German "Terror" Posters

Levin Daily Chronicle, 15 February 1917, Page 3

German "Terror" Posters

MR. LAN MALCOLM'S COLLECTION. A collection of German "terror" posters made by Mr. Lan, Malcolm, M.P., lias been exhibited in the new tea-rooms of the House of Commons, but they should be more widely shown.

The series begins by an undated poster issued very early in the war by von Emmich, General Commandant-in-Chief of the Army of the Meuse. Belgian neutrality has been violated by certain French officers who, in disguise and a motor-car, traversed Belgian territory in order to get into Germany! Let the brave Belgians remember Waterloo, where the Prussians freed tlhem from French tyranny, and —grant free passage to the German armies. We know that that free passage was refused; and at what a cost!

On August 22, 1914, von Bulow announces by placard to Liege that the town of AndenAe has treacherously attacked the Germans; Andenne has been reduced to cinders and 110 of her inhabitants shot: Fusilles—how wbll one gets to know that word, and im-

pitovablement punisi—pitilessly punished—before one !has run through half Mr Malcolm's afficlies!

Here is another gem. Von Fasbender, General-in-iChief, demands off Luneville 650,000f. If Luneville will not pay up there will be a house-to-house requisition; and "Toute reclamation sera consideree comme nulle et non arrivee"—appeals and protests simply will not exist. A week later hungry von Fasbender wants a moit of supplies; cigars come first 100.COO of them, and the long list.closes with a vast quantity of fat. And Luneville will kindly see to it that the goods are "of the first quality."

There is a grimmer note about 'General Commandant-iin-Chief little advertisement of August 27. 1914. As you look certain words only catch the eye: Seront immediatement fusilles, seronttenus responsables; seront brulees—will be shot; will be "held responsible" (we know what that means); will be burned. Just so, too, von Moltke, Chef d'Etat-iMajor General de l'Armee Allemande, shouts "shoot and burn" at Epernay. whose civilian authorities are to be "held responsible": and on September 5, 1914 the Council of Epernay is forced to make a postetr of the proceedings of the special session (under M. Maurice Pol Roger, Mayor, and with 'M. Chandon among its members) in which it considered the German" demand for 176,500 francs and a mass of supplies.

As we go on, the story gets worse and worse. Here you are to be shot for leaving your house or digging potatoes; at 'Lille four people have been already shot for hiding an English airman; Brussels is informed on October 5, 1914, by its Governor, von der. Goltz, that all places near which railways or telegraph lines have been damaged, whether guilty or not, be "pitilessly punished" and their hostages shot.

Hostages, too, have been taken at Reims, and the General Commandant in-Chief advertises that lie is going to have them shot at the slightest sign of disorder. But that was the last chance the General CommandanMnchance the General Commandanfc-dn-Ciuef had of shouting threats at Reims His pester is dated September 12th, 19 1 14. The battle ctf the Marne had been fought ,and' his time in Rlieims was up.

It is good to meet anything that will raise a ghost of a smile, like th.it Rheims poster or l >t)s warn issued to Belgians not to attempt to get away into the English lines, because the English troops are dying in thousands of cholera. For now we are coming to the wofullest and cruellest lof all these affiches, whose black ink should surely have been printed upon grounds of blood-red instead of innocent green, yellow or white.

Leaving chronological order for a moment, let us look at I/ill© in April of this year. The Commandant informs the citizens of Lille that the action of English makes the feeding of tiro population more and more difficult. Therefore, volunteers for agricultural work having been asked for

in vain, forced labour and' transportation have been ordered. The inhabitants will be "evacuated'' by order and set to work far behind the German lines in the conquered districts of Franco, where they will bo employed -on civil, not military, tasks.

It sound's fairly mild; but in the same mouth the Etappen-Kommanda-tur strikes a different note. In an hour and a half all the inhabitants, of Lille except children under 14 and their mothers and old folks over 70 are to be ready in front of their houses (they may wait in the passages if it is wet), each with his little allowance ol luggage ready and precisely labelled. And then they are to be transported. Where to ? The posters do not say; but it does sayi that anyone trying to evade the order will be "pitilessly punished."

We know what lies behind that degrading order; and glow all the more fervently at another poster—not of German, origin—which cries aloud to the inhabitants of Lille: "You are within your lights and duties to refuse to do military labour. The Hague Convention supports you. Courage et 1 confianc© ton jours I

Meanwhile, away in Brussells, a certain deed had been accomplished -which will preserve a certain name for the loathing of all history. Here it is in ■black and white. On October I' 2. 1915, von Hissing, Governor of the Oitof Brussels, announces that the Tribunal of the Imperial German War Council sitting at Brussels has passed the following sentences:—'

To death: Edith Cavell, Institutrice a Bruxelles ; Philippe Bancq, Architecte a Bruxelles, and four others for "trahison en band© onranisee" ; to 15 years of hard labour: four others, one of them a woman. And a little lower we read "In the cases of Cavell and 'Bancq, the sentence has already received full execution."