THE NIGHTMARE OF EUROPE--ALSACE-LORRAINE
"I congratulate you on the annexation of an open sore to your Empire,"
said Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria to the German Kaiser when
Alsace-Lorraine was ceded to Germany by the Treaty of Frankfort at the
close of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1871. As we entered the world war
to fight for the downtrodden people of the world, determined that people
must have their rights and that the peril of military autocracy must be
crushed forever, the problem of Alsace-Lorraine became a great problem
to America. Every citizen of the United States should know something of
this little country that has been called "The Nightmare of Europe."
Germany made every possible effort to blind the eyes of the world in
regard to the facts about these provinces. She constantly declared there
was no Alsace-Lorraine problem. In 1881, the Kaiser, in speaking of
these provinces gave utterance to these words: "Germany would leave her
eighteen army corps and her forty-two million people on the field of
battle rather than surrender a single stone of the territory won in
1871." Because Mr. Daniel Blumenthal, who lived in Alsace all his life,
was mayor of one of the important cities there and a member of the
German Reichstag and the Alsace-Lorraine Senate for years, dared to tell
the world the truth about his country, he was condemned to death eight
times. He lived, however, and then they imposed upon him sentences of
penal servitude that aggregated more than five hundred years' time.
This man finally got out of Germany and the whole world then listened to
his story.
First, take a look at the provinces. They are located, as you know, at
the northeast corner of France. Together they are about as large as the
Yellowstone National Park, or the size of about six Iowa counties. The
soil is the most fertile to be found in Central Europe. The hills are
richly wooded with fir, oak and beech, as well as other varieties. Corn,
flax, tobacco, grapes and various fruits are grown. The great wealth,
however, is in the minerals. Iron, lead, copper, coal, rock salt and
even silver are there. Manufacturers of cotton and linen are plentiful.
In the old days this country was a part of ancient Gaul and the Romans
had it for five hundred years. When Rome broke up it became a part of
France, and so remained until about the middle of the tenth century, at
which time it came under the jurisdiction of Germany. Later on Alsace
became a part of the Holy Roman Empire. During these days it was made a
republic under the direction of a bishop and became a _decapole_, or
province with ten free cities. This league of free cities had control
for two hundred years, and with this in mind it is easy to see where and
how this principle of liberty and freedom was born in the hearts of
these people.
At the close of the Thirty Years War, at the Peace of Westphalia in
1648, these provinces came back to France and constituted a part of this
country until the close of the Franco-Prussian War when Germany took it.
The Treaty of Frankfort, which ceded this land to Germany was, as some
one says, "not a treaty of peace but a treaty of hatred." Bismarck
declared that Metz and Strassburg had been an open door through which
France came again and again to invade Germany and he proposed to lock
the door and throw the key into the well. Of course he had an eye upon
the rich iron mines which were absolutely necessary to Germany in her
preparation for a world war.
This country has been a battlefield for centuries. It was the religious
battleground in the seventh century. The Thirty Years War devastated
almost every foot of the territory. It is said that in one community
there was not a wedding for twelve years and not a baptism for fifteen
years. Strassburg with its great university and priceless library was
burned. The writer of these lines passed through this country years ago
where it is said that there were two hundred square miles of cemeteries
instead of farms.
In 1870-1871 came the Franco-Prussian War and once more these provinces
were largely devastated. Somehow the people got an inkling that their
land might go to Germany and at once they were up in arms about it. They
sent a delegation of twenty-eight men to the national assembly at
Bordeaux with the following appeal: "Alsace-Lorraine are opposed to
alienation. These two provinces, associated with France for more than
two centuries in good and evil fortune and constantly opposed to hostile
attack, have consistently sacrificed themselves in the cause of national
greatness; they have sealed with their blood the indissoluble compact
that binds them to French unity. With one accord, citizens who have
remained in their own homes and the soldiers who have hastened to join
the colors, proclaim by their votes or by their action on the field, to
Germany and to the world, the unalterable determination to remain
French."
