he did state that the submarine navy was particularly well cared for in the way of food and other comforts such as tobacco.  During his talks he spoke of the difference between America and the abundance of everything, and the lack of foods in Germany proper; foods such as citrus fruits, potatoes, and meats, which were very carefully rationed for the civilian population but served to the army and navy regularly.  The need for these tropical fruits was mentioned time after time and quoted as one of the great causes of the war:  they had no colonial possessions from which to receive these commodities and therefore it was necessary to get them by fighting for them.  Tobacco was fairly plentiful but was of an inferior quality.  They imported most of the tobacco from Turkey and Romania, but compared to our blend of Prince Albert, which he had smoked before the war, they were tasteless, or too biter.  He hadn't eaten an apple for four years and when given one showed great delight in it.  He hadn't eaten chocolate for the same length of time, and ice cream was practically a miracle.  He showed great interest in our iced water and when told that it was iced by means of electricity, expressed great surprise that there should be such apparatus aboard a man of war for cooling water.

        All through the talks the question of men came up continually.  His crew was typical, he said.  They were extremely young and inexperienced.  Given a job to do they would act about it enthusiastically enough but as soon as the leaders back was turned mistakes would be made that were sometimes costly.  They had been given only a few months training for their work as compared to years of training the older men had received before the war.  Our sailors were compared to the Germans and in his estimation we had a very well trained and capable navy.  This impression was drawn from the observation of the crew of the destroyer that picked them up and from watching our own men who had anything to do with the prisoners.

        In the question of health of the men he showed great interest in our pharmacist mates and their ability.  While being treated for a cut on the finger some sulphanilimide was dusted into the cut.  He inquired what it was and when told expressed great surprise that it had not been used in Germany.  The submarine was not given such medicine in its cabinet and they did not have a pharmacists mate on the boat.  All the doctoring was done by the officers.  When told that American submarines even had ultraviolet lamps for the use of the men he showed great surprise that the space would be taken for it and that power should be wasted on it.  He would continually state that such things were unheard of in the German Submarine Navy.  A number of his men suffered from ear troubles which he could not define and from which he also was having trouble.

        He thought that a number of his men were suffering from salt water sores that had broken out while they were in the water waiting to be picked up by the destroyer and in connection with this wait spoke of the maneuvers of the destroyer.  She had circled two or three times about the group on the raft and thought that the ship would not stop to pick them up.  Their rubber raft was in good condition and the others were safe enough because they had their life jackets on, so they were prepared for a long stay in the water.  After having been finally picked up by the destroyer, they inquired why the ship had made such wide circles instead of coming in immediately and were told there was the danger of the submarine being in the vicinity and torpedoing the ship.  According to Lt. Skora, that would have been unheard of and completely against the honorable traditions of the German Submarine Navy.  It shocked him and pained him to think that we would have such suspicions of their honor.  In the same vein, in connection with the treatment of American prisoners in Germany he stated that they were being treated far better than the Germans were being treated in America and that there was an international law that prescribed the treatment by which Germany was scrupulously abiding.  He was told that the stories which was had heard were entirely different and that the prisoners of war in Germany were not being treated as well as he said.  He then said that he had seen American prisoners of war in one of the camps and that the only answer was that we had been fed on hate-propaganda.  When asked if he might not be receiving some of the same propaganda-conditioning he felt that though it was a vague possibility, it was not the case because the German Government wanted everyone to know what was happening.

        They had heard no news since they had left Germany and the Russian campaign was an utter mystery.  However they had been told that the front in Russia was so great that there was bound to be a great deal of fluid movement at the front and that there was no cause for alarm when the German lines were moved back a few miles in position.  They did not have the picture in Sicily but they had found out that Mussolini had been dropped from the dictatorship of Italy.  They could not understand any of the politics in the situation and, as all through the talks, Lt. Skora continually stated that they were sailors and they had nothing to do with the political aspect of the war.  The politicians in Germany took care of getting them into trouble.  They concerned themselves with pulling out of the fire the plans that the politicians had hatched.  No matter how the plans were laid, or what the strategy was, the navy was merely one of the tools of the politicians and would continue to be so until they did away with politics.

        The question of politics was then brought up and his reactions were very interesting.  Asked what kind of a man Hitler was, he said that Hitler was one of the slyest politicians he had ever heard of.  Not only had he conducted a war singlehandely but had unified Germany and was now on the road to unification of Europe.  A three-state world seemed to be the goal of the people in Germany:  A unified Europe, under German control but with freedom for all people; a unified America under the influence of the United States; and a unified East under Japan.  Then and only then would there be lasting peace in the world.  The question arose of the difficulty of having unity when force was used to impose a type of unity which was not desired

and he stated that Germany had a destiny to fulfill which the other countries of Europe could not stop.  Besides, he would ask, why should they refuse when it was obviously better for them?  He was completely astounded at the attitude of the Americans in connection with Aryanism.  In explaining Aryanism he stated that it meant having a licensed-card that stated that the parents and grandparents of both the father and mother were pure-bred German stock (Aryan) and that to be unable to show this card was a crime punishable as being unable to marry, and in some cases being sent to a workcamp where the conditions were very healthy and extremely pleasant.  The problem of non-aryans came up and he said that they were being taken care of in a very humane manner by being given whole cities to live in and by being allowed to live their own lives in these cities.  Commenting on the atrocities we have heard so much about he again stated that this was merely propaganda and not to be accepted for the truth.  In speaking of non-aryans he stated that the Japanese were not Aryans, and that they were being tolerated merely because of their assistance in the conduct of the war.  They are no better than the others, he would continually say.

        He continually asked why there should be war between America and Germany, claiming that their ideas and their abilities were so common.  We should never have come into the war but should have allowed Great Britain to carry it on alone.  When asked why there had been such indiscriminate bombing of London, Warsaw, and Rotterdam, amongst others, he stated that there was no alternative when these cities had been warned by the Berlin Radio to declare themselves open cities.  Then they did not, they were military objectives and subjected to such bombing as was thought necessary to achieve the goal set.

        During the talks he continually mentioned the fact that the German people were tired of the war and hoped for a very quick ending.  He believed that it would be over in a few more months, but he didn't say whether he thought that Germany would win or not.