_Süddeutsche Nachrichtenstelle für die Neutralen_ (South German News
Bureau for the Neutrals). It publishes propagandist leaflets at
irregular intervals and of various dimensions, which are intended to
furnish "the verifiable truth as to the origin, course, and results of
the war."
The professors of the University of Leipzig sent abroad a special
number of the _Leipziger Neueste Nachrichte_ of the 25th August, 1914,
which gave, in chronological order, "the truth about the causes of the
war and the German successes." The truth! Its capital falsehoods are
too numerous for examination here.
At Düsseldorf is the _Büro zur Verbreitung deutscher Nachrichten im
Auslande_ (the German Bureau for distributing German news abroad). The
French version of this title is _Bureau allemand pour la publication
de nouvelles authentiques à l'Etranger_. Observe, in passing, that
_Deutsche Nachrichten_ is translated as "authentic news," which will
not fail to surprise the reader. This Bureau used to publish _Le
Réveil_, a remarkable journal sold in Belgium and the occupied parts of
France.
The _Deutscher Überseedienst_ (German Overseas Service) busies itself
particularly with the falsification of public opinion abroad. Its
publications are usually distributed gratis.
For Americans living in Europe, Germany provides _The Continental
Times, Special War Edition and Journal for Americans in Europe_, edited
at the Hôtel Adon in Berlin. To judge of the veracity of this journal,
it is enough to read, in the issue for the 8th February, the article by
Herr J. E. Noegerath, devoted to his journey through Belgium. In this
we learn that "Malines was bombarded simultaneously by the Belgians and
the Germans; the cathedral, somewhat seriously damaged, is about to be
repaired by the Germans." St. Rombaut repaired by the Germans! This
exceeds even the German limits! Well, the Americans in Europe have a
chance of obtaining positive information.
_The League of German Scientists and Artists for the Defence of
Civilization_ (in French they make it _La Ligue pour la défense de la
civilisation_--for the _prevention_--which is just what it is!) is
installed in the Palace of the Academy of Science in Berlin, Unter den
Linden, 38. It publishes pamphlets; for example, that of Herr Riesser,
on _The Success of the German War Loan_. As far as we know it has
published nothing about Belgium.
* * * * *
A very interesting method of propaganda is that which consists in
attaching to business letters leaflets printed on very thin paper,
giving "authentic" news in the language of the recipient. _The
Hamburger Fremdenblatt_ has published many of these, at 10 pfennigs for
10 copies. They include, notably, _Appeals to Christians_; _An Appeal
to the Catholic Missions_, in German, English, Spanish, Portuguese,
French, and Italian; _An Appeal to the Protestant Missions_, in German,
English, and Portuguese.
Another series of leaflets to be inserted in letters is published by
the _Bureau des Deutschen Handelstages, Berlin_ (Bureau of the German
Commercial Conference of Berlin). Nine different leaflets appeared. No.
10 and the succeeding leaflets are of different origin; these leaflets
are now published by the _Kriegs-Auschuss der Deutschen Industrie,
Berlin_ (Military Commission of German Industry). No. 10 reproduces a
proclamation by Dr. Schroedter, threatening to strip the Belgians of
all their copper, "down to the last door-handle."
In Germany also are published leaflets bearing no indication of their
origin. One of these, entitled _What is the Cause of the Severity of
the War?_ is curious for more reasons than one.
(_b_) _Propagandist Matter issued by the Publishing Houses._
There are, to begin with, the numerous low-priced pamphlets which carry
the gospel to the soldiers in the trenches, and enlighten the home
population. The most voluminous and the most perfidious of these books
is that of Major Viktor von Strantz: _Die Eroberung Belgiëns_.
Several publishing houses issue series of booklets, under some general
title. We may mention:--
_Krieg und Sieg, 1914, nach Berichten der Zeitgenossen_ (War and
Victory, 1914, according to the Accounts of Eye-witnesses).
_Der Deutschen Volkes Kriegstagebuch_ (The German People's Diary of
the War).
_Der Weltkrieg, 1914_ (The World-war of 1914), at 20 pfennigs.
Besides these works, which are intended rather for the masses, we must
mention others, intended for a more intellectual public.
Such are:--
_Reden aus der Kriegzeit_; _Deutsche Vortrage Hamburgischer
Professoren_; _Zwischen Krieg und Frieden_; _Der Deutsche Krieg_;
_Kriegsberichte aus den Grossen Hauptquartier._
To these we may add works appearing in small isolated volumes at a low
price, containing more especially diplomatic documents:--
_Deutschland in der Notwehr_ (Carl Schüsemann, Bremen); _Das
Volkerringen, 1914_, F. M. Kireheisen (Universal Bibliothek,
Leipzig).
_Urkunden, Depeschen und Berichte der Frankfurter Zeitung. Der
Grosse Krieg. Eine Chronich von Tag zu Tag_ (Frankfurt, 1914-15).
We must not overlook the numerous illustrated publications, among
which we may mention the _Album de la Grande Guerre_, published by
the _Deutscher Überseedienst_, with explanations in German, English,
Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. This collection contains a
number of illustrations relating to Belgium: for example, in No. 2 we
have "A Zeppelin bombarding Liége," which never happened (p. 229): and
No. 3 gives us a view of the Place des Bailles at Malines, "a quarter
where the houses were destroyed by Belgian artillery" (whereas the
Belgian artillery destroyed nothing in Malines, and the Place des
Bailles was not bombarded but burned).
(_c_) _Propangandist Bureaux operating Abroad._
Not content with flooding neutrals with literature fabricated in
Germany itself, to such an extent that the former complained of the
German importunity, the Germans have also set up bureaux of propaganda
in foreign countries. The most important of these, without doubt, is
that which has been operating in the United States, under the direction
of Herr Bernhard Dernburg, ex-Minister of the Empire. Herr Dernburg
has neglected no means of action, and has not feared to mount into the
breach himself in his efforts to ensure the triumph of his cause.
In Belgium the propaganda was of a multiple nature. In the first
place, the Germans were careful to inform us, daily, by means of
placards, as to the "actual" results of the military operations, and
they distributed tens of thousands of copies of circulars relating to
the "Anglo-Belgian Conventions" (p. 43), the Griendl report (p. 41),
the retirement of Italy from the Triple Alliance, etc. As these might
not have enlightened us sufficiently, the German authorities took the
Press in hand, the result being such journals as _Le Réveil_ and the
_Deutsche Soldatenpost_. They then censored the Belgian papers in
various manners.
(1) The Germans wished to compel various papers to appear under their
control. All those in the capital refused; but in the provinces certain
newspapers, such as _L'Ami de l'Ordre_ (at Namur) and _Le Bien Public_
(at Gand), accepted the German conditions. _L'Ami de l'Ordre_ was
really and truly forced to appear; as it admitted, in a covert fashion,
in its issues of the 20th and 27th August, and explicitly in those of
the 7th October and the 6th November.
(2) The German authorities forced these journals, and others which have
since been established, to publish propagandist articles, imposing
penalties in case of failure. Thus _L'Ami de l'Ordre_ (it was suggested
that it might be called _L'Ami de par Ordre!_) was obliged to publish
stories of "francs-tireurs" which it knew were inventions; and after
the burning of the Grand' Place at Namur (concerning which it knew very
well what to think) it published, in large letters, on the 28th August,
1914, a protest against francs-tireurs. On the 1st September followed
an article describing the punishment of Louvain after an attack by
civilians. On the following day was further mention of the "leaders"
who brought such terrible reprisals on their fellow-citizens. In
order to make these flagrant lies "go down," the journal is compelled
from time to time to repeat that it prints nothing but the truth (for
example, on the 7th September).
Incontestably imposed, also, are the articles which basely flatter
the Germans; notably its excuses after its suspension (7th and 8th
December) and its thanks to the Military Government of Namur when
the latter ceased to take hostages (on the 29th September). In this
last issue is an equally characteristic article on the subject of the
Cathedral of Reims; in this the German Government pretends that it did
not allege the presence of an observation-post on the Cathedral. But
one has only to read the official communiqués of the 23rd September in
order to prove that _L'Ami de l'Ordre_ has been forced to lie to its
readers.
Of course the Germans deny that they demand the insertion of these
articles (see _Le Bien Public_, 1st November, 1914); otherwise their
readers would cease to give any credence to these "Belgian" papers.
(3) The principal mission of the censorship consists in suppressing
all that displeases it and all that it regards as compromising. Thus,
for two months _L'Ami de l'Ordre_ did not publish a single communiqué
from the armies of the Allies, although it pretended the contrary in
its issue of the 7th October. It was only on the 26th that it began
to publish them; but it then borrowed them from the German papers,
which was not perhaps a guarantee of exactitude. At the same time _Le
Bruxellois_ stated that there were scarcely any French communiqués.
As for _Le Bien Public_, it was suspended during the whole of May
1915, because the censorship would no longer allow it to publish the
communiqués of the Allies.
The censorship had promised the journals whose publication it permitted
(or demanded) that it would not mutilate articles, but would suppress
them entirely (_Le Bien Public_, 1st November, 1914). Of course, it
did not keep its engagements; for what engagement did our enemies ever
keep? To realize how the censorship mutilates, curtails, and falsifies
one has only to compare the official telegrams contained in the French
newspapers with those which are vouchsafed us by the expurgated
journals. Here are a few examples; it will be seen that the censorship
suppresses not only sentences and parts of sentences, but single words,
and even parts of words. We will confess that this last procedure was
totally unexpected, even on the part of Germany, although her scholars
have certainly acquired a habit of splitting hairs.
The words in italics are those suppressed by the censorship:--
_La Belgique_, Tuesday, 26th January, 1913,--PETROGRAD, _23rd
January_. (Official telegram from the Great General Staff)....
German attempts to pass to the offensive in various places have
been _easily_ defeated _by our artillery_.... On the 21st January
enemy troops, in strength about a division of infantry, and
supported by artillery, attacked our front in the Kirlibaba region,
_but they were repulsed_. Up to the morning of the 21st January our
troops had maintained themselves in their positions. _We have made
200 prisoners._
_La Belgique_, Monday, 1st February, 1913.--PARIS, _29th January_.
(Official, 3 p.m.)--In Belgium, in the Nieuport sector, our
infantry has gained a footing on the great dune which was mentioned
on the 27th. _A German aeroplane was brought down by our guns._ In
the sectors of Ypres and Lens, as in the sector of Arras, there
have been, intermittently, artillery duels of some violence, and
some attacks of infantry were attempted but immediately _thrown
back by our fire_. Nothing fresh to report in the Soissons,
Craonne, or Reims districts. _It is confirmed that the attack
repulsed by us at Fontaine-Madame on the night of the 27th cost
the Germans dearly...._ PARIS, _the 29th January_ (_official, 11
p.m._).... _This morning, the 29th, a German aeroplane was forced
to the ground east of Gerbeviller. Its passengers, an officer and
an under-officer, are prisoners._
_La Belgique_, Thursday, 4th February, 1915.--PARIS, _1st
February_. (Official telegram, 3 p.m.).... To the south-east of
Ypres the Germans have attempted an attack upon our trenches to the
north of the canal, an attack which was _immediately_ checked by
our artillery fire.... In the Argonne, _where the Germans appear
to have suffered greatly in the recent fighting_, the day has been
comparatively quiet....
PARIS, _1st February_. (Official telegram, 11 p.m.).... On the
morning of the 1st February the enemy violently attacked our
trenches to the north, Béthune--La Bassée. He was thrown back
_and left numerous dead on the ground_. At Beaumont-Hamel, to the
north of Arras, the German infantry attempted to carry one of our
trenches by surprise, but was forced to retreat, _abandoning on the
spot the explosives with which it was provided_....
_La Belgique_, Friday, 12th February, 1915.--PARIS, _9th February_.
(Official telegram, 3 p.m.).... Along the road from Béthune to
La Bassée we have reoccupied a windmill in which the enemy had
succeeded in establishing himself. Soissons was bombarded _with
incendiary shells_.
_La Belgique_, Saturday, 13th February, 1915.--PARIS, _10th
February_. (Official, 11 p.m.).... In Lorraine our outposts
_easily_ repulsed a German attack on the eastern edge and to the
north of the Forest of Purvy.
_La Patrie_ (Brussels).--COPENHAGEN, _2nd March_.--According to a
communication from London in the _Berlingske Tidende_ the Swedish
painter, Johnson, who was arrested as a spy, because he was making
pretended luminous signals to German ships of war, is _said to have
been_ acquitted for lack of evidence.
To appreciate at its full value the mutilation of the official
communiqués by the German censorship, it must be recalled (1) that
it had undertaken to leave the official communiqués untouched, and
(2) that the subservient portion of the press continued to call them
"official telegrams."
_Sincerity of the Censored Newspapers._
At the outset the censorship used to allow newspapers to leave a blank
space in the place of an article, phrase, or words deleted. But this
procedure was too frank for the Germans, and the readers were aware
of it; so the German authorities forced the newspapers to fill up the
blanks; and in order to facilitate their task they published a special
typewritten journal, appearing in French and in Flemish, _Le Courrier
Belge_, in which "all the articles had passed the censorship." Editors,
therefore, had only to select an article of the desired length in order
to fill the gaps left by the official scissors.
