(a) Propagandist Bureaux operating in Germany.
The most important of the propagandist pamphlets appearing in Germany is a monthly publication. It is known, in French, as the Journal de la Guerre. We know it also in German and in Dutch; probably it is translated into yet other languages. Each number consists of 40 to 72 pages, and contains general information, a chronicle of the war, photographs and drawings, tales of the battles, etc. ... in short, everything that can influence the public opinion of neutral countries. In almost every number is an article tending to prove that Germany was forced, for reasons of self-defence, to invade Belgium; that Belgium, moreover, had violated her own neutrality in advance; that the Belgians amply deserve their fate, on account of their wicked treatment of wounded men (gouging out their eyes, etc.). We have already mentioned the Journal de la Guerre with reference to a "faked" map of Louvain.
The Journal de la Guerre published an article by Herr Helfferich on a journey through Belgium, undertaken in September 1914. It is teeming with inaccuracies, but it would be waste of time to refute them all. We will confine ourselves to the first sentence, which states that the burgomaster of Battice has been shot. Now, this is untrue: the burgomaster of Battice, M. Rosette, who has filled his office for many years, is in excellent health, and is still living in Battice.
Another publication—La Guerre—Journal périodique paraissant durant la guerre de 1914-15—is intended for prisoners of war.
The best method of impressing the prisoners is assuredly to show them that in their own country people are already beginning to realize the indisputable superiority of Germany. So La Guerre frequently publishes articles reprinted from La Gazette des Ardennes; only it forgets to mention that La Gazette des Ardennes is a newspaper established, edited, and printed exclusively by Germans, since the occupation. Shall we take another example of duplicity? For the Belgians, naturally, what their priests tell them has great weight with them. No. 14 of La Guerre reproduces a passage from an article (which is mentioned on p. 129) originally published by "the priest Domela Nieuwenhuis, of Gand." Here is a falsehood: M. Domela Nieuwenhuis is not a priest; he is a Protestant pastor in Gand. In the quotation M. Nieuwenhuis says: "If we Flemings had been properly informed...." (La Guerre, No. 14, p. 217).
"We Flemings," M. Nieuwenhuis is supposed to have said ... and he is a Dutchman. This is curious. Let us compare this with the original text in De Tijdspiegel, p. 316, 1st April, 1915. There we find: "Indien wij hier in Vlaanderen ... zouden zign voorgelicht...." ("If we, here in Flanders, had been informed....") The German forgers have been at work, and by a little tinkering at the text, they have made a Dutch pastor pass for a Flemish priest! To what are they not reduced!
The pamphlet Die Wahrheit über den Krieg speaks on p. 93 of an international propagandist organisation established in Berlin: the Commission for the publication of impartial news abroad (we translate from the Dutch version). This Commission publishes Correspondence for Neutrals, which aims solely at "distributing positive news concerning the working of social, juridicial, economic, and moral institutions and general culture in Germany." Its articles are especially intended for use by the Press. It appears two or three times a week, in ten different languages, and will continue to do so during the war. It asserts that its expenses are covered entirely by private subscriptions.
At the Superior Technical College of Stuttgart is established the Süddeutsche Nachrichtenstelle für die Neutralen (South German News Bureau for the Neutrals). It publishes propagandist leaflets at irregular intervals and of various dimensions, which are intended to furnish "the verifiable truth as to the origin, course, and results of the war."