OCR Text |
Show "BARBAROUS AS SLAVE DRIVERS" Methods of Exponents of German "Kultur" in Carrying Out Deportation Order. ADD HYPOCRISY TO CRUELTY Officers of "Modern Attlla" Qsve At-tltude At-tltude of Englsnd as Excuse for Repeating In France Atrocities Atroci-ties Practiced in Belgium. Thr ceWte of (he German armies in Francr MM marked with the same brutalities that characterized (he oe-cujiation oe-cujiation of Helrium. Ample proof has been produced that the. entire proceedings were a deliberate part of the calculated sjstcm of "fright-fulness." "fright-fulness." In France the Oeruinn system of forced Inlior and deportations, with Its horrors, was the same as In Belgium. Tn this article Is shown the real Identity Iden-tity of German practice In both occupied occu-pied regions. This can be done from the official documents and from a summary sum-mary by Ambassador Oerard. The borrowing detnlls may bp gathered from the scores of depositions which nceompany the note addressed hy the French government to the governments Of the neutral powers July 2.r, l!Ml. These are on file In the state department, depart-ment, and have also been translated, along with the official documents, In "The Deportation of Women and Girls From Lille." (New York, Dornn.) German Proclamation at Lille. "The attitude of England makes the provisioning of the population more and more difficult. "To reduce the misery, the German authorities have recently asked for volunteers to r and work In the country. This offer hns not had the success that was expected. "In consequence of this the Inhabitants Inhab-itants will be deported by order and removed Into the country. Persons . deported will be sent to the Interior of the occupied territory In France, far behind the front, where they will be employed In ncrlciiltiiral labor, and not on any military work whutever. By this measure they will be given the opportunity of providing battel for their subsistence. "In case of necessity, provisions can be obtained through the German depots. de-pots. Bvery person deported will be allowed to take with him HO kilograms kilo-grams of baggage (household utensils, clothes, etc.), which it will be well to make ready at once. "I therefore order that no one, until un-til further orders, shall change his plane of residence. No one may absent ab-sent himself from his declared legal residence from 0 p. in. to 0 a. m. (German (Ger-man time), unless he Is In possession of a permit In due form. "Inasmuch as this Is an Irrevocable measure. It Is In the interest of the population itself to remain calm and obedient. "COMMANDANT. "Lille, April, 1010." Notice Distributed In Lille. "All the Inhabitants of the houses, with the exception of children under fourteen and their mothers, und also of old people, must prepare themselves for transportation In an hour and a half's time. "An officer will decide definitely what persons will be taken to the oncentratlon camps. For this purpose pur-pose all the Inhabitants of the house in .ist assemble In front of It; In case of bad weather they may remain In the passage. The door of the house must remain open. All protests will be useless. No Inmate of the house, even those who are not to be transported, trans-ported, may leave the house before 8 a. m. (German time). "Kneh person will be permitted to take HO kilograms of baggage; If anyone's any-one's baggage exceeds that weight, It will all be rejected, without further consideration. Packages must be separately sep-arately made up for each person and must lienr tin address leglhly written and firmly affixed 'This address must contain the surname and the Christian inline and the number of the identity card. "It Is absolutely necessary that each person should, In bis own Interest, provide pro-vide himself with eating and drinking drink-ing utensils, ns well a with a woolen blanket, good shoes, and body linen. Kvervotie must carry Ids identity card on Ills person. Anyone attempting to evade transportation will lie punished without mercy." "KTAPPKN KOMMANDANTUR, (Lille, April. 1916 ) Belgian Address to French President. "To Monsieur Raymond Polncare, President of the French Republic, Purls. "Sir: We have the honor tn express ex-press again our most sincere gratitude grati-tude to you for your most kind recep-! recep-! tlon. a few days ago, of the deputation deputa-tion Which went with feelings of legitimate legit-imate emotion to Inform .von of the deportation of lads ami girls, which the German authorities have Just carried car-ried out In the Invaded districts, "We have collected some details on the subject from tin pa of OH honorable honor-able ami trustworthy person who succeeded suc-ceeded In leaving Tourcolng about ten days ago; we Ihink It our duty to brliiL' tfiese details to your notice by reproducing lextually the declarations which have been made to us: MSheee deportations in-aii towards Easter. The Germans announced that the Inhabitants of Roubaix, Tourcolng, Lille, etc., were going to DO transported transport-ed into fPrench districts where their provisioning would lie easier.' "'At nliMit, at about two o'clock In the morning, a whole district of the town was Invested y the troops of occupation. oc-cupation. To each hones was distributed