We may add that by the terms of a decision given in the Court of
First Instance in Brussels, the journals at present appearing in
Germany under the German censorship may not claim the title of Belgian
newspapers.
It may readily be imagined what the censored journals have become under
this delightful system. But a story which is told in Belgium will
perhaps give the reader a better idea of their vicissitudes. The soul
of a soldier presents itself at the gate of Paradise. "Who are you?"
says St. Peter. After a long hesitating pause (for no one cares to
make such a painful confession) the soul replies: "I am the soul of a
German soldier." "You are an impudent liar!" cries St. Peter. "I read
the Belgian newspapers with the greatest care, and they have not yet
announced the death of a single German soldier!"
On the 7th June, 1915, the Germans had a unique opportunity of proving
that the German journals in Belgian clothes, such as _L'Ami de
l'Ordre_, _La Belgique_, _Le Bien Public_, etc., were still capable on
occasion of speaking the truth. But they allowed the opportunity to
slip. However, here are the facts:--
On the night of Sunday, the 6th June, 1915, towards 2.30 a.m., we were
awakened by a furious cannonade and the explosion of bombs: Allied
aviators were bombarding the shed of the dirigible at Evere, to which
they set fire, destroying both shed and balloon. On the same day we
learned that a second German dirigible had just been destroyed at
Mont St.-Amand, near Gand, by a British aviator. We awaited the next
day's papers with curiosity. Would they report the two incidents,
making as little of them as possible, or would they keep silence?
They merely stated that the German air-fleet had raided the English
coast on the night of the 7th. Of what happened on its return, not a
word. In the _Kölnische Zeitung_, again, there was nothing said as to
the disasters at Evere and Mont St.-Amand. So the muzzled Press of
Belgium and Germany may speak of German successes (we are supposing,
of course, that the bombardment of open towns _is_ a success), but as
to the failures they are dumb. These are two facts which are known
to hundreds of thousands of persons, and are therefore impossible of
concealment. To keep silence, therefore, could have only one result,
namely, to prove that the German communiqués are "faked," and that
the Belgian journals are muzzled: in short, that all news which comes
from Germany is adulterated. If our oppressors had published a short
paragraph dealing with these two "accidents," then a few Belgians, more
credulous than their fellows, might have continued to believe that the
word "German" can still on occasion be spoken in the same breath as
the word "sincerity." But in their incomparable stupidity the censors
(who are doubtless diplomatists out of a job) failed to realize that by
preserving silence as to the raids of the British aviators they were
for ever destroying the value of their newspapers. They rendered us a
similar service, on this occasion, to that which they rendered when
they forbade M. Max to publish the statement that they were liars (p.
233). We were well aware that the German was a shocking psychologist,
but we hardly realized how shocking!... The incident is, as will be
seen, the pendant of the story of the Liége Zeppelin. This dirigible
raided Liége on the night of the 6th August, and the raid was described
in the German newspapers and even illustrated. Unfortunately the raid
never took place!
A few days later the Germans plunged even deeper into the mire. On the
night of the 16th June the people of Brussels once again heard the
sound of guns, this time from Berchem; but no one saw an aeroplane.
Next day the papers contained a paragraph stating that an attack by
enemy aviators had been repulsed. Did the raid really take place? It is
doubtful; and in any case it does not matter. The essential point is
that on this occasion the newspapers were allowed to speak.
The Governor-General, who has a keen sense of the fitting opportunity,
chose this moment to inform us that a mischievous Press was circulating
in Belgium (see _La Belgique_, 14th January, 1915). Nothing could be
truer, as the reader has just seen.
_Persecution of Uncensored Newspapers._
Naturally, the desire to obtain foreign newspapers became keener than
ever in Belgium as the untruthfulness of the censored journals became
more apparent. To the notices published by the Germans forbidding the
distribution of "false news" (p. 187) we may add an official communiqué
which was reproduced in _L'ami de l'Ordre_ on the 17th October:--
"Any person who shall spread similar false reports, or cause them
to be distributed, will be shot without mercy."
(_d_) _Various Propaganda._
Lastly, let us mention--without insistence, as they are already
sufficiently familiar--various methods of propaganda which are
individual, and apparently spontaneous, but from which the Germans
expect very happy results.
All those Belgians who have friends or relations in Germany, and all
those who are themselves of German origin, have incessantly been
receiving, since correspondence between the two countries has been
permitted, letters in which they are told that Germany is sure of
victory, that the Belgians have been deceived by England and by their
king, that the Germans do no harm to any one, etc. These assertions
are repeated with such regularity and monotony that they produce
the impression of a lesson that has been learned; so, to avoid this
unfortunate impression, the correspondents are careful to declare that
they are only expressing their personal opinion.
Next, we may mention the foreign visits of German scholars; for
example, that of Herr Ostwald (one of the Ninety-three) to Sweden, and
that of Herr Lamprecht (another of the Ninety-three) to Belgium. Herr
Ostwald's lectures have evoked a great sensation, but it was perhaps
hardly the sensation Germany had hoped for; moreover, the University
of Leipzig declared that it did not subscribe to the ideas of its
sometime professor. The effort of Herr Lamprecht was more discreet; it
was preceded by a written effort, but letter and visit had the same
negative result.
More insidious are the visits made to Belgium by prominent German
socialists: Wendel, Liebknecht, Noske, Koester, etc. They, too, hoped
easily to convince us of the rights and, above all, of the superiority
of Germany. They went back with an empty bag; one may even venture to
assert that they were rather shaken, since Herr Liebknecht complains,
in a conversation with an editor of the _Social-Demokraten_, a
Norwegian organ, of the part which the Socialist missionaries were made
to play (_N.R.C._, 28th December, 1914, evening).
The _Vossische Zeitung_ has discovered another means of propaganda.
This journal sent a paper of questions to Dutch and Scandinavian
scholars, asking them what their science owes to Germany. A shallow
trick, this; every nation has naturally produced men of mark, to whom
science has cause for gratitude.
4. THE VIOLATION OF ENGAGEMENTS.
The war began by the violation of a solemn treaty, to which Germany
subscribed in 1839. The entire conduct of the war has been, as
far as Germany is concerned, a long series of violations of the
Hague Convention of 1907. Germany alleges, in her own defence, that
circumstances have altered since the period when these pacts were
signed; that she was obliged to forestall France; that in case of
absolute necessity, such as that in which she stood, she has the right
to use all means of injuring the enemy, permitted or not (p. 83);
and moreover, that the torpedoing of the _Lusitania_ (p. 194), the
employment of living shields (p. 117), the use of toxic gases (p. 198),
and terrorization by fire and assassination (p. 164), having proved
efficacious, it is in her interests not to neglect them out of mere
humanity, or a simple and childish respect for her own signature.
It is hopeless to discuss the matter; it would be wasted pains, Germany
having decided to let her conduct be shaped by the impulse of the
moment, without hampering herself with any anterior promises. She
is fighting for her life, her publicists and statesmen never cease
repeating, and she is free to throw all her engagements to the wind.
"_Not kennt kein Gebot_," declared the Chancellor, on the 9th August,
and this convenient maxim has lost nothing of its popularity.
But there are other engagements, engagements which Germany has entered
into with Belgium since the beginning of the war, and which she has
broken with the same ease: a promise to restore Belgium's independence;
a promise to respect our patriotism, a promise to pay cash for all
requisitions once the tribute of 480 millions frs. was paid, etc. Our
enemies can invoke no extenuating circumstances to mitigate these
breaches of faith, for no change had occurred between the dates of
making these engagements and their violation.
_The Independence of Belgium._
On the 4th August, 1914, the very day on which our country was invaded,
the Imperial Government made one last effort to extort from England a
promise of neutrality. It gave an assurance that even in the case of an
armed conflict with Belgium, Germany would not on any pretext annex her
territory (_Livre Bleu_, No. 74). On that very day the Kaiser and the
Chancellor made similar declarations: "We shall repair the injustice
which we are committing towards Belgium," said the Chancellor. Directly
they had a newspaper at their disposal in Belgium our invaders
published an article assuring the Belgians of their respect for
whatever engagements they had entered into (see _L'Ami de l'Ordre_,
29th and 30th August, 1914).
Words, idle words!
Hardly were the Germans, in boasting mood, able to style themselves
conquerors, than they hastened to trample their promises underfoot. Are
the engagements of the Berlin Government anything more than so many
scraps of paper, which may with impunity be declared null and void?
Such men as Erzberger, Losch, Dernburg, Maximilian Harden, etc., all
partaking in the public life of their country, found nothing was more
urgent than to disregard whatever the Emperor and the Chancellor might
have said, no matter how solemn the circumstances, and to make plans
for the future in which Belgium would remain wholly or in part annexed.
_The Promise to respect the Patriotism of the Belgians._
"I ask no one to renounce his patriotic sentiments," said Baron von der
Goltz in the first of the somewhat extraordinary declarations with
which he gratified us during his stay in our midst in his quality of
Governor-General (placard of 2nd September, 1914).
_The Forced Striking of the Flag._
Every one was anxiously asking himself what was really the thought
at the back of the Baron's head; for we already knew the Germans
sufficiently to realize that so honeyed a phrase concealed some peril.
But what? Two weeks later the riddle was solved; it meant that the
Belgian national flag was "regarded as a provocation by the German
troops" (placard of 16th September, 1914). A provocation of what or
whom? Of their national sentiment? Well, and what of ours, which the
Governor-General was not asking us to renounce? It is true that after
the appearance of this placard the Military Governor announced that
he had "by no means the intention of wounding the dignity or the
feelings of the inhabitants by this measure; its sole purpose is to
preserve the citizens from any annoyance." In short, it was for our
good that we were forced to haul down our flag. What was to be done?
To resist would be to give the scoundrels who were oppressing us an
occasion for exercising their murderous and incendiary talents on
Brussels. By a very dignified and very moderate notice, M. Max, the
burgomaster, counselled his fellow-citizens to yield. This placard,
which was not subjected to the censorship, despite the order given by
the Germans, displeased them to the point of having it immediately
covered with blank sheets of paper. But these were torn away by the
people of Brussels, or else they were rendered transparent by means of
petroleum: in a word, every one could read the burgomaster's protest.
But as it was expected, with a good show of reason, that the Germans
would soon cause it to disappear completely, many persons copied the
placard, or even photographed it; and for a long time numbers of the
inhabitants of Brussels carried upon their persons, like a precious
relic, a copy or a photograph of M. Max's famous placard.
_The Belgian Colours forbidden in the Provinces._
While the withdrawal of the Belgian flag was demanded, in the provinces
a hunt was conducted for the Belgian colours used in the decoration of
shop-windows. The German police would enter the shops and demand the
immediate removal of all tricolour ribbons decorating the windows.
MILITARY COURT.
Henry Dargette, of Namur, Place Arthur Borlée, 32, was punished
with a fine of 10 marks, or 2 days' subsidiary detention, in
accordance with § 13 of the Imperial decree of the 28th December,
1893, for having disregarded the communiqué of the Imperial
Government of Namur of the 22nd April, 1915. He had exposed in his
shop-window boxes of tin-plate with the French, British, Russian,
and Belgian colours.
(_L'Ami de l'Ordre_, 3-6 July, 1915.)
In Brussels it was a long time before they decided to take measures
against the wearing of the tricolour rosettes which so many people
carried in their buttonholes; in the streets, at least two persons
in three displayed our colours. This persistence on the part of
the Belgians in publicly displaying their patriotic sentiments is
extremely annoying to the Germans. For proof we need only turn to the
letter from Brussels published in the weekly illustrated supplement
of the _Hamburger Fremdenblatt_ for the 18th April, 1915: "One does
not see a schoolboy, not a schoolgirl, not a lady, not a gentleman,
who does not wear, in an obvious fashion, the Belgian cockade." In
certain towns--for example Lessines, Gand, and Dinant--this kind of
manifestation is prohibited. At Namur the fine may amount to 500 frs.;
the placard which threatens this penalty is conceived in the involved
and nauseating style which we encounter every time the Germans inflict
on us a particularly disgusting piece of hypocrisy. In particular it
is stated that it is forbidden "_publicly_ to display the Belgian
colours." No doubt it is permissible to have them floating about in
one's pocket, or to decorate the interior of one's chest of drawers
with them. This is how the Teuton Tartuffe "asks no one to renounce his
patriotic sentiments":--
GOVERNMENT COMMUNIQUÉS.
One may observe, of late, in a great proportion of the inhabitants
of the town, as well as in the young school-children, a tendency to
manifest their patriotic feelings by wearing, in an open manner,
the Belgian colours, under different forms.
I am far from wishing to offend their feelings; on the contrary, I
esteem and respect them.
