Militarism at Work in
Belgium and Germany
BY
K. G. OSSIANNILSSON
TRANSLATED BY
H. G. WRIGHT, M.A.
LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN LTD.
ADELPHI TERRACE
Walter Clinton Jackson Library
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Special Collections & Rare Books
World War 1 Pamphlet Collection
Militarism at Work in
Belgium and Germany
BY
K. G. OSSIANNILSSON
TRANSLATED BY
H. G. WRIGHT, M.A.
LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN LTD.
ADELPHI TERRACE
First 'pulUshed in 1917
All rights reserved
With the Compliments
of
Professor W. Macneile Bixon
(University of Glasgow).
S, Buckingham Gate,
London, S.W. 1,
England.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE PROCLAMATION CONCERNING UNEMPLOY-
MENT ...... 1
II. BELGIAN WORKMEN SENT TO GERMANY . 10
III. LETTERS FROM DEPORTED BELGIANS . . 13
IV. THE MEN OF NIVELLES AND DISTRICT . 19
V. MORE EVIDENCE FROM SWEVEGHEM AND
ELSEWHERE ..... 32
VI. THE SO-CALLED '* VOLUNTARY " BELGIAN
WORKMEN IN GERMANY . . .36
VII. THE EXPERIENCES OP A BELGIAN SAILOR . 41
VIII. EFFECT OF THE DEPORTATIONS ON NEUTRAL
COUNTRIES ..... 48
IX. THE PREVENTIVE ARREST LAW IN GERMANY 57
X. GOETHE'S WISE WORDS ABOUT BELGIUM . 76
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MILITARISM AT WORK IN
BELGIUM AND GERMANY
CHAPTER I
THE PROCLAMATION CONCERNING
UNEMPLOYMENT
In the middle of October, in the year
1916 after the birth of Christ, the following
proclamation was put up on the walls of
the houses in every Belgian commune—
" Notice
concerning certain improvements in the
poor-law administration and concerning
the help required to be given in case of
general misfortune.
1.
" Persons able to work can be compelled
by force to do so, even outside their
B
2 MILITARISM AT WORK
domicile, in case they are obliged, on
account of idleness, drunkenness, loafing,
unemployment or indolence, to have re-
course to the charity of others for the
maintenance of themselves or their family.
2.
" Every inhabitant of the country is
under an obligation to render aid in case
of misfortune or general danger, and as
far as in him lies to find a remedy for
the general misfortune, even outside his
domicile; in case he refuses he can be
compelled by force,
3.
" Whosoever, on being ordered to work
according to §§ 1 and 2, refuses to perform
or continue the work assigned him, will
be punished with not more than three
years' imprisonment and fined not more
than 10,000 marks, or if it is thought fit
UNEMPLOYMENT 3
one of these penalties may be inflicted,
provided that the laws now in force do
not admit of more rigorous penalties.
" If the refusal to work is made in
concert or in agreement with several
persons, each accomplice will be sentenced,
as if he had been the ringleader, to at
least one week's imprisonment.
4.
" Cases herewith connected will be tried
by the German administrative and judicial
military authorities.
" Yon Sauberzweig,
Quartermaster-General,
" General Headquarters ,
October Srd, 1916."
If the meaning of this mysterious pro-
clamation was not immediately clear to
everybody, it became so within a very
short time. The German military au-
thorities demanded of the mayors or other
4 MILITARISM AT WORK
magistrates the lists of persons receiving
support on account of unemployment.
Now it is to be noted —
(1) That these lists include (according
to an approximate estimate) one-third
of the able-bodied male population of
Belgium ;
(2) That the persons receiving relief
were thrown out of work and needed relief
on account of the war and the seizure by
the Germans of factories, rolling stock,
raw materials and manufactured products ;
(3) That it is not the Germans, but the
Belgians themselves, as well as Americans,
Swiss, Dutchmen, Spaniards and Scan-
dinavians, who maintain the unemployed ;
and
(4) That the Belgian authorities for
combating unemployment had started
relief work such as road -making and the
like, but were commanded by the Germans
UNEMPLOYMENT 5
to cease— lest the funds of the communes
should be unnecessarily burdened.
For these reasons the Belgian mayors
refused to hand over the required lists to
the Germans. The result was the same
everywhere : the arrest of officials and
heavy fines to be paid out of the communal
funds.
At Bruges (in Flemish, Brugge, in Ger-
man Brugge) the mayor was Count Amedee
Visart de Bocarme, a member of parlia-
ment, and an old man of eighty. But
he was not easily perturbed. When the
Germans arrived, in 1914, they opened
the conversation by putting a Browning
revolver to the old man's forehead. He
replied : ''I know that you can kill me,
but— may I request that in view of my
age it should be done as politely as
possible ? "
The Germans now appeared for the
second time, perhaps without revolver on
6 MILITARISM AT WORK
this occasion, and demanded the rehef
lists. The mayor refused. Thereupon he
was arrested, declared to be dismissed and
replaced by Lieutenant Rogge of Schwerin.
The town of Bruges was required to pay a
fine of 100,000 marks daily, until the lists
were handed over.
Every attempt to refuse any demand
whatsoever of Belgium's amiable guests
merely affords a welcome opportunity for
fresh extortion. For a long time Belgium
has been paying a war tax of 40,000,000
francs a month, and this monthly tax has
recently been raised to 50,000,000 francs.
This in a country where one-third of the
able-bodied male population has hitherto
been in receipt of relief !
But it is true it was this latter evil
that the Germans in their kindness wished
to remedy.
Without further parley they therefore
seized these lists, which bore witness to
UNEMPLOYMENT T
the charitableness of Europe and America
and to the beneficent activity of Germany
in Belgium. And in accordance with
these lists all able-bodied and unem-
ployed men were ordered to appear at a
public building at a certain hour, ready to
depart — to Germany !
Exempt from the order were hunch-
backs, lame and one-armed persons, and
teachers, doctors, priests and lawyers.
All the rest had to appear, for— this
was the reason given — it was to be feared
that otherwise they might some day be-
come a burden to the communes. Lest
this danger — which on account of the
charitableness of America and of non-
German Europe did not then exist — should
some day become a reality, the Germans
now undertook to force the able-bodied to
work in factories and mines in Germany.
Of course, they gave the assurance that
it should not be for work which is forbidden
8 MILITARISM AT WORK
by international law : that is, work for
German war purposes. But just at present
— in the times of civilian mobilisation — it
would seem difficult to find any work in
Germany which is not connected with the
war and its purposes. In any case these
Belgian workmen would naturally release
a corresponding number of German work-
men, who could proceed to the Front
instead. The three hundred and fifty
thousand Belgians who were to be de-
ported to Germany would thus provide
Germany with an army of three hundred
and fifty thousand men, or seven entire
army corps.
The fact is that Germany is "beginning"
to run short of recruits, which is un-
deniably a misfortune for Germany — and
it is this " general " misfortune, which
Belgium, according to the Hague Con-
ventions, is said to be under an obligation
to remedy !
UNEMPLOYMENT 9
Out of gratitude for this service Germany
frees Belgium from the paupers to whom
Belgium might in the future have to look
forward. Germany — foreseeing as usual —
takes preventive measures against poverty
in Belgium.
In the same way, as early as August
1914, Germany took preventive measures
against the invasion of Belgium. To pro-
tect Belgium against invasion by wicked
neighbours — Germany herself invaded the
ungrateful country.
And Germany has long dealt with her
own citizens in the same way. By the
so-called Preventive Arrest {Schutzhaft)
Law any person whatsoever — though ab-
solutely innocent — may be imprisoned by
way of prevention. The State thereby
protects him against the consequences of
the crimes he might otherwise commit ! !
CHAPTER II
belgian workmen sent to germany
Therefore—
" Commune X No
on October 16, 1916, at 8 a.m., X. has to
appear at the school (barracks, etc.),
provided with : 1 head-covering, 1 neck-
cloth, 1 waistcoat, 1 pair of trousers, 1 pair
of boots or shoes, 2 shirts, 2 pairs of socks,
2 pairs of drawers, 1 coat, 1 pair of gloves,
1 waterproof rug (can serve as waterproof
overcoat), 1 towel, 1 mess-tin, 1 spoon,
knife and fork, 2 blankets.
" You may provide yourself with money.
