Belgium -- History -- German occupation, 1914-1918
Whosoever produces, without authorization, representations of
destruction caused by the war, or who displays, offers for sale,
sells, or otherwise distributes, by means of postcards, illustrated
reviews, daily newspapers, or other periodicals containing such
representations, above all of buildings or localities burned or
devastated by the war, will be punished by a fine not exceeding
5,000 marks or a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year.
The seizure of formes and plates which shall have served for
the reproduction of these representations, as well as their
destruction, may also be ordered.
THE IMPERIAL GOVERNOR,
FREIHERR VON HUENE,
_General of Infantry_.
ANTWERP, _1st December, 1914_.
(_Posted at Antwerp._)
_Regulations as to Correspondence._
The sending of letters by carrier is prohibited. Until about the
middle of December correspondence was carried from town to town by
the carriers who undertake the goods traffic since the suspension of
the railways; one could still, therefore, easily enough obtain news.
But, as a souvenir of his joyous entry, the Herr Baron von Bissing,
who succeeded the Herr Baron von der Goltz as Governor-General in
Belgium, suppressed this little supplementary vocation of the carriers.
Thus Senator Speyer was condemned to pay a fine of 1,000 marks and to
undergo 10 days' imprisonment for the conveyance of letters. We have
no longer the resource of sending letters by carrier pigeons, as these
are closely scrutinized by the Germans. Finally, two remaining methods
of transmitting letters were taken from us: the use of a bow and arrow
(_N.R.C._, 1st January, 1915), and enclosure in a loaf baked in Holland
and sold in Belgium. So it is needless to say that we have neither
telegraph nor telephone.
There is nothing to be done but to go in search of information oneself,
after finding out the hours (highly variable) during which one is
allowed to "circulate" in the localities through which one has to pass.
Since then it has become very difficult to obtain precise information
as to an event which has occurred in another locality, for obviously
one cannot trust a missive of this kind to the German post, which
accepts only open letters, and passes them through a _cabinet noir_;
moreover, it does not guarantee communication with all points.
BY ORDER OF THE GERMAN AUTHORITY.
After 8 p.m. (7 p.m. Belgian) there must be no lights in the
windows of the houses of the town of Herve.
The patrol has orders to fire into every window lit up, giving upon
the street.
AD. CAJOT, _Sheriff_.
F. DE FRANCQUEX, _Judge_.
(_Posted at Herve._)
It must also be explained what administrative formalities one
had to fulfil in order to obtain a lodging. Thus, from January
1915 no one could obtain a lodging in Gand, whether in an hotel,
or a boarding-house, or apartments, without first obtaining the
authorization of the _Kommandantur_.
_Railway Journeys._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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