But, on the other hand, I cannot but perceive, in this form
[of display], that it is desired thereby PUBLICLY to express a
demonstration against the present state of affairs and against the
German authority, which I expressly forbid.
I consequently direct:
It is strictly forbidden to place in view, publicly, the Belgian
colours, either on oneself, or on any objects whatever, in no
matter what circumstances.
Contraventions will be punished by a fine which may amount to
500 frs., unless, according to the gravity of the case, the
contravention is punished by imprisonment.
This regulation does not at any time prevent the wearing of
official decorations by those who have the right to do so.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL BARON VON HIRSCHBERG,
_Military Governor of the Fortified Position of Namur_.
(_L'Ami de l'Ordre_, 15th November, 1914.)
_Prohibition of the Belgian Colours in Brussels._
Suddenly, without any pretext, the sight of the little tricolour
decorations worn by the people of Brussels began to offend the Germans,
and the national emblem was prohibited from the 1st July, 1915. The
prohibition was posted only on the 30th of June. It made a distinction
between the Belgian colours, the wearing of which was tolerated if it
was not provocative, and the colours of our Allies, the display of
which, even if not provocative, was absolutely prohibited. How were
our German bumpkins going to make this much too subtle distinction
between provocative and non-provocative display? This evidently left
the door open to all sorts of arbitrary actions. So the people of
Brussels judged it prudent to renounce their badges entirely. A few,
however, replaced the rosette by an ivy-leaf, the emblem of fidelity
in the language of flowers. What were the Germans to do now? Prohibit
the wearing of the ivy-leaf, perhaps, for by the 5th July they had
forbidden the manufacture and sale of artificial ivy-leaves, whether of
cloth or paper. But they did not persist in this course. For the first
time since we had been subject to them they conceived a witty idea.
They themselves began to display the ivy-leaf; from that moment this
emblem could not decently be worn by any of us. It would be interesting
to know who inspired them with this ingenious idea.
_The "Te Deum" on the Patron Saint's Day of the King._
Let us note the date of _L'Ami de l'Ordre_ which contained Baron von
Hirschberg's announcement: the 15th November, the patron saint's
day of the King. The same copy of the paper reproduced an article
from _Düsseldorfer General Anzeiger_, which doubtless had escaped
the censor, doing homage to the valour of the King and Queen. On
the following day _L'Ami de l'Ordre_ had to announce that the usual
_Te Deum_ would not be performed. Why was the ceremony suppressed?
The paper did not say; but we can easily guess; the superior German
authorities had decided otherwise.
In Brussels also the _Te Deum_ of the 15th November was prohibited. It
was decided to replace it by a mass which would be sung at 11 o'clock
in the church of St. Gudule. By 10.30 the church was overflowing with
people; but towards 11.0 a priest passed quietly through the ranks
of the faithful, announcing that the singing of the Mass had been
prohibited by the Germans, and that it would be replaced by a Low Mass.
After this some hundreds of persons repaired to the Palais Royal, to
the gate in the Rue Bréderode; they expected that a book would be
there, as usual, to receive their signatures. The register had been
there, but the German authorities had removed it. The callers then
decided merely to leave their cards; but a Palace servant came to
inform them that the Germans, after removing the register, had also
forbidden the formation of assemblies near the Palace, and had even
made some arrests; he therefore begged the public to disperse. More
respect for patriotic sentiments!
_The Portraits of the Royal Family._
Since then it has been forbidden to sell portraits of the Royal
Family published since the outbreak of the war. In particular those
picture-postcards are prohibited which represent the King as a
soldier, the King with his Staff, the King in the trenches, the King
on the dunes, the King with General Joffre, the King at Furnes, the
Queen as a nurse, Prince Leopold as a trooper, etc. The prohibition is
applied with an incoherence which accords ill with the wonderful spirit
of organization with which our persecutors are credited. In certain
parts of Brussels the vendors have never been disturbed; in others,
they may sell the cards in the shops, but may not expose them in the
windows; elsewhere it is a crime even to have the cards in stock. In
short, all is left to the caprice of the police. These make the round
of the stationers' shops, seizing all prohibited cards, and very often,
too, seizing other cards on their own initiative and for their own use.
To a stationer who was privily selling us some prohibited cards, we put
the question, whether the police did not often enter his shop, in order
to seize whatever displeased them. "What displeases them?" he replied.
"No, no; they seize more particularly whatever pleases them!" Another
merchant, who was summoned to attend at the German police bureau in
the Rue de l'Hôtel des Monnaies, was assured by the commissioner that
the police had the right to take "everything that might excite the
patriotism of the Belgians." This official put his own interpretation
on Baron von der Goltz's regulations with regard to patriotism.
Not far away, at St. Gilles, on Sunday the 14th February, an
under-officer brutally snatched away the national flag which covered
the coffin of a Belgian soldier. Here is another example of individual
ideas as to the respect to be paid to patriotism and piety.
While in Brussels the Germans prohibited only the more recent
Royal portraits, at Gand, in February 1915, the commandant of the
Magazine,[42] in order to show his zeal, forbade the sale of any
portraits of the Royal Family, of whatever date or nature.
The Burgomaster of Gand has received the following letter, the
communal administration sending us a translation of the same:--
2. mob. Etappen Kommandantur.
Reference No. 1095.
GAND, _4th February, 1915_.
To the Burgomaster of the City,--
I beg you again to draw the attention of all the booksellers,
stationers' shops, etc., by hand-bill or by means of the
newspapers, that they are forbidden under any circumstances to
display the portraits of the Royal Family of Belgium, either in the
windows or in the interior of the shops.
Those who act otherwise will be severely punished.
THE COMMANDANT OF THE MAGAZINE,
P.O.
(_Signed_) HENZ.
(_Le Bien Public_, 13th February, 1915.)
The German persecutions were resumed with renewed vigour on the
approach of the 8th April, the King's birthday. At Antwerp the Germans
took care to forbid, in advance, anything that might have passed for
a royalist manifestation; but the inhabitants succeeded, none the
less, under their enemies' noses, in celebrating their Sovereign's
anniversary.
Elsewhere the Germans, in their incorrigible meanness, had a different
inspiration. They suddenly had an intuition that the communal
administrations of Brabant were going to dismiss the schools in honour
of the King. Immediately circulars were distributed, forbidding the
closing of the schools on that day. But these ineffable blunderers
had forgotten one thing: namely, that the 8th of April fell in the
middle of the Easter holidays! Certain communes permitted themselves
the malicious delight of inquiring of the Germans whether they must
recall the pupils for the 8th of April? The Germans, of course, missed
the irony of the situation, and replied that it would not be necessary
to resume the classes. Their second letter contains a particularly
delightful sentence: "My will is merely that instruction shall not be
specially interrupted in honour of the anniversary of H.M. the King
of the Belgians." Another example of the unshakable determination to
respect the Belgians' patriotism!
_Obligation to Employ the German Language._
These letters are written in German. For that matter, it has become
a rule with our enemies to write only in their own tongue, and often
even in German characters. Better still: at Liége and Namur (_L'Ami de
l'Ordre_, 31st August, 1914) they required the Belgians also to write
in German. Yet another way of respecting our patriotism!
_The Belgian Army is our Enemy!_
Far from making an effort to respect our feelings, one would even
imagine that they must make it a point of honour (German honour) to
wound our loyalty. Thus, when they punish any one for rendering service
to the Belgians, instead of expressing the matter simply, as we have
done, they announce that the Belgian is convicted of relations with the
enemy. They are speaking of their enemies. But "the enemy" implies that
the Belgian Government or the Belgian army is the enemy of the Belgian
people.
Better still: they inform us, by means of placards, that to aid the
Belgian army is "treason." The Belgian becomes a traitor by rendering
a service to his country! What a singular conception of honour!
WARNING.
The military tribunals have lately been compelled to condemn to
hard labour for attempted treason a large number of Belgians, who
had assisted their compatriots subject to military service in their
attempt to join the enemy army.
I again warn [the public] against committing such crimes against
the German troops, in view of the severe penalties which they will
incur.
THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL IN BELGIUM,
GENERAL VON BISSING,
_Colonel-General_.
BRUSSELS, _3rd March, 1915_.
_The "Brabançonne" Prohibited._
At Namur the _Brabançonne_ was declared seditious on the 23rd March,
1915. But a month later the execution of the _first four verses_ was
declared to be permissible. What did the Germans mean by that? Let us
remember that none of the known versions of our national song (the two
versions of Jenneval and that of Rogier) consists of more than four
verses. Which, then, are those that our persecutors forbid? In their
rage for prohibition they have prohibited something that does not
exist!--unless they were speaking of the verse invented by _La Libre
Belgique_, and published in its tenth issue. It would be amusing if
the German authorities had fallen into a snare set by a prohibited
newspaper!
In Brussels the Germans had not dared openly to interdict the
_Brabançonne_, as they did another national anthem which had,
so to speak, the freedom of the city of Brussels: we mean the
_Marseillaise_ (placard of the 27th March, 1915). Never did one
hear the _Marseillaise_ so often as after the Germans forbade us to
sing or play it; only it was now whistled. So, as might have been
expected, whistling the _Marseillaise_ was made a crime. As for the
_Brabançonne_, it was prohibited in an underhand sort of way. It used
to be sung every day in a school in Brussels; but two German soldiers
of the Landsturm, who were guarding a neighbouring railway, heard
it, and felt offended. Hence a letter to the communal authorities,
demanding that the national anthem should be sung or played with more
discretion. It is now seldom played save in the churches: at High Mass
on Sunday and the funeral services for soldiers.
_The National Anniversary of July 21st._
In July 1915 the people of Brussels hit on a new method of celebrating
the national anniversary of the 21st July. Since our tyrants would
obviously forbid us to fly our flag at half-mast, in token of our being
for the time in mourning for our country, a number of shopkeepers
announced, by means of a small printed notice, that "the shop would
be closed on Wednesday, the 21st July." The Germans were displeased;
moreover, they issued a decree forbidding all demonstrations.
21ST JULY.
_Order of the Governor of Brussels dated 18th July, 1915._
I warn the public that on the 21st July, 1915, demonstrations of
all kinds are expressly and severely prohibited.
Meetings, processions, and the decoration of public and private
buildings also come under the application of the above prohibition.
Offenders will be punished by a term of imprisonment not exceeding
three months and a fine which may amount to as much as 10,000
marks, or by one of these penalties to the exclusion of the other.
They also announced, by means of the newspapers in their pay, _Le
Bruxellois_ and _La Belgique_, that the closing of the shops might be
regarded as a demonstration. Their pains were wasted. On the morning
of the 21st the shops and cafés remained closed; in private houses
the shutters were not opened. In all Brussels only a few taverns were
open--taverns frequented by the Germans, which a Belgian would never
compromise himself by entering. All that day it was a comforting and
impressive spectacle to see the crowd, in its Sunday clothes, grave
and deeply affected, with never one uplifted voice, passing along the
streets of closed houses. Never had the like been seen in Brussels.
No one would have dared to hope for such unanimity of feeling after
eleven months of occupation. The Germans were raging. They brought out
troops, who, with bayonet and cannon, occupied the principal public
squares; they ran an armoured motor-car up and down the most frequented
streets; they dragged artillery along the avenues surrounding the city.
But they did not succeed in fomenting the slightest disturbance; the
Brussels public was too firmly determined to preserve its dignity and
its tranquillity.
In all the churches the _Te Deum_ was replaced by a High Mass, followed
by the playing of the _Brabançonne_; the latter was sung in chorus by
the congregation, who were moved to tears.
The comic note was struck by the Germans. Suddenly, in the afternoon,
motor-cars began to hustle the crowds that had gathered; they bore
red placards, which were immediately pasted up, announcing that the
cafés, cinema-halls, etc., were to be closed at 8 p.m. Now all these
establishments had been closed since the morning. The Germans must have
lost their heads to make so grotesque an exhibition of themselves.
As a sort of reprisal, the authorities suspended the two newspapers
which had not appeared on the 21st July: _Le Quotidien_ and _L'Écho de
la Presse_. Immediately _La Belgique_, which had appeared, suspended
itself, in order to produce a belief that it was not German! As for the
_Bruxellois_, it said not a word of the striking demonstration of the
21st.
In other Belgian towns the shops were closed. In Antwerp more than the
shops were closed; the bureau of German passports, in the Place Verte,
announced, by means of two written notices, in German and Flemish, that
it was closed for the 21st July. The Germans were trying to repeat the
trick of the ivy-leaf. In vain, however, since the 21st was to occur
only once!
At Gand the Germans forbade the closing of the shops. And the latter
were all open. But in many windows one saw, instead of the usual
display of goods, a group of articles which comprised a bucket of
water, a scrubbing-brush, and a chamois leather, with an inscription:
"Cleaning To-day."
_The Anniversary of the 4th August._
We must suppose that the unanimity with which the houses of Brussels
were kept shut up touched the Germans in a sore place, for they
prohibited the repetition of their manifestation on the 4th August,
the anniversary of their entrance into Belgium.
NOTICE.
