Belgium -- History -- German occupation, 1914-1918
There is yet another kind of graphic lie which is peculiar to the
Germans. They are experts at displaying sentimentality to order; a
sentimentality, by the way, which goes ill with their incontestable
cruelty. Thus they have several times published photographs
representing German soldiers sharing their bread or soup with French
and Belgian women or children. One is particularly inclined to let
oneself be touched by the kindliness of these German warriors,
who, after having been so treacherously attacked by the terrible
"francs-tireurs," now take the bread from their own mouths to feed
the starving population.... What these public demonstrations of
German generosity and magnanimity are worth one may judge from the
photograph published in No. 16 of the _Illustrierte Kriegs-Kurier_. (It
is interesting to note that it is always the _Kurier_, semi-official
and subsidized, which bears the palm for sincerity.) The illustration
shows that "the soldiers of the German Landsturm share their bread with
French children." Now, this little scene, otherwise very convincing,
is not laid in France but in Belgium, in the railway station at
Buysinghen, near Hal. It is wholly "faked."
This is not the only instance in which the Germans have built up
scenes to be photographed or cinematographed. Here is another. On the
20th October, 1914, a military band had been playing on the terrace
of the Botanical Gardens of Brussels, and some German officers were
strolling round the musicians. At the same time a cinematographic
camera was set up in the Rue Royale. It was naturally hoped that large
numbers of the public would gather near the band, so that a nice
film could be obtained, showing a crowd of Belgian citizens present
at a military concert, and fraternizing with the German officers.
Alas, the Germans had counted without the hatred which the people
of Brussels entertain for anything which concerns our oppressors!
At the first thumps of the big drum the promenaders rapidly melted
away, and the disappointed officers were left alone. The scheme
had failed! A fresh attempt was made on the 26th, on the Boulevard
Anspach, near the Bourse; that is, at the busiest spot in Brussels.
The number of passers-by there is always so great that it is easy to
give the impression of a crowd. Yet those who had occasion to preside
over the unwinding of the film discovered that not a few people were
ostentatiously turning their backs upon the musicians. This, by the
way, is the favourite attitude of the people of Brussels when, at
about eleven o'clock each morning, the military band--a true barbarian
orchestra--passes down the Rue Royale and along the Park.
No. 31 of this semi-official journal shows "the band of the German
Marines which plays every Sunday at Zeebrugge." Now a street like that
represented, with tall contiguous houses and large shops, does not
exist in Zeebrugge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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