| Show HUNS SCORNED LAW OF NATIONS use of civilians as hostages and for screens part of devilish system FIRST MADE USE OF IN 1870 at that time it was wa condemned by the civilized world but the german military leaders have never abandoned it ample proof that the march of the german armies through belgium vas marked by massacres and cru aies almost beyond belief is given in in a document raade made public by tho the committee on public information from which the following is q taken the massacres in belgium and northern fannee fro nee were a part of the german system of frightfulness another feature of this system was the use of civilians as hostages and for screens in discussing the use of hostages the german war book Kriegs brauch im ge says by hostages are understood those persons nho he as security or ball for the fulfillment of treaties promises or other claims are taken or detained by the opposing state or its army their provision has been less usual in recent wars as a result of which some professors of the law of nations have wrongly decided that the taking of hostages has disappeared from the practice of civilized nations A new application of hostage right was practiced by the german staff in the war of 1870 when it compelled leading citizens from french towns and villages to accompany trains and locomotives in order to protect the railway communications which were threatened by the people since the liv lives of peaceable inhabitants were without any fault on their part thereby exposed to grave danger e very every writer outside germany has stigmatized tills this measure as contrary to the law of nations and as unjustified towards the inhabitants of the country clung to Fright although their deeds tn in the franco 1 prussian war had been universally condemned as they themselves admitted the lenders leaders did not intend to abandon such fl a useful measure of frightfulness in LInter prete dalre the forms were provided for such acts in the next war both in belgium and in france the germans have constantly used hostages the evidence Is contained la in the proclamations of the governing authorities and also to in the diaries of the german soldiers A few examples from these will illustrate the system which was employed A specimen of the arbitrariness and cruelty Is furnished by the proclamation of major dieckmann eckmann Dl from which the following sections are presented after 9 a 8 10 on the ath september I 1 will permit the houses in beyne heusay hepsay anil and dols bois de dreux to be inhabited by the persons who lived in them formerly as long as these persons are not forbidden to frequent these localities by official prohibition hibi tion prominent people hostages in order to be sure that the abovementioned permit will not be abused abud the bergonia burgomasters burg of beyne and of must immediately prepare lists of prominent persons who ha will be held as hostages for 24 hours each at fort fleron september 6 1914 for the first time the period of detention be 10 from 6 p ra m until september 7 at midday the life of these hostages depends on the population of the above men tinned communes remaining quiet under all circumstances during the night it Is severely forbidden to show any luminous signals bicycles lc yeles are permitted only between 7 a m and 5 p m german time from the list lilt which Is submitted to me I 1 shall designate prominent persons who shall be hostages from noon of one day until the following midday if the substitute Is not there in due time the hostage roust must remain another 24 hours at the tort fort after these 24 hours the hostage nill ft incur the penalty of death if the substitute falls to appear priests burgomasters burg and theother members of the council are to bo be taken first as hostages 1 I insist that all civilians who move about in my district show ther respect to the german officers by taking off their hats or lifting their hands to their heads in military salute in case of doubt every german soldier must be saluted anyone who does doea not do this must expect tho the german military to make themselves respected by every means hold small nations have no rights the fate that belgium has called down upon herself Is hard for the individual but not too hard for this political structure for the destinies of tho the immortal great nations stand so high that they cannot but have the right in case of need to stride over existence that cannot dl defend themselves but live as aa parasites upon the rivalries of the great prof H in Sudden south german monthly would they have dared to defend such a policy it if they could have seen the announcement sent out by the parish ish I 1 of st hadella with its silent eloquence th this 9 Is an invitation to a service in m memory emo ry of CO men end and women from one parish or of whom all but bill two berei ere I 1 killed by the germans in the massa massacre cret of august 5 and 0 1914 the closing sentences are 1 gentle heart of mary be ray my refuge our lady of it lourdes pray for us usi st joseph patron of belgian pray for us st hardella Hardel ln patron of the parish pray for us sainte barbe patroness of kindly death pray for us after reading such ghastly accounts many of them written by german eyewitnesses and knowing that similar tales were published lIim widely in the german newspapers it la Is difficult to read with patience such words as these the german army in which I 1 of course include the navy Js Is today the greatest institute for moral education in a the world the german soldiers alone are thoroughly disciplined and have never so BO much as hurt a hair of a single innocent human being houston stewart chamberlain in war essays 1014 we see ace everywhere how low our soldiers respect the sacred defenseless nesa nes of woman and child prof G in deutsche reden in zelt german speeches in difficult days hostages lives hung by thread in order to insure sufficiently the safety of our troops and the tranquil tranquill ity of the population of reims the persons mentioned have anve been seized as hostages by the commander of the german army these hostages will be shot if there Is the least disorder on the be other hand it if the town remains perfectly calm and quiet these hostages host aces and inhabitants ivall be placed under the protection of the german army GENERAL commanding reims september 1914 beneath this proclamation there were vere posted the names of 81 hostages and n statement that others had also been seized as hostages the lives of all these men depended in reality upon the interpretation which the german military authorities might give to the elastic phrase the least disorder in the proclamation hugh gibson in a journal from our legation in belgium page explains what was likely to happen another thing Is that on entering a town they hold the burgomaster the procure ur du rol and other authorities as aa hostages to insure good food behavior by the population of course the hoodlum class would like ille nothing better than to seq se their natural enemies the defenders of law and order bously shot and they do not restrain themselves a bit on account of the hostages diary of bombardier wetzel art aug eth first fight and set alre to sevc several ral villages AUK aug ath returned to old I 1 there we searched nil all the houses I 1 and shot the mayor and shot one man down from the chimney pot and then we again set fire to the village on the august lefalle captured 10 men with three priests because they have shot flown down from froin the church tower they were brought into the village of ste marle farle oct ath we wore were in quarters in the evening at Wille kamm lieutenant was quartered in the nin mayors house and there had two prisoners tied together on a short whip and in ili eft anse se anything happened they were to 1 be killed hilled oct alth wo we had no light fight but we caught about 20 men and shot them from the dairy of bombardier wetzel second mounted battery F first kur liessman lies field artillery regiment Reel ment no 11 the germans also found it c con on nevlent on oil many anny occasions to secure civilians both men and women who could be forced to march or stand in front of the troops so that the countrymen of the civilians would he be compelled first to kill their own people if they resisted the germans this usage is illustrated in the following letter of lieutenant eberlein Eberl eln october 7 1914 but we arrested three other civilians and then I 1 had a brilliant idea we gave them chairs and we then ordered them to go and sit out in the middle of the street on their part pitiful entreaties on ours a few blows from the butt end of the th rifle little by little one becomes terribly callous tit nt this business at last they were all seated outside in the street I 1 do not know what anguished prayers they may have said but I 1 noticed that their hands were convulsively clasped the tha whole time I 1 pitied these fellows but the method was immediately effective the flank fere from the houses quickly diminished so that we were wera able to occupy the opposite house and thus to dominate the principal street every living being who showed himself in the street was shot the artillery on its side had done dona good work fill all this time and when toward seven in the evening the brigade advanced to the assault to relieve us I 1 was in a position to report that saint dla die anti been cleared of the enemy later on I 1 learned that the regiment of reserve which entered saint die further to the north had tried the tha same experiment the tour four ci civilians nhom they bad compelled in the same way to sit out in the street were wera killed by french bullets I 1 myself saw them lying in the middle of the street near the hospital A first lieutenant retter letter published on the alic fth october 1911 in thi the of th the |