I warn the population of the Brussels district that on the 4th
August any demonstration, including the decoration of houses by
means of flags and the wearing of emblems as a demonstration is
strictly prohibited.
All gatherings will be dispersed regardless by the armed forces.
Also I order that on the 4th August all the shops, as well
as cafés, restaurants, taverns, theatres, cinemas, and other
establishments of the same kind shall be closed after 8 o'clock in
the evening (German time). After 9 o'clock in the evening (German
time) only persons having a special written authorization emanating
from a German authority may remain in or enter the streets.
Persons contravening these orders will be punished by a maximum
imprisonment of five years and a fine which may amount to 10,000
marks, or one of these penalties to the exclusion of the other.
The shops and establishments beforementioned which, as a
demonstration, shall close during the day of the 4th August will
remain closed for a considerable period of time.
THE MILITARY GOVERNMENT,
VON KRAEWEL.
_1st August, 1915._
The placard announcing these prohibitions forbade us to deck our houses
with flags! Flags, good God! Who then would have dreamed of flying
flags in commemoration of the rupture of an international pact! At the
most the people of Brussels had intended to wear in the buttonhole a
little "scrap of paper." But the wearing of emblems was forbidden.
What the Germans did not think of forbidding was the little
demonstration of sympathy which they received on the evening of the
4th. In conformity with the order, all doors were closed at 20 hours
(9 o'clock German time). But in several of the popular quarters of
Brussels the inhabitants were no sooner indoors than the upper windows
were thrown open, and a deafening concert issued forth, in which
phonographs, alarm clocks, and saucepan-lids were predominant. The
patrols demanded the closing of the windows; but the people climbed on
the roofs to continue their _charivari_ there. The military commandant
was not pleased. It took him only five days to think of an appropriate
punishment.
OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION.
M. Maurice Lemonnier, acting burgomaster of the City of Brussels,
has just had posted the following communication:--
"_To the Inhabitants of the Rue de l'Escalier and the Rue du Dam_:
"I place before you the translation of an extract from a letter
which I have just received from the German authorities.
"I call your attention to the penalties announced against those
who shall contravene the measures ordained by the German Military
Government."
BRUSSELS, _9th August, 1915_.
_At the Sheriff's College, Brussels._
... Even if I am willing to recognize that the Administration
of the City endeavoured, by means of its organs, to obtain the
application of the prescribed measures on the 4th of this month,
there yet remains the fact that in two streets isolated individuals
were guilty, in a demonstrative manner, of gross misconduct toward
the German patrols.
It is to be regretted that it has not been possible to discover the
persons individually guilty; consequently nothing is left me to do
but to take measures against the streets in which the offences were
committed.
Consequently I order the following as regards the two streets, Rue
de l'Escalier and Rue du Dam:
From Monday, the 9th of this month, and for the space of fourteen
days, that is to say, until the 23rd of this month inclusively:
A. All business houses and cafés will be closed after 7 o'clock in
the evening (German time).
B. After 9 o'clock in the evening (German time) no one must be
found out of doors, in the street. After that time all windows
giving on the street must be closed.
It is incumbent on the city to communicate the foregoing to the
inhabitants of these streets, to apply the aforementioned measures,
and to exercise a strict supervision in order that they may be
observed.
Also I beg you to see that these streets are sufficiently lighted,
until 11 o'clock at night (German time).
Moreover, I shall have these streets inspected by German patrols.
If on this occasion fresh offences are committed against the German
patrols, these latter will make use of their weapons.
With my utmost consideration (Avec haute considération distingué),
(_Signed_) VON KRAEWEL,
_Governor of Brussels_.
Our tyrants appeared greatly to fear popular demonstrations. The people
of Liége had planned to honour, on the 6th August, in the cemetery,
the soldiers who died for their country during the defence of the city
in August 1914. Immediately the Germans made public their restrictive
measures.
CITY OF LIÉGE.
_To the Population._
Colonel von Soden, Commandant of the Fortress of Liége, has just
addressed to me the following letter (in translation):--
"In the course of the morning of Friday, the 6th August,
commemorative ceremonies will take place at the tombs of the
soldiers killed in combat.
"I beg you to bring the foregoing to the notice of the population.
"I particularly insist that, during the visit to the tombs, or in
case of participation in the military ceremonies, no demonstrative
manifestation of any kind must occur."
LIÉGE, _the 2nd August, 1915_.
THE BURGOMASTER,
G. KLEYER.
(_Posted at Liége._)
The people of Liége retorted by putting their shops in mourning, and on
the 6th August it was an impressive spectacle to see the shop-windows
throughout the centre of Liége hung with deep violet.
_School Inspection by the Germans._
In the schools the children were for a long time able to sing _La
Brabançonne_ on the sly; but this was not to last. The German
authorities passed a decree against Germanophobe demonstrations in the
schools.
ORDER.
_Article First._
The members of the teaching staff, school managers and inspectors,
who, during the occupation, tolerate, favour, provoke, or organize
Germanophobe manifestations or secret practices will be punished by
imprisonment for a maximum term of one year.
_Article Second._
The German authorities have the right to enter all classes and
rooms of all schools existing in Belgium, and to supervise the
teaching and all the manifestations of school life with a view to
preventing secret practices and intrigues directed against Germany.
_Article Third._
Whosoever shall seek to oppose or prevent verifications and
inquiries relating to infractions mentioned in Article 1, or the
measures of supervision ordained by Article 2, is liable to a fine
of 10 to 1,500 marks or to a maximum imprisonment of six months.
_Article Fourth._
The infractions provided against in Articles 1 and 3 shall be tried
by the military courts.
BRUSSELS, _26th June, 1915_.
DER GENERAL GOUVERNEUR IN BELGIËN,
FREIHERR VON BISSING,
_Generaloberst_.
Our children will have to unlearn the national anthem, which, in the
present circumstances, is evidently Germanophobe; and the teachers of
history, too, must keep a watch upon their words. During the French
lesson there must be no more recitations of Andrieux' _Le Meunier
de Sans-Souci_. It may even be necessary to make deletions in the
Latin classics; for one can see the military tribunals inflicting
severe penalties on Tacitus, for even in his days _Gallos certare pro
libertate, Batavos, pro gloria, Germanos ad prædam_ (The Gauls fight
for liberty, the Batavians for glory, the Germans for pillage). Another
Latin author who would certainly be proscribed is Velleius Paterculus;
he states in his Roman History: _At illi_ (_Germani_), _quod nisi
expertus vix credat, in summa feritate versutissimi natumque mendacio
genus_ (The Germans ally an extreme ferocity to the greatest knavery;
they are a race born to lie; and one must have mingled with them to
believe this). Velleius Paterculus was a good observer.
* * * * *
The morality--or immorality--of this long series of broken engagements,
which might be indefinitely prolonged, has had the result that no one
can any longer put his trust in Germany. None the less does Germany
continue to make promises, and is even annoyed and irritated when one
doubts her word. Thus the Chancellor said, in a speech delivered to the
Reichstag on the 23rd May, 1915, at the time of the negotiations with
Italy:--
"Germany had given her word that the concessions offered [by Germany]
should be actually accorded [by Austria][43]; consequently there could
no longer be any reason for distrust." Italy, strong in the experience
acquired by Belgium, decided, on the other hand, that there was reason
for distrust from the moment Germany pledged her word; and accordingly
she broke off negotiations in order to declare war.
C.--Incitements to Disunion.
_Divide et impera_ ("Divide in order to rule") is a maxim which has
largely inspired the Germans in their relations with the Belgians. They
therefore do their utmost to divide the nation from its King, to excite
the Belgians one against another, and finally to kindle discord between
our Allies and ourselves.
We have just seen by what unjustifiable methods, after promising to
respect our patriotism, they proceeded systematically (as they do
all things) to thwart our sentiments of fidelity to our King and our
nationality. Not content with opposing--sometimes openly, sometimes
with hypocrisy--all our loyalist manifestations, they endeavour to
embroil us with our Sovereigns.
_Incitements to Disloyalty._
While they accuse the Belgian nation of having sold itself to the
Triple Entente, they hold the King personally responsible for this
"conspiracy." Having become the "valet" or the "slave" of England, the
Sovereign could not accept the friendly hand which the Kaiser tendered
him on two occasions--the 2nd and the 9th of August, 1914.
At Antwerp the Germans alone appear to have heard the absurd
declaration, that he vowed to "die in the city with his last
soldiers." Then he betrays his army and "takes to flight, amid the
maledictions of his subjects," deserting them for those that seduced
him.
Then we have him on the Yser, the melancholy king "abandoned by God."
He would ask nothing better than to conclude peace. But England holds
him still in her toils, and prevents him from accomplishing this
wise project. It is _Le Réveil_, that peculiarly truthful newspaper
of Düsseldorf, which reveals this sinister exploit of Albion. The
_Hamburger Nachrichten_ receives the same report from Brussels.
KING ALBERT WISHES TO MAKE PEACE.
HAMBURG, _14th November, 1914_.
From Brussels the _Hamburger Nachrichten_ hears from a very
reliable source that the report is confirmed which states that
serious differences exist between Belgium and England--that is,
that all personal relations are interrupted between King Albert and
the British Staff.
The King desires an understanding with Germany, which Great Britain
is endeavouring by all means to prevent.
(_Vossische Zeitung_, 15th November, 1914.)
The propagandist pamphlet _Lüttich_ is less severe to our Sovereign,
since it invokes, as an extenuating circumstance, his "blindness,
which verges on stupidity." Incommensurable pride or imbecility--such
are the characteristics of King Albert! Do these paladins of tact and
delicacy show any greater respect for our Queen? Be sure they do not!
An article on King Albert and the Triple Entente, in the _Deutsche
Soldatenpost_ of the 10th October, 1914, a newspaper intended both for
the troops and the Belgian public, states: "From the outset the Queen
was initiated into the King's plans. She has not uttered a single word
of reproach for the horrible brutalities of which the principal victims
were innocent young German girls in Brussels and Antwerp."
Well, we know that none of these "proofs" have shaken our fidelity.
Despite all prohibitions, despite all the fines imposed, thousands of
copies of the portraits of the King in the midst of his troops, and of
the Queen, our dear little Queen, tending the wounded, are sold every
day of the year. The patriotism of the Belgians is certainly incurable!
_The Walloons incited against the Flemings._
So the Germans sought a new device. As they could not cause disunion
between the people and the Sovereign, they tried to sow dissension
between the citizens themselves, by envenoming the problem of language
and reviving political rancour.
At first they exploited, in the most virulent manner, the
Flemish-Walloon conflict. As in all countries in which several tongues
are spoken, there is naturally in Belgium a struggle between the
Flemings, who speak a Germanic language, and occupy the northern
portion of the country, and the Walloons, who speak a Latin tongue,
and occupy the southern provinces. But this conflict, however lively
it may have been, has never touched the foundations of our national
conscience, and we have always felt ourselves Belgians before
everything.
At the outset, confesses Herr Kurd von Strantz, the Germans did not
realize what profit they might derive from the antagonism of races in
Belgium: an antagonism which they believed to be profound, but which
was only skin-deep. Since the month of August, however, they have been
trying to make up for lost time; they no longer lose a single occasion
to excite the Flemings against the Walloons, and in particular they
seek to make the latter believe that the Flemings already entertain
feelings of sympathy towards their executioners.
Only two months after the occupation of the capital the Germans,
organizing their conquest, attempted to win over the Flemings
by feigning to espouse their grievances and by exploiting their
racial relationship, in order to divide them from their Walloon
fellow-citizens. Suddenly, in the official communiqués, Flemish took
the place until then occupied by French, and the German newspapers
began to display a touching sympathy for their "Flemish brothers,"
and for their country and their art. We did not even need to read the
article published by the _Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant_ on the 11th
December (which was seen by M. Paul Hymans), in order to divine, at the
root of these sudden and simultaneous manifestations, the orders issued
by the German official circles.
For it was not thus during the first weeks of the occupation. Then
correspondence was permissible only in French and German: Flemish was
not tolerated. The official notices were printed in French and German
only. Then, on the 25th August, the Government placards appeared in
German, French, and Flemish. Finally, on the 1st October, Flemish had
the advantage of French. Although from the standpoint of Belgian law
the latter measure was legal in the Brussels district, the by-law
ordering the cinema-houses to publish their programmes in Flemish
as well as French was not so; very often the manager is innocent of
Flemish, and the Flemish programme is spelt in the most fantastic
manner. Absolutely illegal, too, is the by-law compelling shopkeepers
in Bruges and Ostend to replace their French shop-signs by signs
written in Flemish. Still more galling was the outcome of a certain
trial at Tongres. Some young men, Flemings and Walloons, were accused
of the same offence. They were inscribed on separate lists, according
to their origin. The Walloons were condemned to severer penalties than
those inflicted on the Flemings. One sees the double object here: to
mollify the Flemings and to make the Walloons suspicious of them. We
may compare this with the fact that the majority of the Flemish civil
prisoners have been repatriated, while the Walloons are still in
Germany.