" Failure to appear will be punished
with imprisonment or other loss of liberty
amounting to not more than three years
and with a fine of not more than 10,000
marks or with one of these penalties.
" X — ., c. or
10
BELGIAN WORKMEN 11
The German sense of order must always
manifest itself. The workmen, who ap-
pear laden with all the above, must be
considered very well, if not luxuriously
equipped. Simple, but substantial. Wliat
is lacking — soap and tooth-brush, for
instance, of which no mention is made —
can presumably be obtained on arriving
in Germany. For one is provided with
money.
Only one question : can the persons
belonging to the working classes, who
possess all the above in good condition,
and money to make everything complete,
can they be described as future paupers?
Can the refractory one, who pays a fine
of 10,000 marks, be thought in danger
of becoming a burden to the commune —
in case he is not required to pay the fine ?
Before the war 10,000 marks in inex-
pensive Belgium meant a whole fortune.
German logic seems at times somewhat
12 MILITARISM AT WORK
undeveloped. However, " Not hat kein
Gehot,'' ^ necessity does away with even
the laws of logic. And in practice the
German always makes himself clear and
comprehensible.
On his arrival at the meeting-place the
slave ... I beg pardon, workman in
question is asked if he will voluntarily
undertake to work in Germany, in which
case he has to sign a number of papers,
certifying that it is voluntary.
If the workman signs, he is immediately
sent off to Germany. Trains stand in
readiness. The usual traffic is — for the
benefit of the Belgians — very considerably
restricted.
If the workman does not sign, and in
most cases, ungrateful as he is, he refuses,
then he is exposed to such treatment as is
described in the following chapter.
^ Necessity knows no law (Translator's note).
CHAPTER III
LETTERS FROM DEPORTED BELGIANS
Three letters, published in the Dutch
newspaper Telegraaf at Amsterdam, on
November 5, 1916. The first is from two
sons to their parents, living in a village
in the district of Ghent, where large
numbers of arrests were made.
" When we had been led out of the
village, we steered our course for Ghent,
where about eleven in the evening we
halted outside the Vooruit Palace. The
Germans took our identity cards from us
and locked us in the banqueting hall.
" Next morning at ten o'clock each of
us was given water and a piece of sour
bread without fat; at two o'clock we
received the same ration, and at 7 p.m.
13
14 MILITARISM AT WORK
we were treated in the same way. This
was our bill of fare for the first three days.
But it is not in this way that they will
induce us to sign.
" On Wednesday night at half -past
eleven a voice shouted, ' Die Leute von
X . . . hier kommen ! ' (The men from
X. come here !)
"We thought that we were to be sent
to prison, where we ought to be better off
than here. When we had got outside,
we saw we were surrounded by two lines
of soldiers, who took us to the Plezante-
Vest factory, where we are still.
" We arrived here at one o'clock in the
morning, and had to lie on sacks of straw
full of vermin.
" Next morning at nine o'clock we were
given acorn tea to drink, but we got no
bread; at 1 p.m. we were at last allowed
to eat our fill of soup; after this meal
we felt so drowsy and limp that we all
LETTERS FROM BELGIANS 15
stretched ourselves for an hour on our
sacks of straw. The evening meal con-
sisted of a little bad coffee and bread.
" The hunger test continues. But we
assure you, father and mother, that we
will never sign. We said so in the village
assembly room, we are and remain good
patriots. We do not know yet when we
shall leave here. We are in good spirits;
do not worry about us ! The Germans will
not succeed in breaking us. Our will is
the will of the Yser." (An allusion to the
battle of the Yser; in Flemish Yzer also
means " iron.")
• * • • ,
The second letter is from a workman to
his employer.
" For a whole week now we have been
holding out against the Germans, and we
still hope to remain firm in our resolution.
" It would be very cowardly of us to work
16 MILITARISM AT WORK
for the enemy and thus prolong the war.
We are absolutely agreed on this point.
" We are here to the number of two
thousand three hundred. The Germans
will not be able to bend us; we have no
right to enjoy a happier lot than our
brothers at the Front, who are fighting
and suffering for us. We cannot take a
step without the Germans being at our
heels with rifle and bayonet. Kindly ask
them at home to send me some clothes,
for the weather is beginning to be cold.
" They say here that the Germans intend
to compel us to work ; I think this shows
lack of taste. Remember me to all and
keep your own spirits up ! The hour of
liberty will strike some day."
The third letter was written by a
young man who was detained at the
office of inspection (Meldeamt) just when
he came to present himself as usual.
LETTERS FROM BELGIANS 17
"Father," he writes; "when I was
marching through the street, I saw you
and nodded. Perhaps you found it strange
that I did not shake hands. But no doubt
you will understand why I did not do so.
It is wisest to obey the Germans, as long
as they do no violence to one's conscience.
" When we arrived here in the building
and were told that we were to sign, there
was such an outburst of shouts, protests
and hooting that the people outside must
have heard it, I am sure. That was our
only reply."
This letter also contains painful details
concerning the wretched diet of civilian
prisons.
. • • ^ • a
All this brave endurance is, however,
in vain. Sooner or later this resistance
must be overcome, for sooner or later
the Germans have recourse to their
favourite method : bodily violence. By
18 MILITARISM AT WORK
force the starving men are driven to the
railway station, by force they are dragged
into the compartments. Soldiers separate
them by force from their relatives. In
some places the wives of workmen throw
themselves in front of the trains and are
driven away at the point of the bayonet
or with the butt-end of a rifle.
Of course, the promises that exceptions
will be made in the case of certain classes
are not kept. At Mons, amongst others,
a teacher^ aged fifty-five, was dragged off,
without warning and without his family
being informed. And he ought surely
to be jegarded as too old to begin his
apprenticeship to industry.
But there is a connected account by an
eye-witness from the little town of Nivelles,
in the Walloon part of Belgium — in the
smallest town or village those who spread
German " Kultur " set up a slave-market.
This is how it takes place !
CHAPTER IV
THE MEN OF NIVELLES AND DISTRICT
On Wednesday, November 8, at eight
o'clock in the morning, the whole male
population of Nivelles, over seventeen
years of age, was assembled in the Place
Saint-Paul. Little by little, at intervals of
a few minutes, we saw the men of Lillois,
Tines, Montreux, Baulers, Bonnival, Ittre,
Haut-Ittre and Virginal arrive, each group
headed by its mayor. They, too, had
been summoned to appear there.
" At a quarter past eight the roll-call
began. The officers spoke German and
their words were translated by an in-
terpreter. First came Nivelles itself. The
names of the old men over seventy-five
years of age were read out, then the
names of those aged seventy, and so on,
19
20 MILITARISM AT WORK
five years at a time, until the men of
fifty-five were reached.
" Whilst the rain poured down we saw
them march past the officers, who stamped
the identity cards of all this melancholy
assembly of aged paupers. Many were
unable to walk without crutches or without
the support of a relative's arm; others
literally dragged themselves along, tor-
tured by all kinds of pains. This group
was immediately released.
" Then all between fifty and fifty-five
years of age were called aside. These left
St. Paul's Square, surrounded by soldiers
with rifles hanging from their shoulders
and followed by the officials of the local
railways.
" After this handful there marched the
whole male population of Nivelles, drawn
up in ranks three by three, according
to age, and flanked by German soldiers.
The mournful procession moved through
THE MEN OF NIVELLES 21
Town Hall Street, through the suburbs
and along the Brussels road to the large
Delcroix paper factories.
" All side-streets leading to this road
were carefully guarded. The foremost
ranks walked in quiet and silence, but
the last, those of the young men, marched
with regular step to the tunes of the
Marseillaise and the Brabangonne, which
the soldiers did not dare to forbid.
" The women and children, who, at the
tramp of feet, hastened out of their doors,
were sobbing, for they believed that all
these men were already being taken to
the railway station and thence God knows
where.
" At the Delcroix factories the selec-
tion was made. At the porter's lodge
stood a German soldier, who repeated
incessantly : " Anybody who is ill or
injured must say so and present himself
for examination. Doctors Lavand'homme
22 MILITARISM AT WORK
and Froment were there and certified in the
presence of German officers, who no doubt
were also doctors, that they had treated
this man or that. The sick were put aside.
" But there a first batch of twenty-five
men are taken into a room, where three
officers have seated themselves at a table.
The latter demand to see their identity
cards and question them one at a time.
