THREE WEEKS IN BULGARIA

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2777, 23 May 1916, Page 7

THREE WEEKS IN BULGARIA

UNDER THE GERMAN YOKE

POLICE TERRORISM

j]Tlw New-York; "World" publishes >&e following' first-hand description- of rroo'nditio'nS in • Bulgaria from, its

Special' Correspondent, who has : ar-

.-Trived'in Bucharest after three, weeks in ' ■ Bulgaria.] . Bucharest, March. 22. . '/'"King Ferdinand is almost absolute. Ho >supported by prerogatives lavishly bestowed upon hinu-by a ..terrorised l'arliaT '-iftent';';aboye:all, maintained by the , '(3erniajis/.in' whoso, 'bands lies, the mili- : ; .- : tary and administrative authority; , As . ■ "for 'the- people,' the real Bulgarian people : is' experiencing a . novel kind -of foreign subjection not; so atrocious ;as Turkish rule, yet more oppressive .so far. as individual liberty is concerned. . . . . In, Sofia, as wall.as inrother principal ■ 'cities and in the most remote villages, from 8 o'clock in tho evening till 8 . o'clock in the morning all traCio is stopped and lights are extinguished. With the exception of Sofia, and a few large .'. cities, , candles. are the only means of '. "illumination, as petroleum and electricity are so rare and expensive. Woe to him " who daies to be out- during_prbhibited • hours without a special permit from the " police..:He would be immediately arrested and' fined, and if he should come under ". > suspicion in any way would be immedi- .' atelv sent to -Aniiy Headquarters at. Kustendil to be tried by court-martial. " Every Bulgarian or.'foreigner' must always have in Ilia possession a pcrmis de • sej our, given to him by the police, with .: the bearer's photograph. In restaurants, cafes, shops, and in the streets anyone may be stopped at'any moment and re- ; quested to show the permit. Worst of all, during tho night streets may be block-' . ; aded and a house-to-house search instituted. When I was in Sofia almost every. . hotel'was entered after midnight, generally between 2 and 3 o'clock, and every room • visited, time not even being given to ladies to dress themselves before the. door was . opened. At the hotel where I stopped tho search was made at 3 o'clock, v - ain I was the only' person whose room was not entered. Perhaps the police did j ;Dot wish to have a foreign journalist wit- ; ness the way the gendarmerie with fixed bayonets' were entering rooms where , . ladies were asleep, 'l'he ladies :of the ; ' 'American Hed Cross will have stories to tell, when they como home. Omnipotent Secret Service. The police are the most'important q'r- " i ganisation in Bulgaria.. They depend ■ '.neither on the .Ministry nor, even ,on the ..: Minister. of War. In..theory it,is sup- " iiposed. that'the police take their orders, froni tb.G General Staff, bat in fact they are an instrument in the hands of the Germans, to keep a strong hold on everybody and on every movement lest internal disturbances hamper Teutonic plans in, tho Balkans: . ■ y . ' When . I speak of the police, .1 mean that secret service organisation that bears Xthe' name of "Natipnal' Security," which. could be more accurately 'termed "Nar; tional Terrorism." When the Germans ; i came , they found a lamentable want of . organisation, and they. organised every....thing to a tremendous extent, in their . own. .fashion".- From' the Chief of Police ./..down'.to. the most , insignificant secret, eervice agent, all are in German pay. Al- ■ most every hotel in every town and village, ;and some of them newly established ■ bv Austrians and Germans, are'branches - of the German Intelligence Service. 1

• On. my/ first arrival in Bulgaria, at ■ vXanthi, the authorities were .-very polite $rid considerate. They made no difficulties, -asked very few question; and talked

in a vory friendly manner.; But when ! '-stopped at the hotel at Xanthi, the pror prietor, a German, gave me a blank form ■■and asked me to answer the series of questions it contained. ~I : was aware that it was for - the benefit of the Germans. At first: I refused. Thereupon the Austrian Consul at Kavala; who. had accompanied me from. Greece, intervened and asked that only a few answers-should b; written down." '' \ ~ 1

Barely 10 minutes hod,elap6ed : after I had filled up the blank' when my door ■was. opened and a German officer ..entered. , He snoke French -and English with. nerfeet, He said he had heard that J.had come; he was very glad to make . PV acquaintance and, he had. come "to ";ive' me some news; and get some news from me." That was very nice indeed.. ~ But I soon found out that I. was passing a 'severe examination' by a German officer on Bulgarian territory. ' ■?'Tha man who,is,to-day,at the head of 'the: Bulgarian police, 'a certain Georgieff, r is : .not ; a real Bulgarian officinl; he is, ;. fcowe.ver, supported by M. . RadoslavoiV, trusted by the., King, Inaid by the' Bulgarians, the Turks, and, most of all. by ' the Germans," in whose- hands he is a .-• mere instrument of terrorism. Only a year ago he was 'an insignificant adven- . tnrer. a small shipping agent at Varna; ' to-dav he ,is a. rich.man and, !he man •' ,° J s: , n"?* feared' and' hated throughout Bulgaria*-.. • ir Lack "of,'. Enthusiasm. Throughout the country there is no si»n enthusiasm among the population. They ~ tnoWj,tnat..SerbiaJiaa .been crushed, that il.icedonia is occupied, that new territories have been won, but from ; the highest statesman, down-to the,:poorest peasant tto one has any assurance that what' they . they willibe able to retain. --•You-can read a genuine uncertainty in every .faM, .and lnpst theiu whom I - talked .with make no secret' of their feaTS - for the future, and declare, v 'Yes, we - have bean victorious; we have conquered lands; but. can we keep, these new pos- : sessionsr" ■ . An-official in Sofia said to me:— Our position is still very dangerous: : ."1 here- are l<rench and English soldiers at Salonika awaiting the very 'first opportunity to attack us; then we are not cciy - tain what the Greeks-ahd Rumanians will decide. totto ;in .the hear, future. AVe are ; well aware that they are not our friends, .find ,- they are ■only looking for a .chance ■to fall~on~iis aiid" rob us .of our terrl- : torias, as they did in the second Balkan ,-War. Another thing that makes our - people wonder is the question of the duration of the. war. It appears that this. -."war will last; at. least -two years more, * and we, as a small people,, cannot stand the rigours of a long war. 'A great iipj tion may support it, but we cannot, as* the example of all the other small na- : '',tions'in this.war shows." At the start of -the war German gold poured into the ,' country, and the Government . having ■ plenty of ready money bought everything ' for cash. The farmer was well'paid and "he"was satisfied; he had sold his products and had kept for himself enough' 'to last till next harvest. But after the fall of Serbia, when communications wtre " opened up with Germany, things went another way. ' The Germans bought everything and * anything they oould find in the country— " cereals, butter, eggs, ar.d .every other \ sort of necessary and raw material, and '''sent them to their own country. To-day 'we are in need of many things, and-even "1 the bread which used to be so' plentiful ."in our country. For two days there was no bread even for our hospitals. Prices .'. are five. times higher than in normal [ times. J This the Bulgarian people cannot stand for a long period. It cannot lie <ienied that a few people are getting rich, * such :as our Minister of Finance, M. , Tontcheff, who a year ago was a poor .iman, but now owns some £500.000, or M. Radoslavoff. who owns about .£400,000, or ..Georgieff who owns several million francs, '..-and a few others; But the neople iu ■ general are condemned to lose their pros- . perity.