However, the daily task of insinuation and persuasion is undertaken
by the German press. In the first place it lays stress on the great
affinity of character, historical past, origin, and language between
the Germans and the Flemings (_Düss. Gen. Anz._, 4th December, 1914).
The Germans must humour the Flemings and make friends with them. One
reason why it would not do to treat Belgium more harshly (as had been
demanded) is that there is a racial relationship between a portion
of the population and that of Germany. There is no Belgian people
(_Voss. Zeit._, 1st March, 1915). Much is made of the distant echoes
of the linguistic quarrel (_Voss. Zeit._, 1st March, 1915; _K.Z._,
18th March, 1915; _Frankf. Zeit._, 24th March, 1915; Osswald, _Zur
Belgischen Frage_).--The ill-feeling of the Flemings toward the "purely
Walloon" Belgian Government must be fomented (_Frankf. Zeit._, 24th
March, 1915), and also their dislike of the Belgian press printed in
the French tongue, both Government and press having been long ago
won over to France and the hatred of Germany (_K.Z._, 15th November,
1915). _La Croix Rouge_ is published in three languages, Flemish
preceding even German, and the French occupying only the extreme right
of the sheet; each number contains only one _feuilleton_, and that is
a novel in Flemish. A little Flemish conversation manual--_Vlamischer
Sprachführer_--is published in Düsseldorf for the use of Germans,
and of soldiers in particular. In order to compromise the Flemish,
the Germans pretend that well-known Flemings are already working
hand-in-hand with the German administration. It is even stated that a
pro-German group of young Flemings exists (_K.Z._, 18th March, 1915).
In verse translations, the _Dietsch_ or _duitsch_ of the Flemish poets
is rendered by "German," whereas these words signify simply the Flemish
or Dutch language (_Lüttich_, p. 127; _Köln. Volksz._, 25th January,
1915). Herr Karl Lamprecht, the well-known historian, who knew that his
translation was dishonest, was one of those who translated _dietsch_
by "German" (_Die Woche_, No. 12, 1915). Better still, in the same
article Herr Lamprecht feigns to believe that by the expression _Noord
en Zuid_ Emmanuel Hiel intended to denote the Germans and the Flemings;
whereas he is speaking--and no confusion is possible--of the Dutch
(Noord-Nederlanders), and the Flemings (Zuid-Nederlanders).
A short story by M. Maurice Sabbe was published in the _Berliner
Tageblatt_ on the 25th December, 1914, with an introduction which was
peculiarly compromising to the author's patriotic sentiments. His
extremely plain reply was as follows:--
HOW FRÄULEIN DÄMCHEN WAS BURIED.
(_Reproduction prohibited._)
By MAURICE SABBE,
Professor of Germanic Languages at the Malines Athenæum.
(The sketch was preceded by a brief introduction, which we quote.)
The sketch we publish here deserves particular attention. Maurice
Sabbe is a scholar and a Flemish writer of repute, who, during the
bombardment of Malines, fled into Holland. Sabbe knows Germany,
thanks to a long residence at Weimar, and the military situation
has not succeeded in destroying his feeling, which is exempt from
prejudice, for Germany and Germanism. He expresses his opinion with
sympathy in the lectures which he is delivering in Holland, and,
in the same spirit, he has addressed, through his translator, to
a German journal, the _Berliner Tageblatt_, this short story of
life in Malines, which describes an episode of the war: the first
contribution which, coming from Belgium and written by a Belgian
during the war, has been destined to find publication in Germany.
THE EDITOR.
(_Berliner Tageblatt_, 25th December, 1914.)
BUSSUM, _28th December, 1914_.
SIR,
I beg your hospitality for the following lines:--
In the November number (1914) of the review _Onze Eeuw_ I published
a literary version of an episode of the bombardment of Malines.
A Dutch writer, M. E. Meier, requested my permission for the
publication of a translation of this sketch in a German newspaper.
I granted it him without hesitation and even with a certain
pleasure. My narrative emphasized the kindness and magnanimity of
my countrymen towards their enemies, and, at a moment when the
German press was accusing every Belgian of being a franc-tireur,
I thought myself fortunate to be able to place a contrary example
beneath the eyes of the German public.
I left the choice of newspaper to my translator, and the
translation appeared in the Christmas number of the _Berliner
Tageblatt_.
But here the plot thickens. Unknown to me, the editors of the
_Berliner Tageblatt_ prefaced my story with a notice highly
compromising to me. It asserts, in short, that I have German
sympathies which the war has not succeeded in shaking, that I am
giving lectures in Holland in order to express these feelings, and
that I wrote my short story especially to be published in Germany!
The last assertion is already contradicted by the fact that the
sketch in question is a translation of the text which appeared in
a French review two months ago. As for my sentiments, they are
what they have always been, those of a Belgian unshakably attached
to his unhappy country and his noble King. These, and no others,
are the feelings I have expressed in my lectures in Holland. My
numerous auditors can testify to this.
You will give me a sensible pleasure, sir, by inserting this
letter, thus assisting me to avoid any misunderstanding.
Accept, etc.,
MAURICE SABBE.
This is only a detail in the conflict we are sustaining against
invading Germany, but it is a very instructive detail, because it shows
that before accepting any assertion on the part of our oppressors we
must always ask ourselves how much of it is a lie. The same question
arises _à propos_ of a letter written by a Fleming living at Liége
and speaking "in the name of the Flemish population of Liége," which
aspires to live under the German domination. By the singularities of
his syntax and his orthography this Fleming from Liége can only be of
German origin (_Düss. Gen. Anz._, 11th February, 1915).
Once there was even a kind word spoken for the Walloons, vindicating
the dignity of their dialects, which are by no means dependent on
the French. (It is true this bold assertion comes from Herr Kurd von
Strantz.)
_Inciting the People against the Belgian Government._
On the other hand, they hope to detach the Belgian people from its
Government. Especially during the siege of Antwerp did they heap
effort on effort of this kind. It was then greatly to their interest
to send as many troops as possible to the Western front (so says
Lieutenant-General Imhoff, in his introduction to Delbrück's _Der
Deutsche Krieg in Feldpostbriefen_, pp. 11 to 13). Now hundreds
of thousands of their men were delayed in Belgium by the siege of
Antwerp. At all costs these had to be liberated in order to lengthen
the battle-front towards the north-west and the sea. Towards the
middle of September they did not hesitate for the third time to make
peace proposals to the Government--proposals which were rejected with
disdain, as were the previous ones (pp. 50-1). After this repeated
diplomatic failure they attempted trickery, a speciality in which
they shine to more advantage. As they could not succeed in directly
influencing the leaders of Belgian politics, they endeavoured to act
on them indirectly through the people. A newspaper was established,
_L'Écho de Bruxelles_, "for the general welfare," to which a certain
"Aristide" contributed. He professed to be an occasional correspondent,
although his articles were really the pretext for issuing the paper.
In the first number he published a detestable letter in which he
called upon the Belgian Government at all costs to make peace with
Germany. This proceeding was so improper that the _N.R.C._ even, while
reprinting the letter, could not refrain from criticizing it harshly.
In No. 4, which appeared on the 4th October, 1914, and which was
entirely devoted to an attempt to cause mental anxiety in the people
of Brussels, he condemned as unpatriotic "the man who does not rise
up to cry to the people of Antwerp that they must cease from this
sanguinary, disastrous, and useless struggle for a cause which is not
ours." The same accusation was made against "those divisional Generals
whom the laurels of General Leman will not allow to sleep." "The
laurels of General Leman, great God!" he adds, and thereupon he moves
heaven and earth to prove the notorious insufficiency of the valiant
defender of Liége. No, he says, "the true and only heroes of this
melancholy war in Belgium are those who ... have proposed to treat with
Germany. These, Ministers and generals, have given proof of courage
and wisdom, exposing themselves to the vengeance of a mob over-excited
by a system of lies and delusions.... And the public will kick out
these French journalists and these hawkers of French journals who for
years have whispered hatred of neighbour against neighbour, the latter
being the best customer Belgium possessed." We have cited only the
more scandalous portions of this article, ignoring the merely ignoble
passages.
While "Aristide" was endeavouring to influence the civil population,
aeroplanes were distributing to the Belgian troops in Antwerp
circulars, printed in French, and in another language which had a
certain resemblance to Flemish; and these strange handbills informed
the Belgian soldiers that they had been deceived by their officers and
by the authorities; that the Belgian army was fighting for the British
and the Russians, etc.
DECLARATION.
BRUSSELS, _1st October, 1914_.
BELGIAN SOLDIERS,
Your blood and your whole salvation, you are not giving them at
all to your beloved country; you are only serving the interest
of Russia, a country which desires only to increase its already
enormous power, and, above all, the interest of England, whose
perfidious avarice has given birth to this cruel and unheard-of
war. From the commencement your newspapers, paid from French and
English sources, have never ceased to deceive you, telling you
nothing but lies as to the causes of the war and the battles which
have followed, and this is still done every day. Consider one of
your army orders which affords fresh proof of this. This is what it
contains:
"You have been told that your comrades who are prisoners in Germany
have been forced to march against Russia beside our soldiers." Yet
your common sense must tell you that this would be a measure quite
impossible to execute. When the day comes when your comrades who
are prisoners return from our country and tell you with how much
benevolence they have been treated, their words will make you blush
for what your newspapers, and your officers, have dared to tell
you, in order to deceive you in so incredible a manner. Every day
of resistance makes you sustain irreparable losses, while with the
capitulation of Antwerp you will be free from all anxiety. Belgian
soldiers, you have fought enough for the interests of the princes
of Russia, for those of the capitalists of perfidious Albion. Your
situation is one to despair of. Germany, who is fighting only for
her life, has destroyed two Russian armies. To-day no Russian is to
be found in our country. In France our troops are about to overcome
the last resistance. If you wish to rejoin your wives and children,
if you wish to return to your work, in a word, if you wish for
peace, put an end to this useless struggle, which is ending only
in your ruin. Then you will quickly enjoy all the benefits of a
favourable and perfect peace.
VON BESELER,
_Commander-in-Chief of the Besieging Army_.
When examples of this circular were brought to us in Brabant, we at
first thought it was a hoax. But we had to submit to the evidence; the
idea of this proclamation had really been conceived and executed by the
Germans.
After the fall of Antwerp the campaign continued. Was it not necessary
to prevent the Belgians from going to join the Allies in the direction
of Flanders? With this end in view, the Germans attempted to throw
suspicion on the conduct of the Belgian military authorities at the
time of the taking of Antwerp. It was again the _Écho de Bruxelles_
which was entrusted with the publication of the first false news.
Shortly after the accomplishment of this pleasant task, the _Écho de
Bruxelles_ disappeared for ever: doubtless it was no longer required.
As for the defamatory libels which were uttered in November and
December, in order to incriminate the conduct of the civil authorities
of Antwerp, it is not yet known by whom they were instigated, worded,
and distributed; but we have a reasonable conviction that the Germans
were not unaware of them. In any case they did what they could to
profit by this disagreement, and they also did their best--in vain--to
revive the question when the Belgians, by common accord, had settled
their differences.
But the Germans had not yet given up the idea of fomenting conflicts
among us. In an article entitled _Belgische Umstimmigkeiten_ (Change
of Temper in Belgium) the _Kölnische Zeitung_ of the 22nd November,
1914 (2nd morning edition) referred to a telegram from Berlin which
stated that news received from Breda (according to the _Berliner
Lokal-Anzeiger_) asserted that seven Belgian officers had deserted
and had there been interned. To verify this was very difficult, the
more so as in November 1914 no postal or telegraphic communication was
permitted between Belgium and Holland. The rest of the article informed
us that on the 5th November--a fortnight before their desertion--these
officers had received from King Albert the Cross of the Order of
Leopold: they had thus waited to desert until they had been made the
object of special distinction, which is at least peculiar. And then,
setting out from the Yser, they crossed the German lines to be interned
at Breda, in Northern Brabant. Strange! strange! And all this in order
to inform us that these officers, disheartened by the servile and
treacherous attitude of the King, refused again to send their men into
battle, for the sake of the English.
_Inciting the Belgians against the English._
It will be remarked that the English always receive a good share of the
venomous slime which the Germans, as M. Spitteler says, spit upon the
King, the Government, and the Belgian authorities. "England--there is
the enemy!" says the _Hassgesang Gegen England_--i.e. _Song of Hatred
of England_, the work of Herr Ernst Lissauer.
_We love but with a single love,
We hate but with a single hate;
We have one foe, and one alone--
England!_
It would be tedious to mention all the innumerable articles intended
to arouse in us a hatred of England. We may mention the opinion of
Dr. Hedin, reproduced on the placard of the 9th November, 1914;
the proclamation of Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, inserted, for
our edification, in _Le Réveil_ (29th October), as well as the
declaration imputed to the Flemish "poet" Cyrid Buysse (placard of
12th December, 1914). But these lovers of truth forgot to announce,
a few days later, that M. Buysse denied the truth of the German
declaration. A mere instance of forgetfulness, no doubt, unless the
Amsterdam-Copenhagen-Berlin-Brussels route, which was covered by the
so-called declaration, had suddenly grown too long for truth to travel
by.
