Belgium -- History -- German occupation, 1914-1918
While the withdrawal of the Belgian flag was demanded, in the provinces
a hunt was conducted for the Belgian colours used in the decoration of
shop-windows. The German police would enter the shops and demand the
immediate removal of all tricolour ribbons decorating the windows.
MILITARY COURT.
Henry Dargette, of Namur, Place Arthur Borlée, 32, was punished
with a fine of 10 marks, or 2 days' subsidiary detention, in
accordance with § 13 of the Imperial decree of the 28th December,
1893, for having disregarded the communiqué of the Imperial
Government of Namur of the 22nd April, 1915. He had exposed in his
shop-window boxes of tin-plate with the French, British, Russian,
and Belgian colours.
(_L'Ami de l'Ordre_, 3-6 July, 1915.)
In Brussels it was a long time before they decided to take measures
against the wearing of the tricolour rosettes which so many people
carried in their buttonholes; in the streets, at least two persons
in three displayed our colours. This persistence on the part of
the Belgians in publicly displaying their patriotic sentiments is
extremely annoying to the Germans. For proof we need only turn to the
letter from Brussels published in the weekly illustrated supplement
of the _Hamburger Fremdenblatt_ for the 18th April, 1915: "One does
not see a schoolboy, not a schoolgirl, not a lady, not a gentleman,
who does not wear, in an obvious fashion, the Belgian cockade." In
certain towns--for example Lessines, Gand, and Dinant--this kind of
manifestation is prohibited. At Namur the fine may amount to 500 frs.;
the placard which threatens this penalty is conceived in the involved
and nauseating style which we encounter every time the Germans inflict
on us a particularly disgusting piece of hypocrisy. In particular it
is stated that it is forbidden "_publicly_ to display the Belgian
colours." No doubt it is permissible to have them floating about in
one's pocket, or to decorate the interior of one's chest of drawers
with them. This is how the Teuton Tartuffe "asks no one to renounce his
patriotic sentiments":--
GOVERNMENT COMMUNIQUÉS.
One may observe, of late, in a great proportion of the inhabitants
of the town, as well as in the young school-children, a tendency to
manifest their patriotic feelings by wearing, in an open manner,
the Belgian colours, under different forms.
I am far from wishing to offend their feelings; on the contrary, I
esteem and respect them.
But, on the other hand, I cannot but perceive, in this form
[of display], that it is desired thereby PUBLICLY to express a
demonstration against the present state of affairs and against the
German authority, which I expressly forbid.
I consequently direct:
It is strictly forbidden to place in view, publicly, the Belgian
colours, either on oneself, or on any objects whatever, in no
matter what circumstances.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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