LIFE IN BELGIUM

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 194, 6 May 1918, Page 7

LIFE IN BELGIUM

If GRRMAN TERRORISM THE NATIONAL SPIRIT (By "An Escaped Civilian" in the London "Times.") Since I crossed the wire, a few weeks ago, I have had time to adapt myself to my now surroundings unci to understand how completely isolated from the rest of the world we are in Belgium. It is not so much that we lack news from tho war, for wo have learned to read between tho lines of the German communiques and to draw our own conclusions. But wo do not realise in the least the conditions prevailing in neutral and Allied countries, the various currents of opinion and interests, the infinite complexity of the problems raised by the great conflict. Three years of persecution and of moral and physical sufferings have brought us to such a pitch of glowing enthusiasm for our friends and of irreconcilable hatred of the foe that there is no room left for intellectual subtleties and sentimental reserves. We have become, it is true—and perhaps in tho nobler sense of the word—fanatics. Wo no longer discriminate between God and country. Tho war has become a religious conflict in which all will be won or lost, and the fervour with which wo worship our martyrs is only equalled by tho horror and loathing we feel for our enemies. It seems at first incredible that the mora! spnnld be n'cr* ?r.iisfrii:tory. ai'ic;.;' oppressed people who have everything to gam by submitting themselves to their masters than among free people who have everything •to lose by directly or indirectly encouraging tho common enemy. It took mo some time to understand that the proximity of the oppressor and the danger of thwarting his efforts, instead of fostering doubts and provoking disloyalty, were the best cure for war-weariness. It may seem paradoxical, but human nature is never so strong as when one would expect it to collapse under the strain. T'ue soldiers will tell you that thoy feel the same indifferenco between the rear and the front. Belgium and Northern France happen to be the civilian front in the West. Daily Executions. This front has, as you know, its casualties like the other. Patriots aro shot, literally, every day—there is an average of 3(J death sentences a month. ■They belong to evbry class, and every party. Among the killed there is one deputy, uno burgomaster, nany people belonging to the professional classes, and, of course, many more workmen and peasants, including women t;nd children. That is, so far as we know, for Von Falkenhauseii, the new Governor, has ceased to publish tho names of his victims, seeing that, instead of terrorising their compatriots, it only stirred their zeal to emulate them. Among the men imprisoned or deported to Germany are many well-known names; at least 10 Deputies and Senators, no fewer than la burgomasters and aldermen, several Judges, and some eminent professors. Tho post of burgomaster cf Brussels is particularly dangerous. M. Max is still in a German- cell, and nis successor, M. Lemonnier, and tho Alderman Jacqumain have followed him to prison. Such is the fate of all those who, openly or secretly, oppose German rule; no matter whether they aro right or wrong. Tho only law in tho country, is dictated by the German tribunals. jJven those who do not belong to the various organisations which help the young men to cross the frontier to join tho army, circulate forbidden papers, or manage to send news abroad, are still exposed, every day, to the most severe sontences. If tho Governor chooses to transform the University of Ghent- or to set up a new administration, the professors or tho officials are not allowed to send in their resignations and to remain faithful to their pledges. _It is .lot enough not to work for Belgium, and tho more fact of refusing to work against Belgium is punishable as a crime. The consequence is that thousands cf men end a great number of women are engaged on some secret work, and that oil the spits cf Germany have not been able to check their activity. ' I havo heard people wonder how, after so many errests, our organisations are able,, to go on with their work. .There, is a 'ery simpit* explanation. For every, man or woman arrested, two others offer to take their place. The whole nation has become a Luge secret society.

Torture and Trickery. Failure is not due to the want of skill and activity pf Geruiau agents. Every measure which brutality and cunning can contrive is taken against our patriots. Under the slightest suspicion they are dragged from their homo and imprisoned. For weeks and ■ months they are isolated, unable to communicate with anybody, even with ih'oir. advocate, subjected daily to the moat searching examination. They sre told that their denial is useless, diico some of their relatives have been ompolled to confers their guilt, or' that, if they will confess their crime, they will bo allowed to set their wife or their child, who is dying. I have myself spent some weeks in the prison of St. Giiles (Brussels), and iiavo been subjected to this kind-of torture. If this fails, threats and blow are used by tho examining officers. I know a boy of 16 who was repeatedly struck for refusing to denounce his "accomplices." Onco on the black list of the secret police, _ tho patriot, whether guilty or not, will do well to leavo tho country. If they cannot catch you in the act, tho German agents havo other means to arrest you. They manage, for instance, to Blip a copy of "La Libre Bolgique" in a draper or behind a frame while searching your house, and proceed to convict you for circulating this forbidden paper. This manoeuvre caused the arrest of a well-known Brussels barrister. He had previously had a visit from a supposed "colleague" from a neighbouring town, who told him that his wife, who w.as at the time in the country, had been arrested, and advised him to hide all compromising papers. The same- "barrister'' headed the body of gendarmes wJo searched the House a few hours later. Another method which- has caused anv amount of harm is known as "the sheep/' and is supposed to have been invented by one of Gennanv's arch-spies Ober-Leutnant Henry. A disconsolate individual is introduced into tho prisoner's cell. Amid sobs and tears, ho tells his companion all he has gone through and poses as the innocent victim of German oppression. Confidence calls for confidence, and. unless the prisoner is on his guard, tho kind "sheep" fucceeds in drawing from him some confession of guilt: The next day the two men aro called together before the judge, and the "sheep" becomes accuser. Such vilo work is not necessarily done by Germans. We have our traitors and "activists" and profiteers, but they aro boyond the pale. They no longer belong t6 tho nation. They have yielded to the Bodies, and, with them they will leavo the country if they are wise.

The Belgians have lost nothing of their splendid confidence. The final victory of the Allies is not even questioned, and I prefer not to think of what would happen if they.should ever bo induced to conclude an unsatisfactory peace. It would be the worst blow which could be fall us. It would be the ruin of all our efforts to hamper the enemy's activity, of all the hopes for which we havo suffered and shall perhaps still suffer so long. The Belgians are waiting anxiously for tho Tetufn of King Albert, but they aro awaiting still more anxiously for tho advent of Justice and therpunishment of the culprits. That spirit animates every thinking man in the country, from Cardinal Morcier to . tho Socialist workmen who drafted the striking manifesto published in July.