D.--A Few Details of the Administration of Belgium.
The preceding chapter has informed us how the Germans bore themselves
towards the inhabitants of the territory occupied in conformity
with--or rather in contravention of--Articles 42-56 of the Hague
Convention. Treachery and untruthfulness are the chief weapons
employed by our enemies. We need not return to the subject. We desire
now merely to refer to some details relating to the administration.
Details, we said; and in truth we shall consider neither the financial
administration of the country, nor its judicial administration, nor
its political administration, nor any of the other great cog-wheels
essential to the life of a nation. We shall confine ourselves to very
simple facts which any one can remark and understand.
(_a_) _Present Prosperity in Belgium._
There is nothing of which the Germans are more proud than their
talent--real or illusory--for organization. Accordingly they professed
their intention of re-establishing the normal state of affairs in
Belgium, in spite of the war, and they are always informing the whole
world that everything has resumed its regular course in our country.
_Assertions of the German Authorities._
Even in his inaugural proclamation (2nd September, 1914), von der
Goltz took the trouble of informing us that work was to be resumed.
But the Germans had placed such impediments in the way of inter-urban
relations that all activities were necessarily suspended. In October
he accorded "facilities of communication," as we were informed by
the announcement of the 15th, which meant that "circulation" was no
longer absolutely prohibited, and that he who had the means to obtain
a passport, and could spend a day or two in procuring it, would
thereafter be authorized to travel from Louvain to Malines, or from
Namur to Liége. As these measures, though so full of solicitude for the
general welfare, did not produce all the results that were expected of
them, the communal authorities were advised to refuse relief to the
unemployed (6th November, 1914). Nothing came of that advice!
To the numerous obstacles already mentioned we must add one other: the
railway-workers and the artisans employed in many of the foundries
and workshops of Belgium were perfectly well aware that their labours
would principally benefit the Germans, so that by returning to their
workshops they would be committing an unpatriotic action. To overcome
this passive resistance the Germans multiplied their proclamations in
the industrial centres. It was wasted effort.
In the meantime the Governor-General, in the vain hope of galvanizing
the labour organizations, sent to Germany for well-known Socialists,
who, under the pretext of having a chat with the leaders of the trades
unions, were really to inculcate the idea that it was their duty to
urge a resumption of work. The visits of the German Socialists have
been described by M. Dewinne, of Brussels, a militant worker, in the
Parisian journal _L'Humanité_.
Infatuated as the Germans might be, they could hardly delude themselves
as to the failure of their attempts at subornation. This did not
prevent Baron von Bissing from issuing declarations dealing with the
situation which were truly touching in their sincerity.
NEWS PUBLISHED BY THE GERMAN GENERAL GOVERNMENT.
NORMAL SITUATION IN BELGIUM.
VIENNA, _19th December_.--The Sofia correspondent of the _Neue
Freie Presse_ has had an interview with Field-Marshal von der
Goltz, who declared: "The situation in Belgium is entirely normal.
The Belgian population is acquiring the conviction that the Germans
are anything but cruel."
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT IN BELGIUM.
BERLIN, _15th December_.--To the correspondent of the _Hamburger
Korrespondent_, the new Governor-General in Belgium, General
Baron von Bissing, has made the following declarations: I wish to
maintain order and tranquillity in this country, which has become
the base of operations for our troops. Our army must know that
order prevails behind it, so that it may always give its attention
freely only to what lies before it. I hope also that I shall
succeed, hand in hand with the civil administration, in doing a
great deal for the economic situation. When the Emperor appointed
me Governor-General he charged me, with particular insistence, to
do everything to assist the weak in Belgium, and to encourage them.
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT IN BELGIUM.
_The Parasitical Exploitation of Belgium admitted by Germany._
But, you may ask, had not Germany other than military reasons for
wishing to revive the economic life of Belgium? A semi-official
article in the _Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_, which was brought
to our cognizance by the _Düsseldorfer General-Anzeiger_ of the 30th
December, 1914, informs us upon this point. The article emanates
from Governmental circles in Brussels, probably from the immediate
_entourage_ of the Governor-General. Its object is to reply to the
complaints formulated in Germany, according to which the authorities
deal too gently with the Belgians. Instead of trying to revive Belgian
industry, it would be better, say the critics, to crush it completely,
in order to suppress future competition: on the other hand, it is
claimed that the contribution of 480 million frs. is insufficient to
reduce us to impotence, and that we ought to have been more severely
"squeezed." The German Government in Belgium defends itself briskly
against the reproach of sentimentality; it asserts that it has never
allowed itself to be guided by an exaggerated mildness (and we are
ready to declare that on this point at least its assertions maybe
credited!). It would surely not be very intelligent, it protests, to
strangle outright a country so ill-directed. Would it not be preferable
to exploit Belgium scientifically, so as to make her yield as much as
possible? The argument amounts to this: do not let us kill the goose
that lays the golden eggs; but of course it is understood, although one
need not express it explicitly, that when it is no longer in condition
to lay, we shall not hesitate to cut its throat.
_The Tenfold Tax on Absentees._
Many Belgians have left the country. That is easily understood. Those
who were present at the massacres of Visé, Louvain, Dinant, Termonde
... hastened, in their terror, to abandon those haunts of horror.
Those who lived in the towns left intact, such as Brussels and Gand,
but who heard people talk of the massacres and the burnings, had also
only one idea: to fly before the arrival of the Germans. Even those
Belgians who did not leave at the outset eventually grew weary of the
insupportable vexations inflicted on us by the authorities. Others took
flight because they knew themselves to be threatened with imprisonment.
Moreover, many of those who had means had prudently retired to foreign
countries, to the great fury of the Germans; there was no way of
getting at these "bad patriots," as it seems a German-Swiss journal
called them (_K.Z._, 11th February, 1915); no way of forcing them
to pay war-taxes. Moreover, it was these _émigrés_ who should have
kept alive the industries _de luxe_; finally, they were conspiring
together abroad, and rendering services to the Belgian Government at
Havre. If only they could be forced to return! Our enemies accepted
with enthusiasm an unlucky proposal--made by certain communal
administrations and immediately withdrawn by them--that the absent
persons should be subjected to a special tax, equal to ten times the
personal tax. The communal councils which conceived the idea of this
tax immediately realized its illegality, but Baron von Bissing seized
the occasion which this afforded him of persecuting the _émigrés_. He
published, on the 16th January, a special decree on the subject of
the "additional extraordinary tax upon absentees" (_Belg. All._). It
may be remarked that the tax touches only those who possess a certain
competence.
Here are two facts which show how far life was normal in Belgium in the
spring of 1915, and how far the Belgian workers were delighted to place
themselves at the service of Germany.
_Railway Traffic in Belgium._
(_a_) An article in the _Düsseldorfer General-Anzeiger_ of the 19th
April, 1915 (morning), asserts that the traffic on the Belgian railways
is beginning to revive; indeed, says the writer, there are thirty-eight
trains daily leaving the Gare du Nord in Brussels. He exaggerates
slightly. Six weeks later, when traffic had become more active, a
table, dated the 30th May, 1915, which appeared in the "Belgian"
newspaper _L'Information_, gave the movements of trains in the Gare du
Nord and Gare du Midi of Brussels for the month of June. We find that
only thirty-four departures are given for the two stations. Thirty-four
trains in June 1915--and in June 1914 there were 292. Compare the
figures.
_Trouble with the Artisans of Luttre._
(_b_) The insufficiency of the number of trains is in reality one of
the things that most embarrasses the German authorities (see _Frank.
Zeit._, 16th January, 1915, first morning edition). In and about the
railway workshops, for example, on the sidings at Luttre, there are
hundreds of locomotives out of repair and waiting for attention. But
the workers employed in these shops do not intend to work for the
Germans. In vain do the latter protest that engines repaired by the
Belgians shall be employed only for Belgian traffic. What guarantee
have they that the locomotives will not serve to transport German
troops, or munitions intended to kill our brothers? Is it not a matter
of public notoriety that a contract is merely a scrap of paper?
To enable the workers to resist the solicitations of the Germans the
necessary relief has been distributed for the maintenance of their
families. The Germans know very well that it is this money which
prevents them from subduing the workers to their will. They therefore
proceed with the utmost severity against the persons whose duty it is
to distribute the relief. Early in April 1915 they imprisoned thirty
of the notables of Luttre, Nivelles, and the neighbourhood, whom
they accused of assisting the working staff of the Luttre workshops.
A German official declared that the prisoners had been arrested
neither by the civil authority nor the military, and that they would
not proceed to trial. At the same time the administrations of the
communes neighbouring upon Luttre were forced to display a proclamation
requiring the men to resume work. Among the promises made to those who
should resume work was one that the prisoners should be liberated.
So thirty notables were thrown into prison, and kept there, in order
to force Belgian artisans to work for the Germans! When it was found
that in spite of everything the men would not return to the shops, the
prisoners were sentenced to undergo various punishments, the maximum
term of imprisonment being three months. As for the recalcitrant
workers, many were sent to Germany, where they were treated in the most
inhuman fashion.
_Traffic Suppressed at Malines._
At the construction shops of Malines the Germans went a different way
to work. There again workers were needed to repair railway material.
Three hundred were called for. As they did not present themselves their
addresses were obtained, and one fine morning soldiers called at their
houses and _manu militari_ led them to the shops. But there the men
folded their arms and persisted in doing nothing. The Germans had to
let them go.
How to obtain their submission? The Germans threatened to suppress
all traffic in Malines. A singular fashion of punishing workless men
who refuse to betray their country, especially after declaring that
the only "guilty" persons were those who had organized the collective
refusal to work! (_La Belgique_, 9th June, 1915). But, in accordance
with the juridical principle that "the innocent must suffer with the
guilty," our enemies punished the market-gardeners of the Malines
district and prevented them from sending their cabbages and rhubarb and
peas and asparagus to market.
After the lapse of some days the Governor-General removed the
prohibition. But he did not wish it to seem that he had repented of his
decision, however unreasonable the latter might be, so to keep himself
in countenance he posted up a statement that a sufficient number of
workers had resumed work (placard of 10th June, 1915). However, the
Baron von Bissing cannot have been ignorant of the fact that none of
the strikers of the Malines workshops had returned; the only workers
whom the Germans had been able to recruit were some unemployed persons
from Lierre, Boom, and Duffel, who had never set foot in the shops
before. As they could not be employed in the manufacture of railway
material, they were made to dig trenches in the direction of Wavre-Ste
Catherine and Duffel.
The workers whom the soldiers led to the shops by force related that
their escort begged them not to resume work, because they would then
be obliged to leave Malines and to go to the Yser, a prospect which
inspired them with the keenest terror.
(_b_) _The Germans' Talent for Organization._
"The industrial and commercial prosperity" which Belgium is at present
enjoying is, of course, due to the Germans' incontestable spirit of
organization. "This sense of discipline and order, which the foreigner
calls militarism" (_Voss. Zeit._, 12th February, 1915, morning), has
enabled the officers of the reserve to accomplish such wonderful things
that Herr Oswald F. Schütte, correspondent of the _Chicago Daily News_
(see _K.Z._, 6th May, 1915, first morning edition) can scarcely find
the words to describe them. "We understand," adds the same journalist,
"that the Government at Havre does not look with a favourable eye upon
the success with which the German administration has once more made
life worth living in Belgium."
They are certainly something to be wondered at, the officers who are
administering our country. Would you have proof? The Belgian officials
of the Bridges and Highways Department refused to obey the Germans,
so that the latter appointed their engineer officers to direct the
work of repairing roads. But the work was naturally carried out by
Belgian contractors. On macadamized roads the breaking of stones, which
formerly cost from 18 to 22 centimes per square metre (about 2d. per
square yard), now costs 60 to 65 centimes. Good business, you will say,
for the contractors and their men. But no!--the difference goes into
the pockets of the officers.
_Conflict between Authorities._
This method of procedure naturally results in conflicts between the
various administrations. We have already related (p. 157) that the
city of Brussels was condemned to pay a fine of half a million francs
because the civilians and the soldiers were in disagreement. Muddles
of this kind testify to something quite different from a brilliant
talent for organization, which the Germans would have us believe is the
distinguishing mark of their administration.
_Suppression of the Bureau of Free Assessment._
In order to give the impression that they alone are capable of
re-starting the economic machine in Belgium, the Germans begin by
dislocating the existing machinery. Thus, a group of advocates and
surveyors created a bureau for the gratuitous assessment of the damage
caused by the war to real estate. This body was working to the general
satisfaction, when suddenly, in March 1915, the Germans decided to
take its place. Now observe their methods. The applicant who wishes
the damage suffered by his property to be estimated has to begin by
paying a provisional deposit, after which he finds that the costs of
the assessment have to be paid out of his own pocket. What this really
comes to is this: the Germans, having burned a house and reduced its
owner to poverty, demand that the latter shall pay in advance for the
evaluation of the damage done.
