BRUTAL GERMAN WAR POSTERS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3010, 22 February 1917, Page 6

BRUTAL GERMAN WAR POSTERS

-9 —: /' ACTUAL PROCLAMATIONS SEEN IN LONDON.

A private view ivas i;iven at the House of Commons recently of Mr.' lan Malcolm, M.IVs, collectiuu of German war piooiainatjpns which are to be exnibited shortlyT The > posters consist of proclamations in French to the in- v habitants of conquered territory. They begin with von Jimmich's hypocritical apology to the Belgian people on August 4, 1914, for invading their land "under the contsraint of inevitable necessity." "1 give," wrote von Kmmich, "a formal guarantee to the Belgian people that it will nave nothing to suiter from the horrors cf war." By August 22 we get the following issued by von liulow at Liego:— The population of Audenne, after having manifested pacific intentions towards our troops, attacked them in a most' treacherous manner. With my authority tho General Commanding theso troops has reduced the town to ashes, and has caused 110 persons to be shot. I bring theso facts to the knowledge of the people of Liege so that they may know what fato to expect should they adopt a similar atti-

Six days later, at St. Die, it was proclaimed that- "any inhabitant who shall be guilty of any act of hostility against a member of the German Army will be immediately shot, and the house of the guilty person instantly burned." On October o, 1914, fame tho most brutally worded of all von der Goltz's Brussels proclamations: "In future the inhabitants of those localities situated near railways and telegraph lines which have been destroyed will be punished without mercy (whether they are guilty or not). For such purpose hostages have been taken in such localities, and at the first attempt to destroy any railway, or telegraph, or telephone line they will be shot immediately." The latest, and possibly the most shameful, of the posters was issued in April, 1916, at Lille, and runs: All the inhabitants of the town,

with the exception o£ children der 14, and of their mothers and old people, must he prepared for transportation in an hour, and a : half. An officer will definitely deo- , cide which persons Bhall le taken to the concentration camps. . . All complaints will be useless. . . . Anyone evading this deportation will be punished without mercy. Side by side with this anouncemont is shown a bill secretly posted in Lille advising the people not to comply—a courageous answer to an infamous demand. i