What Germany Thinks Part 7

"Some of our contemporaries (Oh, shade of Pecksniff!--Author) announced yesterday that in Stuttgart eighty, according to other reports, ninety millions in French gold had been seized. In answer to our inquiry at the princ.i.p.al office of the Wurtemberg State Railways we were informed that the statements are pure inventions."[41]

[Footnote 41: _Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger_, August 4th.]

Another Socialist paper which denounced this campaign of lies in its columns deserves quotation. "The spy-mania luxuriates; every Russian is in danger of a.s.sault by over-heated patriots. The nation, however, ought to know that the Russians in our midst are labourers, students, travellers and business men; it is exceeding rare for one of this cla.s.s, to sell himself to the scoundrels who follow the dirty practices of espionage.

"Civilization and good-breeding demand that everyone should respect the dictates of international law, and treat the peaceful citizens of a land with which we are at war, with decency.

"Especially those wretches deserve to have their knuckles rapped who circulate such infamous bear-baiting news as the alleged attempt on the Crown Prince's life by Russian students."[42]

[Footnote 42: _Vorwarts_, August 7th.]

"The General commanding the Leipzig district has issued the following reply in answer to an inquiry by the civil authorities: We know nothing at all of an alleged attempt on the life of the Kaiser or the Crown Prince. The commanding General von Laffert has never uttered the words ascribed to him, that the Kaiser had been murdered. These reports must be contradicted with the greatest energy."[43]

[Footnote 43: _Leipziger Tageblatt_, August 3rd.]

The following extracts are of the greatest importance, for they prove beyond doubt the source of these lies, and the cold-blooded, calculated manner in which they were circulated by the German authorities:

"The decision as to what may be published in newspapers, is now in the hands of the military commander in each district.

"The regulations issued by the military authorities, force certain restrictions upon us and threaten the existence of our journals. As regards our principles and convictions no change has taken place."[44]

[Footnote 44: The editor of the _Vorwarts_ to his readers on August 1st.]

"Berlin, August 10th.--Major Nicolai, director of the Press department of the General Staff, received representatives of the Press to-day and communicated to them, _inter alia_, the following details: Our army commanders decline to enter into compet.i.tion with the lie-factories abroad. They will convince the world that truth is on our side, and that we spread neither lies nor coloured reports. We hope in a short time to be able to prove how much our enemies have sinned against the truth.

"What have we achieved up till now? The dreaded invasion of Russian cavalry was broken up by our frontier guards alone. Indeed, in many cases only the Landwehr was needed to throw back the invaders. What about the destruction of important buildings, railways, bridges and such like? Nothing at all has happened."[45]

[Footnote 45: Condensed translation of the report in the _Leipziger Volkszeitung_, August 11th.]

On another page of the same issue a long official army order to the Press is given in which this paragraph occurs: "All news given out by Wolff's Telegraph-Bureau may only be quoted literally as they stand and the source named by the initials W.T.-B."

It is thus clear that the news-agency mentioned performs two separate functions, although the German army authorities do not draw this distinction. First, the circulation of reports issued by the Army Headquarters in the field, for the truth of which the Berlin General Staff guarantees. Secondly, the spreading of their own news, and information supplied to them by other German Government departments. All news published by the agency has thus received the stamp of official authority, and the German public is too ignorant to recognize the palpable fraud.

"Metz, August 3rd.--A French doctor, accompanied by two officers in disguise, was caught yesterday while trying to infect the water supply with cholera bacilli. He was at once shot under military law."[46]

[Footnote 46: _Deutsche Tageszeitung_, August 3rd.]

"The report of the Metz water supply being infected, which was given out by Wolff's Bureau yesterday, proves to be a pure invention. The agency informs us that there is no ground for uneasiness, but the state of affairs at present makes it imperative to exercise great care."[47]

[Footnote 47: _Berliner Tageblatt_, August 4th.]

"Coblence, August 2nd.--The Government-president in Dusseldorf reports that twelve motor-cars containing eighty French officers in Prussian uniforms tried this morning to cross the Prussian frontier by Walbeck, west of Geldern. The attempt failed."[48]

[Footnote 48: Ibid., August 3rd.]

Referring to this episode another paper wrote: "The alleged attempt of whole caravans of French officers, masquerading as German lieutenants, to enter the Rhine province as spies is too adventurous to be believed.

Especially as it is known that the Dutch frontier is very strictly guarded.

"But Wolff's Bureau, which at present takes every precaution, circulated the news. Hence we have here an instance of France violating Dutch neutrality."[49]

[Footnote 49: _Kolnische Volkszeitung_, August 3rd.]

As far as the author is aware, the German Government has not yet protested to the Dutch authorities for this breach of their neutrality.

The poisoned-water-supplies lie deserves further attention. It was scattered broadcast throughout the land, and millions of credulous Germans reduced to a state of absolute panic and--what was intended by those who spread the lie--blind hate against Germany's opponents. I have before me a number of descriptions of scares in various parts of the Fatherland. A few notices will suffice as ill.u.s.trations.