_The Belgian Red Cross Committee Suppressed._
Another example of the suppression of a body working in a normal
manner. As soon as they occupied Brussels the Germans began to meddle
in the doings of the Directing Committee of the Red Cross Society,
and appointed a delegate to the Society. They then tried to force
the Red Cross to exceed its duties, which were clearly specified
by the international convention known as the _Convention for the
Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the
Field_. Neither in the text of the Convention of 1869, nor in that
of the Convention of 1906, is there any question of other patients
than soldiers wounded during hostilities. Doubtless it is a matter
for praise if the Red Cross of each country should extend its action
to needs existing in time of peace; in Belgium, for example, the Red
Cross has organized ambulances in the International Exhibitions. But
it is none the less true that its essential mission, and the only
mission foreseen by the International Convention, is to ameliorate the
condition of soldiers who are victims of warfare. It was therefore an
abuse of the Red Cross to impose other aims upon it; to compel it,
for example, to organize "the relief and support of women by means
of labour." The Red Cross of Belgium decided, with abundant reason,
that it could not in time of war assume novel functions, nor, above
all, could it set apart for the same sums of money which were largely
derived from private subscriptions entrusted to it for the succour of
the wounded; it therefore refused to involve itself. After lengthy
negotiations the Governor-General suspended the Belgian managing
committee from its functions, and seized the funds.
We should mention that the Central Administration of the Red Cross,
sitting in Geneva, decided that the Brussels Committee was in the right.
Attempting to justify their illegal attitude, the German authorities
established a special journal, _La Croix Rouge, Bulletin officiel de la
Croix Rouge de Belgique_, printed in Flemish, French, and German. This
journal continues to pretend that the Belgian Committee was legally
dissolved, as it would not "assist the people in the present melancholy
situation."
In vain did the Germans endeavour to put the world off the scent
as to their intentions. They knew perfectly well that the National
Committee of Relief and Alimentation patronized and subsidized
without distinction all the benevolent undertakings which applied to
it (p. 176). The real aim of our enemies is to supplant the National
Committee. This committee is a private institution in which they have
no voice, which greatly annoys them; at most they can endeavour to
make it believed that the revictualling of Belgium is effected with
their assistance. But this, as may be supposed, is not enough for them;
their real aim, their unavowed object, is to obtain entire control of
the National Committee, in order to exercise there also their talent
for organization--or, more precisely, their talent for peculation.
The 40,000,000 frs. per month does not sate their appetite. What an
indefinite perspective of fleshpots could they only lay hands on the
revictualling of Belgium!
The whole affair of the Red Cross was conducted with annoying
duplicity--annoying even to us, who nevertheless were beginning to
grow accustomed to their campaign of lies. For months there were
negotiations between the Belgium Managing Committee and the German
authorities, represented by the Graf von Hatzfeld-Trachenberg. At each
interview the latter brought forth fresh demands on the part of the
Governor-General, but he always added that he was acting reluctantly,
and that in his opinion the demands were unjustified; only, of course,
he had to obey. (This is, by the way, the classic procedure. Whenever a
German commits a dirty action he entrenches himself behind discipline.)
These lame discussions lasted until the 16th April, 1915; upon a final
refusal on the part of the Belgian Committee to exceed its proper
functions, Graf von Hatzfeld-Trachenberg gave orders for the decree of
dissolution to be read.
(_c_) _The Belgian Attitude toward the Germans._
Our enemies spread the report that the relations between occupants and
inhabitants were greatly improving, and that the Belgians had abandoned
their provocative attitude, which was so unpleasant at the outset of
the war. They also asserted that by the end of October the people
at Antwerp had ceased to display any antipathy towards them (_Köln.
Volksz._, 30th October, 1914, morning edition).[44] But, in truth, they
flattered themselves when they stated that the Belgium people regarded
them with glances full of hatred. Hatred? No; merely glances full of
disdain, when by chance one could not do otherwise than gaze at them;
but, as a rule, the Belgians turn their eyes away, as they turn their
backs upon German music.
At Liége, in Brussels and Antwerp, and at Malines, when an officer
addresses a Belgian the latter pretends not to hear (_N.R.C._, 20th
October, 1914, morning edition), or simply states that he has not
time to speak to the other; or he replies in Flemish; or else, having
affected to listen to him with all the marks of the most exquisite
politeness, he leaves the German standing still without replying a
word. The ladies more often reply, but it is only to beg the Germans
not to speak to them. The officer who asks his way is almost certain to
be sent in a contrary direction; while he who climbs on the platform of
a tram finds that all the passengers immediately turn their backs upon
him; and this rotation is executed with the regularity and precision
of a reflex movement. The officer who begs a a passer-by to lend him
his cigar that he may obtain a light, sees the other disgustedly
throw away the cigar which an enemy has touched. The child whom an
officer condescends to caress pushes away his hand with an indignant
expression, and makes the ugliest grimace he knows of. In short, they
are the objects of universal detestation.
Perhaps it will be said that this attitude is peculiar to the towns
which have been little or not at all affected by the war. But no! In
localities which were largely burned down, such as Aerschot, Eppeghem,
Dinant, and Louvain, the population behaves in a manner even more
characteristic. At Dinant the children sing at the tops of their voices
a _Marseillaise_ with new words, expressly anti-German, in which a good
deal is said about pigs. At Louvain some officers who used to amuse
themselves with a phonograph which reproduced the record of the song
_Gloria, Vittoria_, had to give up using it in June 1915, because the
passers-by accompanied the refrains with other words: _Gloria, Italia_.
At Eppeghem and Aerschot the children play at soldiers, with Belgian
police bonnets on their heads, yelling _La Brabançonne_. One would say
the sight of those calcined ruins, far from intimidating the Belgians,
as the butchers had hoped, only whets their rebellious spirits, and
that the certainty of final success has completely effaced, in the soul
of the people, the memory of the terrors experienced at the time of the
burnings and killings.
Not only is the Belgian population far from fraternizing with them,
as they try to make the world believe, but it neglects no opportunity
of proving that it is animated by very different feelings. It must be
confessed that when we openly wear the Belgian or American colours it
is with a double object: to advertise our attachment to our country,
or our gratitude to America, and also to make the Germans furious. The
little celluloid portraits of the King and Queen which one wears in the
buttonhole serve the same purposes. After the Germans had imprisoned
M. Max in a German prison many people displayed his portrait. This was
extremely disagreeable to our enemies (_Köln. Volksz._, 30th September,
1914, morning edition); but precisely for that reason people persisted
in wearing the little medallion until the German police demanded its
forcible removal.
When the Governor-General, in the interviews which he granted the
correspondents of the _N.A.Z._ and the _Berliner Tageblatt_, pretended
to regard the wearing of the Belgian or American colours as a piece of
childish mischief, he was simply trying to put them off the scent, for
he of all people had no illusions as to the significance of the ribbons
which the Belgians are wearing in their buttonholes. This significance
was as follows: The Germans pretend (1) that their armies are
victorious and will remain so; (2) that they will be able to dictate
their terms, and will annex Belgium; (3) that this will be easy, as
the Belgians are already abandoning their provocative attitude, and
are beginning to fraternize with their persecutors. For the moment we
cannot reply publicly to lies 1 and 2; as to 3, any Belgian who wears
a little rosette tacitly proclaims that he does not wish to be taken
for a craven, and that his anti-German feelings have lost none of their
keenness.
Other Germans try to deceive their compatriots as to the feeling of the
Belgians for their oppressors. Here is what Herr Walter Nissen says,
the Bruxelles correspondent of the _Düss. Gen.-Anz._ (23rd July, 1915):
"Opinion in Belgium is daily becoming more conciliatory. Belgium
may, for the moment, be compared with a woman who is beginning to
love despite herself, and who, through pride and vexation, says
'No!' as loudly as possible, for fear anyone should see what is
happening to her. But one does see it, despite the ribbons of the
national colours--indeed precisely on that account."
Is this incurable blindness? Is it an ineradicable spirit of falsehood?
Does Herr Nissen really doubt the sincerity of our anti-German
manifestations? During the months he has lived in our midst he must
have discovered that we do, systematically, everything we can to
displease the Germans, until they issue decrees of prohibition.
Here is a last trait which can leave no one in doubt as to the feelings
of the Belgians. In March 1915 the German authorities organized a
concert in the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. There were only three
known Belgians present, among them a professor of the University of
Brussels. The University showed its disapproval by sending him to
Coventry.
(_d_) _Behaviour of the German Administration._
The preceding pages have already informed the reader that the Germans
have not accustomed us to look for either gentleness or sincerity. But
hitherto we have not insisted on their administrative procedure, which
nevertheless deserves examination.
But first let us picture to ourselves the mental condition of the
Belgians since August 1914. Cut off from all intellectual relations
with foreign countries, we receive independent newspapers only in
secret, at the peril of our liberty, or even of our lives. Every
day, on the other hand, the newspapers, mutilated by the censorship,
printing only the news--often false--which is favourable to the
Germans, are instilling their slow poison into our brains. No
matter: the people still repulse all attempts to foment disunion and
demoralization; they pull their belts a little tighter rather than
go to work for the enemy; they continue, to the last, to display our
colours; in short, they have retained, unshaken and unshakable, their
faith in our just cause and the final victory.
The German newspapers are full of admiring articles describing the
firmness of mind evinced by the German people, for they, too, consent
to certain privations to ensure the success of their arms. Wonderful!
The German people are unfailingly encouraged by their newspapers,
their pastors and priests, their schoolmasters and professors, and by
lectures and innumerable pamphlets. Everything that might cause their
resolution to falter is carefully concealed from them. They are,
moreover, accustomed to hold no other opinions than those which are
officially presented to them. To falter, under these circumstances,
would be almost incomprehensible. But in our country, on the other
hand, everything is done to exhaust us, to dishearten us. The least
success of the German arms becomes the "final crushing" of the enemy;
the executions of Belgians who have aided their country are immediately
advertised on every hand; and, finally, we are prevented, by every
imaginable means, from spreading good news or preaching confidence.
That in spite of all the Belgian should retain his tranquillity of mind
and even his good humour is almost unbelievable, but it is true.
Here, then, is a population which is systematically refused the
least item of comforting information, but which, on the other hand,
is treated prodigally to everything of a nature to demoralize it;
a population which, in order not to sink into despair, has to
make an effort every moment of the day; a country in which it is
strictly forbidden to do anything to encourage those who may suffer
from a temporary depression, or to sustain and reassure those who
feel themselves threatened. Is it not obvious that such pitiful
psychologists as the Germans will resort to intimidation to reduce this
population to their mercy? Everything is magnified into an offence,
and all offences are punished by the heaviest penalties; the Germans
even going so far as to threaten with death him who spreads "false
news"--that is to say, who communicates news to his fellow-citizens
which is displeasing to the Germans.
_The Appeal to Informers._
The placards already cited show amply the diversity of the offences
which may be committed, and the punishments which may be inflicted. But
we must not forget those notices which order the inhabitants, often on
pain of death, to inform against those persons who possess arms; to
denounce those who are _believed_ to be strangers to the commune; and
those _suspected_ of acting in a manner contrary to the orders of the
German authorities.
Here are some of these notices:
DETENTION OF ARMS.
The communal administration forwards the following document:--
_Important Warning._
It has come to my knowledge that the inhabitants of the country are
still hiding arms and munitions in their houses.
Those who still have arms in their possession (whether firearms,
bows, cross-bows, arquebuses, or knives and swords of any
description) will not be punished in any way if the arms and
munitions are deposited by the 15th December (noon precisely German
time) at the house of the burgomaster of the commune, to be handed
over to the military commandant.
After the date indicated all persons found in possession of arms
or munitions will be shot. An account also will be demanded of the
burgomasters concerned, and also of all the inhabitants of the
houses or farms in which arms or munitions are found, as well as
the neighbours of the guilty persons.
The death penalty will be imposed on all who learn of the existence
of arms or munitions without warning the burgomaster of their
commune, who must warn the military commandant.
The present decree forms the last appeal to the population to
surrender their arms, and once the 15th December is past the
severest action will be taken.
The burgomasters are personally responsible for ensuring that this
warning receives the widest publication.
They are required to deposit with the nearest military authority
not later than the 15th December (at six o'clock in the evening,
German time) the arms and munitions that shall be delivered to them.
THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
THIELT, 5/xii/14.
(_Le Bien Public, 11th December, 1914._)
BY ORDER OF THE MILITARY AUTHORITY.
The inhabitants of Dieghem are strictly forbidden to assemble in
groups.
Moreover, the inhabitants are required to bring to the Secretariat,
Chaussée d'Haecht 48, those persons whom they believe to be
strangers to the commune, in order to verify their identity.
THE BURGOMASTER,
G. DE CONNICK.
(_Posted at Dieghem, October 1914._)
ON THE ORDER OF THE GERMAN MILITARY AUTHORITY.
