"I went to Belgium to investigate conditions, and while there I had
opportunity * * * to talk one day with Governor General von Bissing,
who died three or four weeks ago, a man 72 or 73 years old, a man
steeped in the 'system,' born and bred to the hardening of the heart
which that philosophy develops. There ought to be some new word coined
for the process that a man's heart undergoes when it becomes steeped
in that system.
"I said to him, 'Governor, what are you going to do if England and
France stop giving these people money to purchase food?'
"He said, 'We have got that all worked out and have had it worked out
for weeks, because we have expected this system to break down at any
time.'
[Sidenote: Bissing says deportation plans were carefully prepared.]
"He went on to say, 'Starvation will grip these people in 30 to 60
days. Starvation is a compelling force, and we would use that force to
compel the Belgian workingmen, many of them very skilled, to go into
Germany to replace the Germans, so that they could go to the front and
fight against the English and the French.'
"'As fast as our railway transportation could carry them, we would
transport thousands of others that would be fit for agricultural work,
across Europe down into southeastern Europe, into Mesopotamia, where
we have huge, splendid irrigation works. All that land needs is water
and it will blossom like the rose.'
"'The weak remaining, the old and the young, we would concentrate
opposite the firing line, and put firing squads back of them, and
force them through that line, so that the English and French could
take care of their own people.'
"It was a perfectly simple, direct, frank reasoning. It meant that the
German Government would use any force in the destruction of any people
not its own to further its own ends." (Frederic C. Walcott, in _The
National Geographic Magazine_, May, 1917.)
A brief general view of the character of the deportations can perhaps
be gained best from the report of Minister Whitlock.
REPORT OF MINISTER WHITLOCK (continued).
"_The deportations began in October in the Étape, at Ghent, and at
Bruges, as my brief telegrams indicated. The policy spread; the rich
industrial districts of Hainaut, the mines and steel works about
Charleroi were next attacked; now they are seizing men in Brabant,
even in Brussels, despite some indications and even predictions of the
civil authorities that the policy was about to be abandoned._
[The étapes were the parts of Belgium under martial law, and included
the province of western Flanders, part of eastern Flanders, and the
region of Tournai. The remainder of the occupied part of Belgium was
under civil government.]
[Sidenote: The deportations begin.] [Sidenote: Pitiable scenes.]
"_During the last fortnight men have been impressed here in Brussels,
but their seizures here are made evidently with much greater care
than in the provinces, with more regard for the appearances. There
was no public announcement of the intention to deport, but suddenly
about ten days ago certain men in towns whose names are on the list
of chômeurs received summons notifying them to report at one of the
railway stations on a given day; penalties were fixed for failure to
respond to the summons and there was printed on the card an offer of
employment by the German Government either in Germany or Belgium. On
the first day out of about 1,500 men ordered to present themselves
at the Gare du Midi about 750 responded. These were examined by
German physicians and 300 were taken. There was no disorder, a large
force of mounted Uhlans keeping back the crowds and barring access
to the station to all but those who had been summoned to appear. The
Commission for Relief in Belgium had secured permission to give to
each deported man a loaf of bread, and some of the communes provided
warm clothing for those who had none and in addition a small financial
allowance. As by one of the ironies of life the winter has been more
excessively cold than Belgium has ever known it, and while many of
those who presented themselves were adequately protected against the
cold, many of them were without overcoats. The men shivering from cold
and fear, the parting from weeping wives and children, the barriers of
brutal Uhlans, all this made the scene a pitiable and distressing one._
"_It was understood that the seizures would continue here in Brussels,
but on Thursday last, a bitter cold day, those that had been convoked
were sent home without examination. It is supposed that the severe
weather has moved the Germans to postpone the deportations._"
(Continued on page 67.)
Cardinal Mercier attempted to persuade the German authorities to
abandon their terrible plans, reminding them of their solemn promises
in the past:
"MALINES, _19th October, 1916_.
"Mr. GOVERNOR GENERAL:
[Sidenote: Another "Scrap of Paper."]
"The day after the surrender of Antwerp the frightened population
asked itself what would become of the Belgians of age to bear arms
or who would reach that age before the end of the occupation. The
entreaties of the fathers and mothers of families determined me
to question the governor of Antwerp, Baron von Huene, who had the
kindness to reassure me and to authorize me in his name to reassure
the agonized parents. The rumor had spread at Antwerp, nevertheless,
that at Liége, Namur, and Charleroi young men had been seized and
taken by force to Germany. I therefore begged Governor von Huene to
be good enough to confirm to me in writing the guarantee which he had
given to me orally, to the effect that nothing similar would happen
at Antwerp. He said to me immediately that the rumors concerning
deportations were without basis, and unhesitatingly he sent me in
writing, among other statements, the following: 'Young men have no
reason to fear that they will be taken to Germany, either to be there
enrolled in the army or employed for forced labor.'
"This declaration, written and signed, was publicly transmitted to the
clergy and to those of the Faith of the province of Antwerp, as Your
Excellency can see from the document enclosed herewith, dated October
16th, 1914, which was read in all the churches. [Printed on preceding
pages.]
"Upon the arrival of your predecessor, the late Baron von der Goltz,
at Brussels I had the honor of presenting myself at his house and
requested him to be good enough to ratify for the entire country,
without time limit, the guarantees which General von Huene had given
me for the province of Antwerp. The Governor General retained this
request in his possession in order to examine it at his leisure.
The following day he was good enough to come in person to Malines
to bring me his approval, and confirmed to me, in the presence of
two aides-de-camp and of my private secretary, the promise that the
liberty of Belgian citizens would be respected.
"To doubt the authority of such undertakings would have been to
reflect upon the persons who had made them, and I therefore took steps
to allay, by all the means of persuasion in my power, the anxieties
which persisted in the interested families.
"Notwithstanding all this, your Government now tears from their homes
workmen reduced in spite of their efforts to a state of unemployment,
separates them by force from their wives and children and deports
them to enemy territory. Numerous workmen have already undergone this
unhappy lot; more numerous are those who are threatened with the same
acts of violence.
[Sidenote: Mercier's moving appeal.]
"In the name of the liberty of domicile and the liberty of work of
Belgian citizens; in the name of the inviolability of families; in
the name of moral interests which the measures of deportation would
gravely compromise; in the name of the word given by the Governor of
the Province of Antwerp and by the Governor General, the immediate
representative of the highest authority of the German Empire, I
respectfully beg Your Excellency to be good enough to withdraw the
measures of forced labor and of deportation announced to the Belgian
workmen, and to be good enough to reinstate in their homes those who
have already been deported.
"Your Excellency will appreciate how painful for me would be the
weight of the responsibility that I would have to bear as regards
these families, if the confidence which they have given you through my
agency and at my request were lamentably deceived.
"I persist in believing that this will not be the case.
"Accept, Mr. Governor General, the assurance of my very high
consideration.
"D.J. CARDINAL MERCIER,
"_Arch. of Malines_."
Municipal governments in Belgium appealed to the German authorities
to observe their solemn promises. The two documents which follow
illustrate Belgian appeals and German answers.