According to their orders the men have
to go to this side or that. Those who
are declared unfit for the purposes of the
Germans put their cards, which the officers
have stamped, in their pockets.
" Then they are taken to the exit. Out-
side a patrol of soldiers accompanies those
who have been declared free, as far as the
next patrol, which, in its turn, accom-
panies them, and so on, until the streets
that are not barricaded are reached.
" Very different was the procedure with
those detained inside. Their cards were
THE MEN OF NIVELLES 23
taken from them and they were given a
number. The unfortunate men who were
thus marked off were frequently unaware
of what had been decided in their case.
Some of them, who were neither unem-
ployed nor workmen, applied to M. Del-
croix, the mayor, who, with admirable
zeal, pleaded their cause with the Germans.
" When a certain number of men who
had received a number had been separ-
ated from the rest, they were taken into
an adjoining room. And there the can-
vassing began. With smiling countenance
officers asked those selected : ' Will you
work for us ? You are a filer, a carpenter,
a stove-maker; we offer you high wages,
so many marks a day. You will have
your bread for the duration of the war:
you and your wife and your little children
have suffered long enough. Come now,
you are a sensible fellow, just sign that
contract and then you can go home and
24 MILITARISM AT WORK
pack. You need not start for a few
days and you need not even leave Belgian
territory.' And an energetic refusal fol-
lowed. The men grew pale for a moment
and replied firmly : ' I will not sign, I
will not work against my country.' Many
protested against the violence used in
their case and declared that they were
not workmen, nor did they lack employ-
ment. But it was trouble thrown away.
" In the meantime, the few citizens
who were allowed to go where they wished
took great pains to rescue this man or
that from those chosen. But the Germans
remained deaf to all eloquence. Thus
thirteen employees of the local railways
were carried off in spite of the protests
of their superiors. Similarly the Germans
got into their clutches M. Chantrenne,
director of the famous metal-works at
Nivelles. Finally he escaped with great
difficulty and after a long discussion.
THE MEN OF NIVELLES 25
Many, too, were those who could not be
classed as manual labourers and who
wished to continue their work, but were
nevertheless compelled to accompany the
rest.
" Small manufacturers, tradesmen,
master-mechanics, farmers, students, men
of means, and here and there even people
who were not quite sound in their mind
were carried off. No consideration re-
strained the Germans, they were not even
ashamed to march off with Gobert the
painter, the father of eleven children, and
with him his two eldest sons.
" About half -past nine the first batch
were stowed away in a railway carriage,
which had been shunted to just opposite
the factory. Eight men were placed in
each compartment, whereupon the doors
were carefully locked. Many of those
who were now sent to Germany had had
no idea that they were to be sent away
26 MILITARISM AT WORK
and had provided themselves with neither
food nor Hnen. All those who had been
released and had made preparations for
this mass deportation fraternally handed
over their knapsack or their bundle to
those locked in the carriages. Some even
took off their overcoats and gave them to
the unfortunate men.
" One carriage after the other was
drawn up and each was filled with com-
pulsory recruits.
" In the town the excitement was
enormous. The men who returned home
told the families here of the departure of
husband or father, there of brothers or
sons. With feverish haste the women
packed food and other necessaries for the
journey into exile. Then they hastened
like madwomen, with the anguish of death
in their hearts, to the railway station.
There, four or five at a time, they were
allowed to approach the carriages, to
THE MEN OF NIVELLES 27
hand over their hght parcel and to say a
hasty farewell, whilst each moment from
some carriage or other there echoed the
Brdbanqonne, During the whole journey
the people in the neighbouring villages
hastened to bring help to the exiles.
" At midday the Germans interrupted
their work to go and dine, and did not
resume until an hour and a half later.
As a result of this the men of Baulers,
who had arrived at St. Paul's Square,
Nivelles, at ten o'clock, had to wait there
until half -past three in the rain, which
poured down all day. No consideration
was shown to the more aged amongst them.
" The whole afternoon a few self-sacri-
ficing citizens, and particularly the mayors
of the various communes, endeavoured
to save one or the other of their fellow-
townsmen or fellow- villagers. After regu-
lar wrestling at times, they succeeded in
snatching from the clutches of the zealous
28 MILITARISM AT WORK
Germans a few men, whose removal would
have been too shameful an injustice.
" One citizen of Nivelles, M. Tombeur,
who was moved by so much misery, carried
his generosity so far as to present from
five to ten marks to each of those who
lacked money.
" In this manner, face to face with the
tragedy then being enacted, the Belgians
once more bore witness loudly and proudly
to their patriotism and their sense of
brotherhood.
" About half-past five the train was filled.
It had no less than thirty-two carriages.
Nivelles alone had been deprived of nearly
a thousand men, who had been selected
haphazard and the majority of whom would
leave their relatives in a misery which they
had hitherto succeeded in warding off.
" When the train began to move in
the direction of Ottignies, a cry resounded
from many throats : ' Long live the King !
THE MEN OF NIVELLES 29
Long live Belgium ! Long live France ! '
And on all sides they struck up simul-
taneously the Brdbangonne and the Marseil-
laise, Women and children, all who were
able to follow the train along the line,
sobbed in despair, with death in their
hearts, and greeted again, for the last time,
their kinsmen, who departed so bravely.
" A number of Germans felt such pride
at having reduced so many Belgians to
slavery that they marched round the
streets and at the top of their voices
sang Gloria, Victoria, at the same moment
as the wives and mothers were returning
to their forlorn homes. It is to be ob-
served that this song had not been heard
at Nivelles for many months.
" The reign of terror over the popula-
tion, ever since the deportation, has been
such that at Virginal the son of a wheel-
wright hanged himself, and in several
places many men have been taken ill."
30 MILITARISM AT WORK
The witness — ^who himself succeeded in
escaping — ^has given the Christian names,
surnames and occupations of thirty-seven
workmen who were not out of work,
but were carried off by the Germans,
amongst them being five men-servants
and gardeners' assistants and a barber's
assistant. Similarly he has recorded
forty-two men who were neither manual
labourers nor unemployed, but were
deported with the mass of the male
population. In this list we find names
of tradesmen, innkeepers, students, men
of means, provision dealers, farmers, ten-
ants, draughtsmen, officials, and even the
son of the owner of a manor-house in the
neighbourhood.
This very restrained description might
be completed by much more sensational
accounts. In conclusion, just one state-
ment from the Telegraaf for December 7,
1916—
THE MEN OF NIVELLES 31
''From the Walloon commune of Dour,
in Hainault, one hundred and thirty-seven
workmen had been deported, of whom
one hundred and seventeen had been
torn from their work. Of the remaining
twenty— a^Z scarcely seventeen years of age
—four were students 1 "
This is what has been called a crime, a
new slave-trade ! The slave-trade which,
extirpated by the EngUsh, and, indeed,
by all civiUsed peoples, has been revived
by the Kultur-men of Germany !
Slave-trade ! Not at all ! How can
one beheve the Germans capable of any-
thing hke that ? Schiller's nation a nation
of slave-dealers ?
Do you not see that it is all merely a
new miracle of the world-famed German
organisation ? Organisation has long been
the " Germanic " word for slavery !
CHAPTER V
MORE EVIDENCE FROM SWEVEGHEM
AND ELSEWHERE
It would be tempting to reproduce
from the Report of the Belgian Commis-
sion, vol. ii. p. 78 (Berger-Levrault, Paris),
an account of what happened at Sweve-
ghem (West Flanders) as far back as June
1915. But I must think of space.
It is a fact that the Germans are right
when they point out that Belgian work-
men have long been toiling on behalf of
Germany. What is new in these present
deportations of slaves is that they are sent
wholesale to German territory. On Bel-
gian soil slavery has long been going on
in the service of Germany. And Belgian
workmen have long been made use of for
such work as directly helps on the war,
32
EVIDENCE FROM SWEVEGHEM 33
and is absolutely contrary to international
law.
The workmen of Sweveghem were com-
pelled to make wire for the Germans.
They were forced to do so by means of
blows and such ill-treatment that they
fell unconscious, or at times revolvers were
levelled at their heads. Their wages had
to be paid out of the funds of the commune
of Sweveghem. When the mayor refused,
revolvers were raised against him. Those
who absolutely refused to work were
carried off to Germany — that is, deporta-
tion, which has been in force ever since
the beginning of the war, only not on such
a scale as now.