The Commissary of the Arrondissement of Verviers calls the
attention of the communal administrations and the inhabitants of
his jurisdiction to the following regulations:--
The severest penalties will be inflicted upon offenders: whosoever
shall damage the roads, telephones, or telegraphs will be HANGED.
The same penalty will be inflicted on every person in whose house
arms, ammunitions, and explosives shall be found. The house in
which these objects are discovered will be destroyed by fire, and
all the men encountered on the premises will be HANGED.
Rigorous penalties will be inflicted on localities in which roads,
telephones, and telegraphs shall be damaged.
For their own safety the inhabitants of communes are invited to make
known to the commandants of _étapes_ those persons suspected of
disobeying the present order or of opposing the measures taken.
On the other hand, those communes which remain tranquil, and in which
this order is strictly obeyed, will enjoy the full protection of the
German Government.
VON ROSENBERG,
_Colonel commanding the 29th Brigade_.
VERVIERS, _22nd August, 1914_.
Those who are _believed_ to be strangers; those who are _suspected_ of
acting contrary to orders ... it is a régime of organized suspicion,
a reign of terror, informing erected into a governmental process.
The most abominable thing which the Germans have conceived in this
respect is that they encourage the denunciation of militia-men by
their fathers, mothers, wives, or sisters. It is a principle admitted
by all civilized nations--and also, no doubt, by Germany--that the
Courts definitely abstain from evoking a conflict between the paternal
and maternal instinct and the duty owed to justice. It is considered
that it would be revoltingly inhuman to force a father or mother
to bear witness against a son. Sophocles, in the _Antigone_, ranks
this prejudice among "the immutable laws, unwritten, which are from
all eternity." Now, in Belgium, when a young man leaves his family
to rejoin the Belgian army, the German authorities enjoin upon his
parents, his brother, or his sister, the duty of denouncing the absent
man; in other words, his father or his mother--yes, we said his
mother--must deliver up the son because he is doing his duty toward
his country (notice of the 9th April, 1915). And the Germans are not
content with threats. If the Germans forget their promises, at least
they scrupulously carry their threats into execution. At Hasselt they
imprisoned a woman whose son had rejoined the Belgian army (p. 152). At
Namur they have on many occasions punished the parents of soldiers who
had not committed the crime of denouncing them. And not content with
inflicting these disgraceful penalties--disgraceful to those who impose
them--they have forced _L'Ami de l'Ordre_ to give publicity to these
sentences, to the number of ten or more. Here are the details of one
sentence:
According to § 3, No. 2, of the Imperial decree of the 28th
December, 1893, concerning the extraordinary proceedings of the
Council of War for foreigners, the Governor of the fortified
position and the province of Namur has pronounced a deprivation of
liberty against the following Belgian subjects: the farmer, Félix
Duquet, of Jemeppe, two months; his wife, Victoire Duquet, _née_
Swain, one month. They had harboured their son, Clement Duquet,
Belgian soldier, who had lost his regiment, for several months,
instead of notifying him to the German authority; by so doing they
acted in contravention of the proclamation of the Government of
Namur, dated 19th September, 1914.
(_L'Ami de l'Ordre_, 8-9th July, 1915.)
Assuredly for the Germans the word "humanity" is void of meaning; they
have replaced it by "Germanity." No doubt they regard maternal love
among the Belgians as being of an essence so inferior that they need
not take it into account. Yet in order not to wound the sensibilities
of their own soldiers, nor those of their "brothers by race," the
Flemings, they omitted any mention of mothers in the German and Flemish
texts of their notice of the 4th April. As we have already stated,
they feel that they need not observe towards the feelings of the
Belgians--and above all of the Walloons--the same consideration as is
shown towards those of the Germans.
_German Espionage._
Informing cannot exist without espionage. Now we know that the
Germans are past masters in this art. Every one of our towns has
been favoured by a swarm of spies, male and female. In the streets,
on the promenades, in the cafés, in the trams[45]--everywhere one is
conscious of the invisible inspection of secret agents. Woe to him who
utters aloud an opinion unfavourable to Germany, or complains of a too
outrageous placard or announcement, or criticizes a passing officer or
any one connected with Germany, or abuses the German army: immediately
a lady or gentleman hails a German soldier, and the offender is taken
to the _Kommandantur_. And when a Belgian enters the _Kommandantur_
he does not know when he will come out again; there he awaits,
sometimes for several days, his turn to be interrogated; and after that
imprisonment is certain. Not, of course, that he is always condemned;
it sometimes happens that the offence has not been proved; but even
so, "his hash is settled," for while he has been waiting his turn his
house has been searched, and where is the house that does not contain
some letter from a son or a brother who is a soldier? Prohibited
correspondence! Sentenced!
_Agents-provocateurs or "Traps."_
A close espionage surrounds those who undertake the carrying of
letters or the introduction of newspapers. In this case the spies
work principally by means of "traps"--_agents-provocateurs_. A
spy introduces himself to the person suspected of dealing with
correspondence; he pretends he has a letter to send or receive. If the
suspect listens to him, a picket of soldiers and policemen arrives
on the following day to make a search. Other spies will speak in the
street to a seller of newspapers; they will ask for a French or English
journal, and scarcely has the vendor taken the forbidden journal from
his pocket than a hand falls upon his collar.
It is also by means of "traps" that the Germans catch those who enable
our militia to escape from the country. A young man, of the proper age,
goes in search of the suspected person, and by means of false papers
passes himself off for a patriot who wants to take his place at the
front. Arrangements being made, the spy departs; but a skilfully set
trap enables him to catch a whole group of young fellows. It matters
little to our cause, however, since for every one arrested hundreds
cross into Holland every week. Many Belgians devote themselves to this
patriotic task, though they well know that in case of failure they
will be sent into Germany or shot. It should be said that their most
active helpers are the soldiers of the Landsturm, the guardians of
the frontiers, who, according to an established tariff, for the sake
of alcohol or money, close their eyes as our militia-men cross the
frontier.
One step further along the path of the informer, the spy, and the
"trap," and we come to means whose ignominy is such that even the
Germans themselves are forced to admit their dishonesty.
Thus, at Liége most of the letter-boxes on the house-doors are closed
by means of nails. Why? At the end of 1914 many citizens of Liége used
to receive _Le Courrier de la Meuse_, a newspaper edited and printed at
Maestricht by Belgian refugees. There was no great mystery about its
distribution; the paper was simply slipped into the letter-box. But
the German agents spied on the vendors, and having done so, searched
the houses at which the newspaper was delivered. The subscriber, of
course, was condemned to pay a fine. Did part of this go to the spy?
It is probable; in any case it was not long before the spies were
importing _Le Courrier de la Meuse_ in order themselves to place it in
the letter-boxes of well-to-do houses. A search conducted immediately
revealed the prohibited article, and, in spite of the indignant
denials of the victim, the fine was inflicted.
At Ferrières, near Jemelle, worse than this was done. A German priest
pretended that the curé of Ferrières had repeated, before a witness,
a private conversation held some hours earlier. Moreover, he wanted
to garble the conversation. The abbé's action was repugnant in such a
degree that even Baron von Bissing himself was a little uneasy about
the matter, and revoked the punishment awarded to the Belgian.
While the mission of the spies and _agents-provocateurs_--including
the _abbés-provocateurs_ or ecclesiastical "traps"--was to procure the
condemnation to various penalties of as many Belgians as possible,
other "agents" in the pay of Germany commenced a vast inquiry, in
order to prove, in the face of the evidence itself, the crimes of the
"francs-tireurs." Well!--in spite of all the manoeuvres of spies and
_provocateurs_ and the inquirers themselves, in spite of the personal
rancour which impelled a few rare Belgians to become the accomplices
of the Germans, and to denounce, in a spirit of vengeance, certain of
their fellow-citizens, never did the Germans succeed in mentioning a
single name, not one single name, of a Belgian civilian accused of
having fired upon the German troops. We say expressly "accused," and
not "convicted," to show that nowhere, in village or provincial town,
although petty rivalry is so acute, and although informers, even though
anonymous, would have been welcomed with joy by the Germans, nowhere
was any one found to assert that a Belgian civilian had fired on the
German troops. No, it was so improbable, so manifestly false, that not
even the most miserable of wretches would have dreamed of formulating
such a calumny.
The Germans wanted to make us believe that anonymous letters were
pouring in upon them, but that they, as upright administrators, refused
to follow up these accusations (Declaration, 4th May, 1915). Obviously
a lie. We know them capable of themselves fabricating these anonymous
accusations, simply to cause the Belgians mental uneasiness, and to
give rise to mutual suspicion. This is yet another attempt to cause
dissension.
For the rest, they have since then admitted that they have invited
denunciation. Worse than this: denunciation is enough to procure
condemnation; it is not necessary for the offence to be proved.
NOTICE.
Cases are increasingly frequent in which letters are sent to
Belgian soldiers at the front by means of intermediaries.
I remind the public that this is strictly prohibited. Any person
denounced to the German authorities for such action will be
subjected to a severe penalty.
THE GOVERNOR OF THE FORTIFIED POSITION
AND THE PROVINCE OF NAMUR.
(_L'Ami de l'Ordre_, 13th June, 1915.)
We should never come to an end were we to mention all the tricks and
shifts that enter into their methods of administration. We will confine
ourselves to relating one or two more.
According to the Hague Convention, the functionaries of an occupied
territory who remain at their posts must declare that they will
undertake nothing, and will refrain from everything, that may be
contrary to the interests of the occupier. Note two essential points:
it is only the _officials_ who are required to sign this agreement, and
they undertake to _refrain_ from anything that may be hurtful to the
occupier.
Now in January 1915 the German administration of Namur wished to force
the entire male population of the canton of Éghezée between the ages of
eighteen and forty to sign the following declaration:--
"I the undersigned promise, conformably with the Hague Convention
of the 18th October, 1907, to continue scrupulously and loyally
the fulfilment of my functions, to undertake nothing against the
interests of the German Empire, and I promise to prevent all that
might be injurious thereto."
In certain communes the inhabitants, meaning well and imperfectly
informed as to their rights and duties, signed this declaration, which
is an improper one, as it was required of all the inhabitants, and not
only of the officials; moreover, it made the signatories promise to
_prevent_ what was injurious to the Germans, not merely to _refrain_
from it. Up to a certain point, therefore, all the inhabitants were
obliged to place themselves at the service of the German authorities.
Some burgomasters refused to allow the document to be signed as it
stood. They added, on their own authority, the following sentence:--
"With the reservation of being able to respond freely to the appeal
of the Belgian Government if the latter comes to resume possession
of the country at present occupied by the German armies."
The Germans did not accept this addition; they proposed a new form of
words:--
"I the undersigned promise, conformably with the provisions of the
Hague Convention of 18th October, 1907, to continue scrupulously
and faithfully in the performance of my functions, to undertake
nothing against the interests of the German Empire, to refrain from
all that might injure it."
In many villages the people again refused to sign. Men between 18 and
40 years of age cannot promise to continue in the performance of
functions which they have never fulfilled. What did the Germans do?
They forced all the male inhabitants of the recalcitrant communes to
present themselves daily at Éghezée, the chief town of the canton.
But eventually they realized that it was iniquitous to make these men
lose half their day every day simply because they, the Germans, were
demanding an absolutely illegal thing. So the daily muster at Éghezée
was abandoned.
The German administration falsely invoked the Hague Convention of
1907 in addressing the peasants, who doubtless did not even know the
Convention by name, and it tried twice over to take advantage of
their good faith. It is not surprising that the inhabitants of the
province of Namur should have become suspicious, so that they would not
willingly put their names to any paper presented by the Germans. In May
it was only after long negotiations and threats that the young men of
Rhisnes and Emines signed their identification cards, which, according
to the Germans, "imposed no engagement on the signatory." We have not
ourselves seen the wording of this card, so we cannot speak as to its
tenor; but it is curious that the Germans should be so insistent upon
the signing of a card having so little significance.
They also wished to impose, on the civic guard of Rhisnes and Emines,
the engagement that they would no longer bear arms against Germany.
More than half the men refused, and were sent as prisoners of war to
Germany.
Monday, 3rd May, in the morning, sixty-nine Belgian militia-men
of the communes of Rhisnes and Emines were arrested because they
refused to sign their identification cards, which contained
nothing else than the information as to their persons necessary
to complete such a document. They were taken to the prison of the
fortress. On 6th May they were questioned a second time, and,
having all without exception signed, they were immediately released.
Tuesday, 4th May, 107 members of the civic guard at Rhisnes were
arrested because they refused to sign the declaration that they
would not bear arms against Germany and her Allies during this war.
In the course of the same day forty-nine signed the declaration and
were released. The other fifty-eight maintained their refusal, and
were transported to Germany as prisoners of war on Tuesday evening.
Wednesday, the 5th May, eighty members of the civic guard of Emines
and Warisoulx were arrested for the same reason; forty signed the
declaration and were released. The rest were transported to Germany
on the evening of the 6th May as prisoners of war.