distrib-uted a printed notice, oi which we give herein an exact reproduction, preserving preserv-ing the style and spelling.' (See document, docu-ment, above.) " 'The Inhabitants so w arned were to hold themselves ready to i part tin hour and a half after the distribution of the proclamation.' "'Knch family, drawn up outside the house, was examined by an officer, who pointed out haphazard the persons who were lo go. No words can express the barbarity of this proceeding nor describe de-scribe the heart rending scenes which occurred; young men and girls took baety farewell of their parents a farewell fare-well hurried by the German soldiers who were executing the Infamous task rejoined the group of those vv ho were going, and found themselves in the middle of the street, surrounded by other soldiers with fixed bayonets.' " 'Tears of despair on the part of parents and children so ruthlessly separated did not soften the hearts of the brutal Germans. Sometimes, however, how-ever, n more kind hearted officer yielded yield-ed to too great despair and did not choose all the persons whom he should by the terms of his Instructions have separated.' Herded Like Cattle. " 'These girls and lads were taken In street cars to factories, where they were numbered and labeled like cattle and grouped to form convoys. In these factories, they remained 12, 24 or HO hours until a train was ready to remove re-move them.' " 'The deportation began with the villages of Honey, llalluln, etc., then Tourcolng nnd Houbalx. In the towns the Germans proceeded by districts.' " 'In all about 30.000 persons are said to hnve been carried off up to the present. pres-ent. This monstrous operation has taken eight to ten days to accomplish. It is feared, unfortunately, that It may begin again soon. " 'The reason given by the German authorities Is a humanitarian (?) one. They have put forward the following pretexts: provisioning Is going to break down In the large towns in the north and their suburbs, whereus In the Ardennes the feeding Is easy and cheap.' " 'It Is known from the young men nnd girls, since sent back to their families for reasons of health, that in the department of the Ardennes the victims are lodircd In a terrible milli ner, in disgraceful promiscuity; they are compelled to work In the fields. It is unnecessary to say that the Inhabitants Inhabi-tants of our towns are not trained to such work. The Germans puy them 1.50 m. Put there ure complaints of Insufficient food.' "Barbarity of Slave Drivers." "'They were very badly received In the Ardennes. The (iermans had told the Ardennals that these were "volunteers" "volun-teers" who were coming to work, and the Ardennals proceeded to receive them wlih many Insults, which only Ceaaed when the forcible deportation Of which they were the victims became known.' "'Feeling ran especially high In our towns. Never has so Iniquitous n measure been carried out. The Germans Ger-mans have shown all the barbarity of slave drivers.' " The I amines so scattered are In despair and the morale of the whole population Is gravely affected. Hoys of fourteen, schoolboys In knickerbockers, knicker-bockers, young girls of fifteen to six-ten six-ten have been carried off, and the despairing de-spairing protests of their parents failed to touch the hearts of the Germun officers, offi-cers, or rather executioners.' "One last detail: The persons so deported are allowed to write tiouje once a month ; that Is to say, even less often than military prisoners.' "Such are the declarations which we hnve collected and which, without commentary, com-mentary, confirm In an even more striking wuy the facts which we took the liberty of laying before you. "We do not wish here to enter into the ipiestton of provisioning in the Invaded In-vaded districts; others, better (nullified (nulli-fied than ourselves, give you, as we know, frequent Information, it is enough for us to describe In u few words the situation from this aspect: Entire Population in Misery. "The provisioning is very difficult; food, apart from that supplied by the Spanish American committee, Is very scarce and terribly dear. . . . People ari' hungry and the provisioning is in-adequute in-adequute bj at least a hall'; our population popu-lation Is suit'' ring constant privations and Is trowing noticeably weaker. Tin' death rate, too. has increased considerably. consid-erably. "Sometimes inhabitants of the Invaded In-vaded territories speak with u note of discouragement, crying apparently: 'We are lor-aken , evervone.' We, on (be other bund, are hopeful. Monsieur Mon-sieur le President, that the energetic Intervention on the part of neutrals, which the French government is sure in evoke, will soon bring to an end these measures which rouse (he wrath of all to whom humanity is not an empty emp-ty word. . . . "Wnii all confidence in the sympathy of the government we venture to address ad-dress a new ami pressing appeal to your generous kindness and far-reaching Influence in the name of those who are suffering on behalf of the whole country." Paris, loth June, P.U6, 3, rue Tult- bout." (htgnod 00 behalf of various specified speci-fied organizations bv Touleuionde, Charles I Moulds, I. eon Ilaliue-DuzlQ, aud Louie LorthloifJ |