The Germans have not even scrupled
to tear away the warders of asylums from
their charges. A Belgian who succeeded
in escaping to Holland describes his
adventures in the Telegraaf on October 22,
1916.
34 MILITARISM AT WORK
" During the month of May last twenty-
one of my colleagues, warders at the
lunatic asylum of Evere, and myself re-
ceived orders from the German military
authorities to look after wounded Germans
at Schaerbeek. We refused, because we
could not leave our own patients. We
were imprisoned in one of the buildings
of the military command. We were al-
lowed to sleep on the matter until next
morning, when we were given the choice
between complete submission to the orders
of the military authorities and deportation
to Germany. We persisted in our refusal.
Next day we were taken to the camp of
Holzminden, in Germany, and as soon as
we arrived, ordered to work in an ammuni-
tion factory at Duisburg. We refused to
obey this order also. Then we were com-
pelled for the next three days to stand
upright against a wall from sunrise until
six o'clock in the evening, whilst we were
EVIDENCE FROM SWEVEGHEM 35
forbidden to allow ourselves the least rest ;
we had to consume in a standing posture
the scanty meals offered us. If we tried
to move or to speak, the soldiers recalled
us to order with blows from the butts of
their rifles. Finally we had to give in.
I worked at Duisburg until the oppor-
tunity to flee presented itself. I managed
to get on foot to the Dutch frontier. At
Groesbeek I learnt that I was free."
CHAPTER VI
?j
THE SO-CALLED '* VOLUNTARY BELGIAN
WORKMEN IN GERMANY
This last event consequently took place
before the order of October 1916. In the
case of the mass deportations which then
followed, the German authorities pointed
to the many Belgians who were already
working voluntarily in Germany. Bearing
the above in mind, we know the nature
of this voluntary labour. We know also
how the Germans respect their promise
not to force people to do work contrary
to international law.
In Belgium itself, that is under the eyes
of those who have now been enticed,
inveigled or compelled to do " voluntary
work" in Germany — in Belgium itself
36
' VOLUNTARY ' BELGIAN WORKMEN 37
work by civilian Belgian prisoners has long
been going on contrary to international
law.
" The labourers " — we read in a Bel-
gian newspaper in Holland — ■" whom the
Germans have got at work round about
Antwerp and near the Dutch frontier at
the new system of defence, you know, are
not allowed to return home after they
have finished their work. Others are per-
mitted to see their families again when
they have done serving the enemy. But
the men who have worked at the trenches
must accept other work of the same kind
and thenceforward renounce all communi-
cation with their relatives, except to send
them just a line and their pay, entire
or docked, for the maintenance of the
family. If the workman refuses to accept
this condition, which is quite natural, seeing
that he did not expect this point in the
contract, he is sent to Germany, where the
38 MILITARISM AT \VORK
severity of the starv-ation camps soon cures
him of his taste for independence."
And the tractable will not have a bad
time of it at all — on the contrar\'. They
have "' good lodgings and free medical
attendance and a wage of thirty pfennige
per working day. Foremen receive fifty
pfennige. This wage can be increased by
dihgence and zeal for the work."
Thus if a Belgian workman consents to
make cartridges and gas-bombs to be used
against his countr\Tnen in the trenches,
he receives almost hterally, though not in
value, the thirty " pence " which were once
fixed as the wage of Judas.
Thirty pfennige — that is. threepence
halfpenny a day — to betray one's countr}%
one's comrades and humanity. In places
the pay nominally amoimts to several
marks, but all kinds of deductions finally
reduce it to pfennige. A dogger from La
ClinRC, the father of ten children, was sent.
' VOLUNTARY ' BELGIAN WORKMEN 39
along with his son, aged eighteen, to the
Krupp works at Essen, Their wage did not
suffice to buy their wretched food, still
less to keep the family.
One may marvel or not that Belgian
workmen, who had been carried off by force
from their homes and starved for three
days, perhaps seven, before they were
thrown into a railway-carriage, did not
yield even when on the way to Germany.
From the windows of the compartment
it happens at times that they throw out
a scrap of a letter like this —
" Voor de Duitschers werken, nooit,
of nog veel min onze naam op papier
zetten ! Leve Albert, Koning der Bel-
gen ! " (Work for the Germans — never !
And still less sign our names on the
contract ! Long live Albert, King of the
Belgians !)
But one can well understand that the
people in a village, at the approach of
40 MILITARISM AT WORK
the uhlans should flee to the last man and
hide in fields, thickets and ditches, till
the enemy — who perhaps that time have
no business in that village — have passed,
laughing.
And it is comprehensible that numerous
Belgians, despising death, try to find
safety across the Dutch frontier. Most
of them end in the electric wire of the
barrier, where electrocution brings their
lives to a close. A merciful fate compared
with what awaits them in Germany !
CHAPTER VII
THE EXPERIENCES OF A BELGIAN SAILOR
Of this fate an account is given by a
Belgian sailor, Theophile Goethals, who
has escaped from captivity in Germany.
Born in 1895 near Ghent, he had on
July 4, 1914, shipped on board a German
vessel, the Gertrud, belonging to a com-
pany at Stettin. After various voyages
the steamer happened to be at Hamburg
during the early days of August 1914.
On August 11, after he had received his
pay, he was discharged and, provided
with a letter of introduction from the
Spanish consul, he set off towards the
Dutch frontier. At Bentheim he was
stopped as an enemy subject, and on the
pretext of his being a spy was put in
the local prison along with other fellow-
41
42 MILITARISM AT WORK
countrymen and with members of the alUed
nations.
After fifteen days' confinement he was
sent to Hanover, where he received a
month's imprisonment near the Riisselager
Camp, remaining there until January
1915.
Goethals complains of those in command
of the camp, who do not content them-
selves with plundering the prisoners of all
they possess, but dismiss every request
with blows and avail themselves of the
most paltry causes to ill-treat them.
One fine day, all the prisoners who
seemed fairly strong were sent to the salt-
mines at Hanover, where the work was
especially hard. After a few weeks of
this occupation Goethals tried to escape.
He got almost as far as the Dutch frontier ;
his flight was favoured by the presence
of numerous fugitives from the east of
France, whom he joined. Unfortunately
BELGIAN SAILOR'S EXPERIENCES 43
he was caught at Bentheim ; he was put in
prison and then sent to the camp of Holz-
minden. Goethals describes the brutal
treatment to which the prisoners are
exposed for the shghtest offence, and he
complains also of the wretched diet.
Those prisoners who desire it may work
in some industry. Goethals was sent to
Herrenweek, near Liibeck, to work at
an iron-works. V^Hien the unfortunate
men were sent off, they were told that
they would be allowed to enjoy their
liberty and that they would also receive
wages; however, they had to toil at the
hardest work under the eyes of guards
who assaulted them. Goethals made a
new attempt to escape. In the com-
pany of three compatriots he got as far
as Kiel, where they were captured. After
several weeks' cells he was sent to the
camp at Giistrow, in Mecklenburg.
Goethals tells how in this camp prisoners
44 MILITARISM AT WORK
were fastened to a whipping-post for in-
significant offences. There were four such
poles, always occupied by delinquents.
With their feet dangling in the air they
hung there for more than two hours at a
time, kept in this position only by ropes,
which hurt them terribly; afterwards
they had often to lie stretched out for a
whole day to recover.
Goethals likewise declares that in March
he witnessed the arrival of two convoys
of French prisoners, about six hundred
altogether, who came from the Verdun
front and were exposed to the harshest
treatment; they received blows, were
struck with the butt-end of rifles, and had
to submit to all conceivable kinds of ill-
treatment.
It was also during his stay in the camp
of Giistrow that Goethals was a witness of
one of the numerous attempts on the part
of the Germans to sow dissension amongst
BELGIAN SAILOR'S EXPERIENCES 45
the Flemish and Walloon prisoners, by
trying to bring about a separatist move-
ment amongst the Flemings. However,
this attempt was a complete failure. The
Germans had advised a few Flemish sol-
diers to get transferred to the camp of
Gottingen, where, so they said, the Flem-
ings would be better treated, get more
food and so on . . . and at the same time
they advised these favoured ones to carry
on propaganda amongst their Flemish
compatriots for political separation and
for " the maintenance of the rights of the
Flemings."