When the decision was reached to give these provinces to Germany they
sent the following appeal to the nations of Europe: "Europe cannot
permit or ratify the abandonment of Alsace and Lorraine. The civilized
nations, as guardians of justice and national rights, cannot remain
indifferent to the fate of their neighbor under pain of becoming in
their turn victims of the outrages they have tolerated. Modern Europe
cannot allow a people to be seized like a herd of cattle; she cannot
continue deaf to the repeated protest of threatened nationalities. She
owes it to her instinct of self-preservation to forbid such abuses of
her power. She knows too that the unity of France is now, as in the
past, a guarantee of the general order of the world, a barrier against
the spirit of conquest and invasion. Peace concluded at the price of
cession of territory could be nothing but a costly truce, not a final
peace. It would be for a cause of international unrest, a permanent and
legitimate provocation of war."
Even after this wonderful appeal, still another final plea was made, but
it did no good. The heartless Bismarck had France by the throat and
other nations seemed afraid to champion the cause of these helpless
people. Thus the whole world reaped the reward of silence when great
principles were involved. I have given the protest almost in full,
quoting it from David Starr Jordan, that readers of this chapter can
behold the evil effects of accepting a peace when the rights of people
are left out of the question.
A provision in this Treaty of Frankfort allowed those who wished to
cross the line into France to go. Of course this would involve leaving
their homes, their farms, their old neighbors and everything else that
they could not take along. More than a year was given for this and on
the last day of grace one author says: "All those who had means of
transportation rode in carts, wagons, carriages, running over the black
roads. Whole families drove their cattle. Old men dragged themselves on,
leaning on the shoulders of young women who bore at the breast new-born
children. Sick men, who wished not to die German, were carried bodily
that they might draw their last breath on the frontier of Nancy and
thank heaven to die on French soil."
Then the Germans tried to blot out all traces of France. The French
language was forbidden in schools, on advertisements or even on tombs.
Police and secret service men watched the inhabitants and men were
imprisoned for any demonstration whatsoever that exalted France. The
frontier was closed, all communication with France was cut off and no
one could cross the border without a passport that was vized by the
German Ambassador in Paris. This was done until the death of Bismarck.
In spite of all this, whenever a chance was given for the people to
choose between France and Germany, they chose France. It must be
remembered too, that a half million people crossed the line into France
while they could and that a half million German immigrants had taken
their places.
All through the years France had mourned for her lost provinces and
refused to be comforted. Many times I have seen the mourning figure of
Strassburg, which is in the Place de la Concorde, in the heart of the
city of Paris. This statue represents the distress of Alsace-Lorraine
and "around this figure the war spirit of France rallied for forty
years." It is said that flowers were placed at this figure every day for
forty years.
When General Joffre and the French army entered Alsace in August, 1914,
the joy of the people knew no bounds. How they wept and rejoiced as the
bands played the Marseillaise! French flags that had been hidden away
for forty-three years were brought out and such scenes of rejoicing have
rarely been witnessed. The same was true in Paris. A great company of
Alsatians formed a procession and marched to the Strassburg statue on
the Concorde. The procession was led by Alsatian women who carried palm
branches. All marched bare-headed to the statue. Ladders were placed
against the monument. An Alsatian climbed to the top and wound a broad
tri-colored sash around the statue. The crowd cried: "Away with the
crepe" and instantly all signs of mourning that had surrounded the
statue for forty-three years were torn away.
As might be expected, when the French army was driven out of Alsace
later on, the people suffered untold misery. The Good Lord only knows
what they went through. Thousands were condemned to prison for the awful
crime of manifesting their French sentiments. A single word that
reflected upon what Germany had done in any way would send one to
prison. A lawyer by the name of Berger was sentenced to prison for a
term of eight years for casually alluding to the invasion of Belgium.
The number of women condemned to prison was enormous, for the women were
more outspoken and less respectful to the Germans than the men.
Neither did prison sentences end it; sentences of death were very many.
The press was not allowed to mention those who were shot. It was
reported that thirty thousand of the people in these provinces were
imported into Germany. But those days have gone by and it is certain
that never again will Germany wield the sceptre over these provinces. Of
course in this brief glimpse of Alsace-Lorraine many very important
matters could not be mentioned at all, but these are sufficient to show
why they could not help hating the people who have been heartless in
their effort to subdue some of their blood relatives.