Belgium -- History -- German occupation, 1914-1918
No. 3 of the same paper (it must certainly justify the Government
subsidy) shows us, in these photographs, the entry of the German
Marines into Antwerp. Only the photographs were taken in Brussels, at
the corner of the Rue de la Loi and the Rue Ducale.
The same number contains two photographs of the Hôtel de Ville,
Louvain: "Before and after the Bombardment"(!)
Naturally our Washingtonian enemies do not miss their opportunities
of falsifying picture postcards. In January 1915 they were selling in
Belgium a card entitled _Kriegsoperationskarte als Feld-Postbrief_
(published by Forkel, Stuttgart), according to which they were
occupying, in Flanders, a region considerably to the west of the Yser;
their front reaching to Oost-Dunkerke and Poperinghe. Another card,
showing the country round Verdun, is even more flagrantly untruthful.
_Written Lies._
Let us pass on to the written lies.
The reader will remember the innumerable lies told by the German Press
respecting the attitude of the Belgian population toward the German
residents in our towns (p. 106), the German wounded (p. 99), and the
German troops passing through or billeted in them. We shall not return
to these again, save to refer to other inventions which the Germans
employed to excite their troops against ours.
Not content with accusing us of the most unspeakable crimes against
their army, the Germans have even accused us of odious crimes against
our own countrymen. In this way they seek to prove the bestially
ferocious character of the Belgians.
In the booklet entitled _Sturmnacht in Loewen_ (A Night of Alarm in
Louvain) Herr Robert Heymann, after reminding his readers of the
cruelties of which the Belgians were guilty in Antwerp, Brussels, etc.,
adds that these savage deeds were by no means surprising on the part of
a people which does not even respect its own fellow-citizens. Then (p.
8) he relates the "Brutalities committed against a Convent." This is
too interesting an effort to suffer a word of suppression.
BRUTAL ATTACK ON A CONVENT.
Let us hear one of those concerned relate his tribulations. The
story constitutes an important document, testifying to the high
level of Germany as regards morality and _Kultur_: Germany, who has
something better to do in this war than to commit any bloodthirsty
action.
A great mission has fallen to Germany, and the day is no longer
distant when all the neutral nations will realize this.
This is the "story of the Brothers of Silence."
The convent of the Jesuits is situated quite close to Liége, on a
hill about 600 yards from the southern fort (_a_). I had been a
brother of the convent for two years. We brothers do not read the
newspapers, and by reason of our vow of silence (_b_) we do not
speak either, so that we knew nothing about the war.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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