About seventy men, who could not
quite make out what they were really
required to do, accepted the proposal, and
were sent together to Gottingen. But on
the way five of the more intelligent and
energetic amongst them, who had decided
to thwart the German calculations, suc-
ceeded in making it clear to their comrades
46 MILITARISM AT WORK
that it was not a movement of the Flem-
ings at all, but a demonstration which
the Germans would turn to their advan-
tage. They arrived at Gottingen and the
demonstration proved a complete fiasco.
The five prisoners who were suspected of
having influenced their comrades were sent
back to Giistrow and were able on their
return to tell of the infamous work
for which the Germans had intended to
use them. The Germans understood that
nothing was to be done in this way and did
not persist in their efforts.
At the beginning of April 1916, Goet-
hals, like all civilian prisoners still at the
camp of Giistrow, was sent to Holzminden.
He only spent fifteen days in the camp;
he soon agreed to work at a glass factory
in Oldenburg, hoping that with the scanty
wages he received he could buy what was
lacking in the diet at Holzminden. He
describes the wretched quality and the
BELGIAN SAILOR'S EXPERIENCES 47
insufficiency of the food given the prisoners
at Holzminden. For those who do not
receive parcels from abroad it is impossible
to exist. They cannot even buy in the
camp what they lack.
The unfortunate Goethals did not gain
by the change. In the factory where he
worked the treatment was very harsh.
The food was scarcely better, and it was
almost impossible to buy food outside.
Li six weeks he had lost six and a half
pounds in weight ; his health became worse
and worse; he resolved to try and escape
once more, and this time he succeeded.
After walking for five days and five nights
he reached the Danish frontier. He was
in safety.
CHAPTER VIII
EFFECT OF THE DEPORTATIONS ON
NEUTRAL COUNTRIES
From this example— which, to judge by
many accounts, is typical — the fate of
the thousands of deported men can be
pictured. They will be exposed to the
same harsh treatment as other civilian
prisoners. They will be starved, mal-
treated and influenced to betray their
country. Flemings will be egged on
against Walloons, Belgians against their
allies. By means of starvation, oppres-
sion, assault and torture the brave sons of
Belgium will be driven to work — ^not only
in salt-works or other " civil " factories,
but to work in iron-works, where cannon,
shells, rifles and other implements of
destruction are made, to be used against
48
EFFECT OF THE DEPORTATIONS 49
the Belgians and their alhes. Finally —
sooner or later — detachments of the new
crowd of prisoners will be hurled on to the
front, where they will have to dig trenches
and make foundations for cannon in the
midst of a rain of English, French and
Belgian projectiles. As wretched traitors
to their country, their nation and the
future of humanity, they will fall by
their countrymen's bullets — ^whilst cynical
Germans laugh mockingly at their fate.
This anticipated procedure has already
been put into practice in some places.
According to reports of December 16, 1916,
there were in the communes of Z. and C.
(not named more precisely for military
reasons), in the department of the Aisne
occupied by the Germans, 500 and 5000
Belgians respectively, who were already
occupied in or intended for military work.
In the neighbourhood of Cambrai 400
Belgians were ordered to fell trees in the
50 MILITARISM AT WORK
forest of Avrincourt, which is often exposed
to the fire of the Entente troops. To
compel them to perform this work they
were subjected to revolting treatment.
They were stripped naked, exposed to cold
and starvation and made to sleep in mud.
Not all can stand this treatment. Whole
carriages full of Belgian invalids, some
dying, others suffering from consumption,
have been sent to their native place, from
the prisoners' camp at Soltau, amongst
others.
The feelings which such plans and such
acts arouse in other nations, especially
amongst all neutrals, can easily be im-
agined. Every one who has not yet
become an animal must revolt at this
horrible violation of all human worth.
Such wholesale inveigling of people to
treason must appear especially ignoble
when we consider that patriotism now
seems to be the only feeling which has
EFFECT OF THE DEPORTATIONS 51
ideal and practical justification in the
eyes of the Germans. " Deutschland iiber
alles ! " For the fatherland everything
must be dared, everything done. And this
blind patriotism does not see nor recog-
nise the same feeling and the same virtue
in the peoples whom the Germans trample
under foot. These Vaterlandler for whom
Deutschland corresponds to the Allah il
Allah of the Turks and Arabs, these Ger-
mans who for the sake of Germany have
ceased to be human beings, they cannot
and will not understand that others just
as necessarily must be French, English and
Belgian.
By such contempt for mankind and by
such warfare the Germans make them-
selves isolated— as isolated as those in-
habitants of the wilds whom one is only
willing to meet when they are on the
other side of the bars of a cage.
In anguish — an anguish which does not
5t MILITARISM AT WORK
in the least resemble the awestruck rever-
ence that the Germans desired to inspire
— ^in anguish both great and small nations
are already protesting. The newspapers
of all colours in the Scandinavian countries
are for once unanimous in expressing dis-
approval. Even those who before saw
nothing but hypocrisy in all criticism of
the Germans are now discovering that they
have a heart which can be moved. Yet
this newspaper criticism seems ineffective,
and it is a long way to a more vigorous
protest in official form. But as a Scan-
dinavian one has learnt during this war to
be modest on behalf of one's own nation.
Hitherto, perhaps, only Brazil has done
its obvious duty as a state to protest against
the treatment of the Belgians, though the
United States, Holland, Spain and others
have now, as often before, made repre-
sentations through their rulers or through
influential bodies. Nay, the disapproba-
EFFECT OF THE DEPORTATIONS 53
tion has even reached Germany itself and
thence the countries of her aUies. The
Hungarian newspaper Nepszawa, appear-
ing at Budapest, pubUshes an article
headed "Vse Victis," in which we read,
amongst other things —
" Mechanical skill, and especially quali-
fied mechanical skill, is for the moment a
more important factor than usual, and
as it must be obtained where it can be
obtained, Belgium has had to suffer in
accordance with the old saying which
always holds good : Vce victis (woe to the
vanquished). In Poland mechanical skill
and the arms which exist there are mobil-
ised under ' the glorious and fortunate
banners of Poland,' in Belgium under
' the banner of necessity.' "
Further on we read : " The question
remains : for what kind of work will the
Germans use the Belgians ? " The paper
declares that every kind of work in Germany
54 MILITARISM AT WORK
is war work, whether it is called agricultural
or industrial work, " As the deported
Belgians have not given their consent,
their use is contrary to international law,
and the policy of the Germans in Belgium
and Poland is equally to be deplored.
Instead of aiming at bringing us nearer
peace, it serves to embitter our opponents
and to arouse more hatred towards us
amongst the neutrals. Many times and
more and more we have had occasion to
observe that the neutrals show more sym-
pathy for Belgium than for any other
belligerent.''
German Social-Democrats have also pro-
tested, but they are, it is true, only
voices here and there. The majority of
Bebel's powerful party has during this war
covered itself with ineffaceable ignominy.
The little phalanx which has gathered
round Liebknecht fights an unequal fight,
if it can be called a fight to protest
EFFECT OF THE DEPORTATIONS 55
impotently against what nevertheless
continually takes place.
Why has German Liberalism proved
such an utter failure? Why is a double
quartet allowed to sing the part which
ought to resound with the full force of a
massed choir? Is everything hypnotised
by militarism? Is Germany so " united "
in wrongdoing as we are made to fear
and believe?
No, alas ! there are forces down in the
depths, but forces that are paralysed.
There is a massed choir which would, no
doubt, strike up, if only the baton were
raised. But this baton is not raised. One
by one disappears, one by one of those
who might be supposed capable of acting
as conductor. They disappear — whither ?
Yes, ask the prisons — and the trenches !
Ask the heads of militarism ! They could
reply, but they will probably not reply.
However, quite recently light has been
56 MILITARISM AT WORK
thrown on a number of horrible conditions
in Germany. And as these conditions
explain " German unity," the attitude of
the German working classes to the war and
also the German treatment of prisoners, this
exposure must have a chapter to itself
here.
CHAPTER IX
THE PREVENTIVE ARREST LAW IN
GERMANY
On October 28, 1916, the Social-Demo-
crat Dittmann spoke in the Reichstag
against the state of siege now existing in
Germany. In particular he criticised the
so-called Schutzhaftgesetz, of which men-
tion has already been made. A law which,
so to speak, gives expression to the state
of siege, and which is interpreted by the
minister Helfferich as a safeguard for the
arrested individual against the temptation
to commit a criminal offence !
