The Better Germany in War Time: Being Some Facts Towards FellowshipPicton, Harold W. (Harold Williams)
History
The Better Germany in War Time: Being Some Facts Towards Fellowship
Picton, Harold W. (Harold Williams)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals, charities, etc.; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
A sad account of incidents of the Russian invasion begins: “Of course,
not all Russians are barbarians, most of the misdeeds are due to the
Cossacks.” (I could not help on reading this calling to mind some of the
wilder anti-German outbursts. An official in a rather responsible
position said to me that he could not see “a single redeeming feature in
any one of them.” It was a childish outburst, but childishness in a
position of authority becomes cruelty.) A story one German school-book
tells of a wounded Belgian sounds only the note of pity, and there is a
wonderful little picture of a wounded German’s suspicion of a wounded
Russian. The story is finely told, but I cannot reproduce it all here.
The Russian is in pain and thirst, the wounded German hesitates between
suspicion and pity, but pity gets the upper hand, and he crawls with his
water bottle to the Russian. Later, as he lies helpless, his fears are
aroused by seeing the Russian fumble with something in his breast. Is it
a revolver? The wounded German, overstrained with suffering, waits in
terror, but the Russian dies before his hand can bring out what it
sought. When the stretcher bearers come the German asks the leader to
look for the revolver which he feared the Russian was trying to get out.
The leader goes to look. He brings back what the Russian’s dying hand
was seeking. No revolver, but the portrait of his mother. This rebuke of
hatred and suspicion would live in a child’s mind for long.
The effects of the anti-German outbursts can be traced even in these
books. When an officer finds the Sisters of a nunnery in want, his ready
help is accompanied by the words: “This little kindness is the act of
German barbarians, who refuse all thanks. As long as we are here, each
barbarian soldier will give up a little, so that you may have their
savings every three days, and then you will have plenty.... Enjoy it,
and be as happy as you can.”
BELGIUM AND WAR AIMS.
Professor Martin-Rade of Marburg University is a Protestant Liberal
Theologian and a man well known in his own country on account of his
literary and political activities. He writes as follows in the
_Christliche Welt_, a widely-circulated magazine of which he is the
editor: “I can only deplore the manner in which the Chancellor in his
speech ... has treated the question of neutral countries, for there was
no need for him to have recourse to the proverb, ‘Necessity knows no
law.’ With that proverb I cannot convince these who behold in the
existence of neutral States a triumph of the rights of man. That is why
it is a pity—for which it is hard indeed to make reparation—that the
German Empire should not have abstained altogether, at the very outset,
from the sin ... which it has committed against Belgium. Whoever accuses
my view of being unpatriotic I challenge, by whatever test he likes, to
show that he loves his Fatherland better than I do.” (From a letter in
the _Nation_, November 28, 1914.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account