German War Practices, Part 1: Treatment of Civilians
History
German War Practices, Part 1: Treatment of Civilians
World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities
But the horrible methods of that deportation were such that we,
although trying to hold steadfast to a rigorous neutrality, could not
but protest. Mr. Gerard, our Ambassador to Berlin, happened at the
very time of this protest to make a visit to the Great Headquarters in
the west and the matter was brought to the attention of certain high
officers at Headquarters on the very day of Mr. Gerard's visit and in
his hearing. So that he added his own protest to that of Mr. Poland,
our director at the time, and further deportations were stopped. But
a terrible mischief had already been done. Husbands and fathers had
been taken from their families without a word of good-bye; sons and
daughters on whom perhaps aged parents relied for support were taken
without pity or apparent thought of the terrible consequences. The
great deportations of Belgium have shocked the world. But these lesser
deportations--that is, lesser in extent, but not less brutal in their
carrying out--are hardly known.
[Sidenote: No American can fail to oppose Prussianism.]
I went into Belgium and occupied France a neutral and I maintained
while there a steadfastly neutral behavior. But I came out no neutral.
I can not conceive that any American enjoying an experience similar to
mine could have come out a neutral. He would come out, as I came, with
the ineradicable conviction that a people or a government which can do
what the Germans did and are doing in Belgium and France to-day must
not be allowed, if there is power on earth to prevent it, to do this a
moment longer than can be helped. And they must not be allowed ever to
do it again.
[Sidenote: Civilization must crush Prussian system.]
I went in also a hater of war, and I came out a more ardent hater of
war. But, also, I came out with the ineradicable conviction, again,
that the only way in which Germany under its present rule and in its
present state of mind can be kept from doing what it had done is by
force of arms. It can not be prevented by appeal, concession, or
treaties. Hence, ardently as I hope that all war may cease, I hope
that this war may not cease until Germany realizes that the civilized
world simply will not allow such horrors as those for which Germany is
responsible in Belgium and France to be any longer possible.
VERNON KELLOGG.
Your Government Is Willing to Send You
WITHOUT CHARGE
Any Two of the Pamphlets Listed Here with Exceptions Noted
_Committee on Public Information._
(Established by Order of the President, April 14, 1917, Washington,
D.C.)
Series No. 1. War Information. (Red, White and Blue Covers.)
Catalogue No.
1. How the War Came to America.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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