" Preventive arrest," said Dittmann,
" is now merely a means to crush the
opposition parties and those persons who
are in political opposition. Even in May
preventive imprisonment had created a
67
58 MILITARISM AT WORK
regular reign of terror, which has become
worse since then. The laws of 1848, the
year of revolution, and the law against
Socialists have been revived : nay, the
system of espionage and denunciation has
been restored and, as in the period of the
Socialist Law, all kinds of baseness conceals
itself here under the mask of patriotism.
" To an Alsatian victim a military chief
of police openly admitted the drawbacks
of the system : ' In reality more than one
person makes use of this opportunity to
get rid of a friend.' Rascality and the
mob are at this moment celebrating veri-
table triumphs." (Here the speaker was
called to order.) The victims, who are
quite defenceless, must put up with every-
thing. They are subjected to treatment
unworthy of a human being, whilst their
livelihood and that of their families is
sapped away. And they incur this fright-
ful lot because no criminal acts which
PREVENTIVE ARREST LAW 59
have been really committed can be proved
against them : in comparison with these
preventive victims the real criminals are
in an enviable position. For the situation
of the preventive victims, equally terrible
from the moral and from the material
point of view, for the position of those
under preventive arrest the members of
the Government do not seem to have a
spark of comprehension.
" In the Mehring case, Herr Helfferich
replied in all innocence to the Budget Com-
mittee : 'After all, it is better that Mehring
should be undergoing preventive imprison-
ment than that he should be free and able
to commit an act for which he must be
punished.' According to this logic every
one ought to be arrested that he might
be protected in this way against his own
future infringements of the law. Herr
Helfferich's idea seems to be a national
house of correction for Germany,
60 MILITARISM AT WORK
" Mehring himself energetically rejects
such benevolent guardianship on the part
of the State and is at any time prepared to
answer for his doings.
" The Mehring case is a gauge of how
near we are to Herr Helfferich's ideal.
Mehring lies in prison ^ because in an inter-
cepted letter to the deputy Herzfeld he
expressed himself in favour of a peace
demonstration in the Potsdamer Platz, and
because he offered to write an official in-
vitation to this meeting; that is all that
could be brought against him. He has,
therefore, not committed any criminal act.
But for these words in a letter the arrest
was made of a man over seventy years of
age ! How long will it be before penalties
are also imposed on thoughts in Germany ?
" Mehring is one of our most brilliant
historians and authors. He belongs to the
^ He has now been elected as member for Potsdam
in succession to Liebknecht (Translator's note).
PREVENTIVE ARREST LAW 61
foremost men amongst German scholars at
the present day, and as such he is known
far beyond the frontiers of Germany.
" When people abroad hear that such a
man has been put under preventive arrest
merely to remove him from public life,
they will have one reason more to despise
the German Government. In what posi-
tion must a Government be which cages
the intellectual leaders of the country in
order to stifle their significant opinions ?
" In the same way Frau Doktor Rosa
Luxemburg has long been undergoing
preventive imprisonment without having
committed the slightest criminal offence.
She is in bad odour on account of her politi-
cal leanings, and she is feared on account
of her influence on the masses of the
workers. That is why she is in prison.
The Government does not appear to under-
stand that it has in this way offended all
the Social-Democratic women of Germany,
62 MILITARISM AT WORK
nay, that by such an imprisonment it has
dealt a blow to the whole international
workers' movement. The Government does
not appear to understand that it becomes,
so to speak, a Socialist duty in France,
England, Italy and Russia to wage war
against such a Government.
" The treatment of the preventive
prisoners is in itself revolting. In spite
of his great age and precarious health,
Mehring is kept in a wretched hole. Not
until quite recently has it been possible
to obtain his removal to the hospital
ward of the Moabit Prison.
" About four weeks ago Frau Luxem-
burg was suddenly fetched out of her bed
in the women's prison in Barnimstrasse,
and taken to the Alexander Platz. There
she was locked up in a narrow cell where,
as a rule, only prostitutes from the street are
lodged, whilst waiting to appear before
the magistrate. The cell is only half the
PREVENTIVE ARREST LAW 63
size of the normal cells. All visits to
Frau Luxemburg were refused; she was
denied the newspapers, which she was
allowed to take in Barnimstrasse ; even
her doctor was prohibited from attending
her. The food was absolutely uneatable,
so that she had to have her meals fetched
from the neighbourhood, and to pay very
dearly for them. And when one bears in
mind her feeble health, it will be under-
stood that only her extraordinary energy
sustains her. One of her best friends
writes on this subject to one of my col-
leagues : ' Her condition in prison is
a direct menace to her life.' A moment
before this sitting began, I was informed
that Frau Luxemburg had suddenly been
transferred from this prison to Wromke,
in the province of Posen — so to the
penalty of imprisonment exile has now
been added. That is how preventive
arrest serves the purposes of the military
64, MILITARISM AT WORK
reactionaries against the Socialist opposi-
tion of the country !
" In the same way the young SociaHst
movement is persecuted. The mihtary
command for Brandenburg forbade Com-
rade Kathe Duncker to carry on any of
her usual activities amongst young workers
on pain of preventive imprisonment. Com-
rade Duncker demanded an explanation
of the legal authority for this prohibition,
and wrote on this occasion : ' I may add
that the order is clearly the result of
incorrect information. Amongst young
workers I deal chiefly with scientific ques-
tions, which fall within the spheres of
political and economic science. It is in-
comprehensible how such activity should
be able to menace the general safety.
By my lectures and my courses I have
earned a part of the living of myself and
my three children, and I am all the less
able to do without this income as my
PREVENTIVE ARREST LAW 65
husband has been on mihtary service
since August of last year.'
" There we see how, on account of
some wretched denunciation or other,
a soldier's wife has been deprived of the
possibility of earning a living for herself and
her children by means of intellectual work !
" Two girls of eighteen were arrested
at Berlin, on June 27, because they had
distributed printed appeals to women
workers to assemble in masses in the
Potsdamer Platz, to protest against the
trial of Liebknecht. For three and a
half months these girls were kept under
preventive arrest. A letter from one of
them shows on the one hand in what
physical and moral danger they were
there, and on the other what moral
elevation they derived from the study of
Socialist philosophy. The girl writes :
' The fourth of the women was a prostitute
who was still under medical observation;
66 MILITARISM AT WORK
she said that she wanted to begin a new
and honourable Hfe. I was not able to
feel moral indignation. Her moral and
intellectual inferiority finds excuse in her
descent, education and previous life. Her
parents were lunatics ; the father is dead,
the mother in an asylum. She herself
was brought up in a children's home.
Repeatedly she had to be brought up under
restraint, several times in a reformatory,
finally in prison or under arrest, subject
to inspection. She was choleric and ner-
vous ; for the sake of peace we took care
to say nothing, even when she told us
about her past in the most brazen terms.
We adopted precautionary measures when
we used the wash-basin we had in common ;
this offended her and led to a quarrel that
made this common life, which the whole
time had been painful, absolutely unbear-
able. After eight days she left us and
we felt much relieved.'
PREVENTIVE ARREST LAW 67
" These lines from the letter of a work-
ing woman of eighteen are a cultural
document. They are a splendid testimony
to the high value of the Socialist upbring-
ing of the proletariat, but also a witness
to the infamy of the terrorism which in
this way tramples under foot even the
moral feehngs of young girls. Preventive
imprisonment is a moral danger for decent
young women, for through the windows
there they are forced to hear obnoxious
conversations carried on between hardened
offenders serving their time. The young
woman already quoted writes : ' As most
of the prisoners were prostitutes, the
nature of these conversations was torture
to any one who had not lost all sense
of shame, all sense of purity, and in whom
all respect for human worth was not
stifled and extinguished. To the pain of
having to witness so much depravity
and degradation, which under other
68 MILITARISM AT WORK
circumstances might have been avoided,
there was now added disgust.'
" Thus writes a working woman of
eighteen. For months these two girls
and their many comrades in misfortune
were exposed to such an atmosphere.
Our language is too poor to scourge such
infamy as it merits. We demand protec-
tion against such preventive imprisonment,
which in reality is an imprisonment in
filth {Schutz vor dieser Schutzhaft, welche
eine Schmutzhaft ist),
" If the Berlin Prefect of Police as an
official is capable of blushing, he must
do so before these Berlin working women.
