Belgium -- History -- German occupation, 1914-1918
We had also access to two journals published by the Government
itself: (1) the _Deutsche Soldatenpost_ (_Herausgegeben von der
Zivil-Vorwaltung des General-Gouverneurs in Belgiën_), originally
reserved for soldiers, but which was also sold to civilians--in a very
intermittent fashion, it is true--from September 1914 to the beginning
of December 1914; (2) _Le Réveil_ (_Écho de la Presse, Journal officiel
du Bureau allemand à Düsseldorf pour la publication de nouvelles
authentiques à l'étranger_), the latter being published simultaneously
in French and German. Forty-nine numbers were published. It felt such
an insurmountable disgust for untruth that having announced in the
introductory article of its first number that Belgium was entirely
in the hands of the Germans, it spoke, in a neighbouring column, of
battles in Western Flanders between the Germans and the Allies. Let
us say at once that from the point of view of sincerity and liberty
of opinion all the newspapers of the Trans-Rhenian world are of equal
worth: official or otherwise, they only publish that which is allowed,
or rather, inspired, by the Government.
_Authorized Dutch Newspapers._
One newspaper not subject to the Imperial censorship, one only, has
found grace with the authorities--the _Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant_.
Its tendencies, clearly favourable to Germany, enable it to penetrate
into Belgium; but not equally all over the country. At Gand one may
subscribe to it; but its sale in single numbers is prohibited. In
Antwerp it was proscribed for several months from the 7th December.
At Louvain and Brussels it may be sold in the street, and also supplied
to subscribers. But it must not be supposed that the paper is anywhere
regularly distributed; the edition of the morning of the 10th November,
1914, was forwarded on the 27th November to a few subscribers who
were particularly persistent in their demands; it is true that this
number contains the article on the letters of prisoners of war made
by the Belgians (pp. 104-5), and that these letters annihilate not a
few accusations made by the Germans, while they throw a singular light
on their lies and acts of pillage. As for the issues for the 6th,
7th, and 8th December, 1914, they were never distributed; an official
announcement, which appeared in _L'Ami de l'Ordre_ of the 9th and 10th
December states that these numbers contain "inadmissible communications
as to the dislocation of troops." The issues of the 24th, 25th, and
26th December were also withheld. Since January 1915 some ten numbers
have been prohibited each month.
From the _Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant_ we have copied only the
articles by contributors and correspondents of the journal itself; it
has seemed to us that to reproduce articles extracted from Belgian
newspapers was a proceeding which, while quite usual among the Germans,
is not entirely honest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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