"A most terrifying report spread like wild-fire through the town last Monday morning, and reached to the farthest suburbs. The waters of the Mangfall had been poisoned by Russian spies, and everyone's life was in danger. It is hardly possible to conceive the effect of this terrible rumour. Messengers of despair rushed from house to house, knocking at strangers' doors in order to spread the warning. 'That is a devilish deed!' stammered the white lips of women. 'Only barbarians wage war in this manner!' hissed the men, trembling with rage and hate."[50]

[Footnote 50: The full report of this Munich scare occupies more than a column in the _Munchen-Augsburger Abendzeitung_, August 10th.]

The _Breslauer-Morgenzeitung_ for August 10th contains an announcement from the Breslau munic.i.p.ality warning the inhabitants that the waters of the Oder have possibly been poisoned, and appealing for every precaution to be taken before drinking from the town supply, till a fresh supply can be provided.

"The authorities in Danzig have declared the waters of the Weichsel to be under suspicion of having been infected with cholera bacilli. It is presumed that cholera is raging on the upper Weichsel in Russia, and that the Russians have not allowed this to become known. Water from the river must not be used for any purposes connected with human food or drink."[51]

[Footnote 51: _Leipziger Neuesten Nachrichten_, August 20th. A lying report put in circulation hundreds of miles away from Danzig.]

Finally the originator of these rumours piously contradicts them all and announces, "lieb Vaterland magst ruhig sein," in the following words:

"Wolff's Bureau reports: There is absolutely no reason for anxiety on account of the alleged poisoning and infection of rivers, water supplies and springs which have been reported unauthoritatively from all parts of the country, and published in the Press. These rumours, which have caused grave anxiety, on closer investigation have all proved to be utterly unfounded."[52]

[Footnote 52: _Leipziger Volkszeitung_, August 27th.]

The war had lasted for four weeks, and although no rivers had been poisoned, the same could not be said of the currents of popular opinion.

"While I was walking down a street in Breslau a tram suddenly stopped, loud cries proceeding from within it. The occupants had discovered a Russian, dragged him out and handed him over to a policeman who led the man away. But the official was unable to protect him, and blows with fists and sticks literally rained on the defenceless fellow. The couple, surrounded by a howling crowd, had just moved away, when a nun attracted the attention of the crowd. On account of a report that a Russian spy disguised as a nun had been arrested the same morning, the people imagined the nun to be a man in disguise.

"Smiling at the ridiculous supposition and the maddened howls of the ever-increasing throng, the lady endeavoured to enter a tram. Men placed themselves in front of the car, others dragged the frightened woman out again and with blows and kicks she was driven before them to the next police station. But the saddest part of these excesses--and I am only describing a few of which I was accidentally a witness--is that members of the so-called educated cla.s.ses partic.i.p.ated in them."[53]

[Footnote 53: A special correspondent in the _Frankfurter Zeitung_, August 7th.]

"On one of the most frequented open places in Breslau a soldier approached a lady and looked searchingly into her face. She understood him, and remarked with a smile: 'I am not a spy!' The man replied: 'But you have short hair. I am sorry, you must come with me.'

"She at once recognized that the wisest plan was to accompany him, and turned to do so. The movement worked like a signal; the bystanders immediately threw themselves in blind rage upon the defenceless woman.

In vain the single soldier tried to protect her, and equally in vain was the a.s.sistance of two policemen who had come up. Her cries to be taken into a neighbouring house for safety met with no response.

"Her garments were literally torn from her body, a spectacle which finally proved to her persecutors that she actually was a woman, but that fact no longer protects her. Brutal instincts, once let loose, are mad and unrestrained. Blows continue to fall on her head and kicks rain against her body. She only tries to shield her eyes. 'Take her to the police station' was shouted, but that is some distance away. And any second may mean death--a horrible, disgraceful death.

"Having arrived in the guard-room the officials are soon convinced that they have to do with an absolutely innocent woman. Outside the throngs yelled in triumph."[54]

[Footnote 54: _Breslauer Generalanzeiger_, August 6th.]

A German officer wrote the following account to the _Berliner Zeitung am Mittag_ (August 5th): "May I supplement your article 'Spies and Spy-hunting' with a few facts from my own personal knowledge. On August 3rd no fewer than sixty-four spies (?) were brought into the police station at the Potsdamer Railway Station (Berlin). Not one was kept in arrest, for the simple fact that they were all innocent German citizens.

"Among others who were 'captured' and threatened with death by the raging crowd on the Potsdamer Platz were: A pensioned Prussian major, who was waiting for his son; a surgeon in the Landwehr; a high official from the Courts of Justice; and lastly, a pensioned Bavarian army officer who, on account of his stature, was thought to be a Russian. A drunken shop-a.s.sistant egged on the crowd against this last suspect, so that his life was really in danger. He was rescued by four Prussian officers, who pretended to arrest their Bavarian colleague, and were in this way able to lead him into safety."

This twentieth-century reign of terror is not, however, without a ray of humour. The semi-official _Kolnische Zeitung_ (August 4th) contained a legend which set all Germany hunting for French motor-cars. "Several motor-cars with ladies in them, taking gold to Russia, are on their way across Germany. They must be stopped and a communication sent to the nearest military or police station."

"The occupants of the motor-cars carrying gold to Russia are said to have transferred the precious metal to cyclists dressed as bricklayers."[55]