For eight days the young girl already
referred to was prevented from informing
her mother about her arrest. She was
told that they would convey the news,
but this was not done. And this girl
contributed to the support of her mother
and a Uttle sister. In consequence of
PREVENTIVE ARREST LAW 69
her arrest she lost her place : for two
years her father has been at the front
and has been wounded. By way of thanks
his daughter is insulted behind his back.
" After being released on the 11th of
this month (October 1916), the girl was
present at a meeting in her Young Women's
Club, where nothing was transacted except
business matters, elections and the like.
She was summoned by the police, and a
superintendent declared that her presence
at the meeting was a piece of unheard-
of impudence, after she had so recently
been released. She was threatened with
more preventive imprisonment until the
end of the war if she was again present
at a public political meeting. She replied
that the Society for Youthful Education
was not a political society, and that the
meeting had been neither public nor politi-
cal. Thereupon the superintendent over-
whelmed her with invective and threatened
70 MILITARISM AT WORK
to arrest her on the spot if she said
another word.
" There we have the arbitrariness of
the poUce in all its splendour !
" There we see how, in this country
which is promised a new regime by which
the way will be open to all talent, the
child of a working man is treated who
with firm will tries to force her way
through all obstacles to enlightenment
and culture. By these means a systematic
attempt is made to extinguish every spark
of independence. That is why members
of the Social-Democratic Party who ven-
ture any opposition are arrested ! By
removing all those capable of leading
this opposition it is imagined that the
serpent's head will be crushed. The
Government has learnt nothing and for-
gotten nothing."
Dittmann enumerates many other vic-
tims of military oppression. In the Kluers
PREVENTIVE ARREST LAW 71
case it is an editor who, on February 5, was
said to have dehvered a lecture at a meet-
ing of young people at Neu-Kolln — he
was able to prove that he had not been
there. He was the victim of a false de-
nunciation. He was further charged with
intending to publish a proclamation against
the Social-Democratic party leaders who
were faithful to the Government; this
too was false. For mere trifles — most of
them absolute untruths — he was kept in
prison under the Preventive Arrest Law.
So cruel were the authorities that when
his wife was lying on her deathbed and
asked to see him, the decision in the case
was delayed so long — that the refusal of
his request could he justified by the fact
that his wife was already buried ^
At this point Herr Helfferich interjects :
" The Kluers were at variance with each
other. The wife's wish to meet her hus-
band therefore only (! !) meant a wish
72 MILITARISM AT WORK
to be reconciled to him on her death-
bed ! "
A splendid minister !
The son, who is a soldier and who had got
leave to be present at his mother's funeral,
was not allowed to meet his father either.
This new request was only dealt with when
the son's leave was up. And so on.
In the provinces there are, of course,
the same goings on as in Berlin. At
Danzig the military command recommends
preventive imprisonment for Socialist
speakers who express themselves against
the high prices of food.
Sauerbrey, the secretary of a society
at Elberfeld-Barmen, was charged with
having distributed an appeal. He was put
under preventive arrest and was allowed
to write letters to his family which were
not sent on. After three weeks he de-
manded to be tried and threatened a
PREVENTIVE ARREST LAW 73
hunger-strike unless he was brought before
a legally constituted court.
" For two days he refused to take food :
this had some effect. He was taken to
the law courts and charged with high
treason and instigation to rebellion, but the
charge was soon dropped. Sauerbrey was
acquitted — but good care was taken not
to let him go. He was again put in
prison. Next day he was called up for
military service. It is true he had been
rejected because he lacked several small
bones in his left hand. But this is the
typical Danzig method : ' preventive im-
prisonment, military service.' He received
the call to the colours at once, was given
only an hour's time to make his prepara-
tions under the eyes of a soldier; he was
not even permitted after his long imprison-
ment to visit his children. He is now
being drilled in his barracks before being
sent to the front.
74 MILITARISM AT WORK
" This is not an isolated case," says
Dittmann ; "I could enumerate many
like it. In the seventh army command
politicians who are in bad odour are often
sent into the army. The division at once
receives information from the governor-
general at Miinster that so-and-so has been
attached to the army corps; documents
to follow; these documents, of course,
contain all sorts of unproved tales about
espionage."
Dittmann concludes his fulminating
speech with a protest against the system
of espionage and denunciation protected
and supported by the State. His courage-
ous speech is no doubt received with
sympathy here and there— but no public
support. The members of his party per-
ceive too well how truly he has spoken,
but do not dare to join in. They all
know the danger lying in wait in the
words preventive imprisonment.
PREVENTIVE ARREST LAW 75
Preventive imprisonment — this is the
spectre which now frightens and curbs
all the courageous men and women in
Germany. It is perhaps preventive im-
prisonment which is the real reason for
their proud German unity.
CHAPTER X
GOETHE'S wise words about BELGIUM
This is how Germany treats her own
sons. How are we to expect, then, that
she will treat her enemies? Is it not
natural that the men who live in hell
should become demons? And do we not
perceive now to what an extent the aims
of the Entente against German militarism
are for the good of humanity — nay, in
reality for the good of Germany herself?
There seems to be no other remedy for
Europe, no other salvation for Germany.
It does not seem so contradictory that
the Powers who really have power should
seek to save Germany by combating her.
Even if the struggle should lead to the
dissolution of the present artificial imperial
unity — which, however, binds so many
76
WISE WORDS ABOUT BELGIUM 77
non-German elements — perhaps even the
Germans themselves would not think that
so very much was lost. For her unity
and unanimity Germany has already sacri-
ficed so much of real greatness and happi-
ness that many Germans would certainly
be relieved to escape from what has
become a strait-jacket.
In the year 1900 an author wrote in
the South German paper Die Jugend,
published at Munich —
'' So ist die deutsche Einigkeit
Schon dreiszig Jahr' am Leben :
Nun, denk' ich, war' es an der Zeit
Sie wieder aufzuheben." ^
The South Germans would, according
to the idea conveyed in the poem, prefer-
ably look after their own affairs without
Prussian tutelage, possibly in conjunc-
tion with a reduced and purely German
^ German unity has now existed thirty years, and
now, I think, it is about time to make an end of it
again (Translator's note).
78 MILITARISM AT WORK
Austria. One feels sorry for this South
Germany, which is the classical Germany,
which has made a world-historical con-
tribution to civilisation in literature, paint-
ing, sculpture, architecture, and music,
which gave us Schiller, Goethe, Dilrer,
Holbein, Klinger, Wagner — that this, the
true Germany, with ancestry, talent and
a future, should tramp over the sandy
deserts of barren Prussia, should waste
its strength and time in drill, regulations,
and colonial policy ! "
It is a pity for Germany that the
system of Prussia should represent her.
Now we obtain, to put it mildly, a false
conception of the German character. This
character is originally by no means one
of violence, narrow-mindedness, and exag-
gerated self-esteem, although under the
rod of the system it may seem to be all
this. Through Prussianism the means has
become the end, the sword has become a
WISE WORDS ABOUT BELGIUM 79
national calling, the armour which should
protect has become a shell which replaces
real human skin. In this shell nerves,
feelings, ideas, dreams, all true humanity
perish— until the shell and the skeleton
inside resemble an automatic toy, at the
same time ridiculous and horrible, empty
and terrible. Under Prussianism Germany
has become the Skeleton-man of civilisa-
tion. It is death itself we are fighting
against when we fight against the Prussian
system, the Prussian type.
This type is crude and harsh, impudent
and stupid. His psychology is the sim-
plest possible, he knows only two methods
of exerting influence : terrorism and un-
truth. He murders, tortures, and ravages
to bow his enemies by fear. He flatters,
promises, lies, and deceives in order to
transform his enemies into " friends,"
which to him means slaves.
He signs a treaty with Belgium, by
80 MILITARISM AT WORK
which Belgium is pledged to defend her
neutrality by force of arms. In the Hague
Convention it is expressly stated that such
armed resistance shall not by any one
be regarded as a hostile act. But when
Belgium acts thus, according to treaties
and conventions confirmed and signed by
Prussia, Belgium is regarded and treated
as an enemy — nay, as a malefactor.
When this is not quite a success — when,
in the deeper sense, it is a complete
failure — the man of violence tries flattery.
The Flemings are to be won over by the
erection of a Flemish university, which
he knows to be their desire. But he is
seen through, his intention is too palpable,
and if the idea of a Flemish university
for a long time to come only remains an
idea, this will be due to the system now
attempted. From the hand of an enemy
the Flemings will not receive the most
precious gift. In his hand this gift has
WISE WORDS ABOUT BELGIUM 81
received a stain; an odour of blood sur-
rounds it, a shadow of shame obscures it.
The tempter discovers that he has not
succeeded. He flames up in rage, he
must punish those he recently sought to
win over. He drags off first Flemish
professors, then one-third of the popula-
tion of Flanders, to German prisoners'
camps and industrial prisons.
It has never struck the Prussian man
of system that one can attain an object
by humane consideration. It has never
dawned on him that genuine goodwill is
a great force. He does not recognise
such ideas as kindness and truth; he
does not perceive that, even if they
were no good in themselves, they would
nevertheless be the best means that a
conqueror could make use of. It is these
means which — in spite of imperfections
and an intermixture of human weakness
— have been the means of government
82 MILITARISM AT WORK
used by modern England in her colonial
policy.
Finally, the Prussian system has never
understood that there are objects which
are not even worth striving after. As
soon as it felt a desire for a thing it must
obtain it. If it cannot be obtained in a
friendly way, we are told that " necessity
knows no law," and then the mailed fist
appears, whilst the voice lies and makes
itself as soft as possible. Necessity knows
no law, and the " State " is in need every
time it has cast a glance at the posses-
sions of its neighbour. This system is
the abolition of all morality. Robbery is,
according to this system, the nature of
the State, for what is a war of conquest
but robbery? Murder and forgery are,
according to this system, permissible
means, for necessity knows no law. I
defy any court of law — in a country where
this system was officially and logically
WISE WORDS ABOUT BELGIUM 83
cultivated — to have any moral right to
pass sentence on a single burglar, bank
thief, or hooligan.
I trust that no one will charge me with
making no distinction between all kinds
of violence, all kinds of war. There are
holy wars — all wars of liberation, which
are really worthy of the name, are holy
wars. All democratic revolutions are holy
wars, holy violence. By holy, then, I
merely mean justified, in a certain measure
necessary. But the deeds done in a war
to deprive others of liberty, a war to
weaken, paralyse, destroy, these will soon
be considered just as much an offence on
the part of a citizen, just as criminal an
outrage, and just as punishable a trans-
gression as similar acts within the limits
of the national State. It will no longer
do to make a distinction between national
and international, to call a workman who
steals a thief, but a minister who steals
84 MILITARISM AT WORK
a hero. The world will probably soon
enough become a single State, however
we may kick against it. All nations will
be one single humanity, and what a
German does to wrong a Belgian is just
as immoral as what he does to wrong a
German.
By Prussian means the world cannot
be won, not even Belgium can be won
and cowed. Prussia does not know the
Belgian people, since Prussia seems to
despise everything ideal, both knowledge
and right and liberty, and to rely only
on violence and oppression. It is a pity
that the system should be maintained by
Germans, for there was once a German
who understood the Belgians. A South
German, the most famous of all Germans
up to the present and perhaps for all
time. His name was Goethe, and he
wrote a play about the struggle of the
Belgians against another invader — not
WISE WORDS ABOUT BELGIUM 85
Prussia. Herr von Bissing has probably
no time to read Goethe, otherwise he would
find how much the Governor- General of
Belgium resembles the Spanish tyrant
Alba. And he would also know that the
Belgian people is not the soft clay he
thinks he is moulding.
This is how Goethe's Egmont speaks of
his fellow-countrymen the Belgians : " Ich
kenne meine Landsleute. Es sind Manner,
wert Gottes Boden zu betreten, ein jeder
rund fiir sich, ein kleiner Konig, fest,
riihrig, fahig, treu, an alten Sitten
hangend. Schwer ist's ihr Zutrauen zu
verdienen, leicht zu erhalten. Starr
und fest! Zu driicken sind sie, nicht zu
unterdriicken."
(" I know my fellow-countrymen. They
are men worthy to walk on God's earth,
each a man in himself, a little king, firm,
active, capable, faithful, devoted to old
customs. To gain their confidence is
86 MILITARISM AT WORK
difficult, to keep it easy. Obstinate and
firm ! They can be oppressed, but not
suppressed 1 ")
The tyrant Alba asks —
" Wouldst thou be able to repeat all
this in the presence of the King? "
Egmont replies —
" All the worse, if his presence daunted
me ! All the better for him, for his
people, if he inspired me with courage,
inspired me with confidence to say even
more."
Alba : " What is useful, I can hear as
well as he."
Egmont : " I should tell him : A shep-
herd can easily drive a flock of sheep
before him, and the ox draws his plough
without resistance; but if thou wilt ride
a noble horse, thou must overhear his
thoughts, thou must not require anything
unwise, nor unwisely require anything of
him. Therefore the citizen desires to
WISE WORDS ABOUT BELGIUM 87
retain his old constitution, to be ruled
by his countrymen, because he knows
how he is ruled, because he can hope of
them unselfish sympathy with his lot."
Alba : '' And ought not the ruler to
have power to alter these old customs,
and ought not just this to be his chief
privilege ? What is 'permanent here in the
world? And is it possible for a State
institution to remain ? Must not, in the
course of time, every circumstance be
changed, and just for this reason an old
constitution be the cause of a thousand
inconveniences because it no longer corre-
sponds to the present existence of the
people? I fear that these old rights
seem so pleasant, just because they pro-
vide creep-holes, where the cunning and
powerful can hide and slink away, to the
harm of the people and the whole."
Egmont : " And these arbitrary altera-
tions, these despotic interventions on the
88 MILITARISM AT WORK
part of the highest power, are they not
warnings that one thinks to do what the
thousand ought not to do ? He will
make himself alone free to satisfy all his
wishes and realise all his fancies. And
if we now relied entirely on him, a good
and wise king, can he answer for his
successors, that none of them will rule us
without consideration and clemency ? Who
will then save us from absolute tyranny, if
he sends us his servants and favourites,
who without knowledge of the country and
its needs carry on affairs, meet no resist-
ance, hut know themselves free from all
responsibility .^ "
Alba : " Nothing is more natural than
that a king should think to rule by his
own sovereign power, and prefer to en-
trust his orders to those who best
understand and who wish to understand
him, and who carry out his commands
unconditionally. ' '
WISE WORDS ABOUT BELGIUM 89
Egmont : " And it is just as natural
that the citizen should wish to be ruled
by him who has been born and brought
up in the country, who has the same
conception of right and wrong, and whom
the citizen can regard as a fellow-
countryman. ..."
Alba : " The King will have his way.
The King has, after mature deliberation,
found what is for the good of the people ;
it cannot remain as hitherto. The King's
intention is : to restrict the liberty of the
people for the people's own good, to force
on the people its welfare, if necessary, to
sacrifice the injurious fellow-citizens, in
order that the rest may enjoy quiet and
find happiness under a wise government."
Egmont : " Then he has decided what
no prince ought to decide. He will weaken,
oppress, destroy the people's power, soul,
self -consciousness, in order to rule it with
ease. He will destroy the very core of the
90 MILITARISM AT WORK
people^s individuality, though he intends to
make it happy. He will make the people a
Nothing to make it afterwards a Something,
something Different'^
This was how Egmont spoke, the Egmont
of Belgium to the oppressor Alba. And
this is how Egmont, the Egmont of Goethe
speaks to-day to the new oppressor. It
is the civilisation of Germany, her con-
science, her humanity, which speaks to
tyranny, of whatever nation it may be.
In the figure of Goethe, in his language
and with his genius, Germany still dis-
approves of the system which has been
its ruin. The praetorian has become the
master of Liberty and even of Caesar.
Emir-al-Omrah has snatched the sceptre
from the caliph. The equerry has de-
posed the king. It is now the business
of Germany's rightful master to regain
authority in his own house.
From all the nations of the world, from
WISE WORDS ABOUT BELGIUM 91
Belgium, Poland, Sleswick, Alsace, Serbia,
the groan and lamentation arises unani-
mously : " Down with the Prussian sys-
tem ! " And from the heart of Germany,
from her noblest tongue, echoes the same
cry : " Down with the tyranny of militarism
and bureaucracy ! " In Egmont, Goethe
has passed sentence on the oppressor of
the people, whatever his nation !
THE END
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