Belgians Under the German Eagle

by Jean Massart

At Namur the Brabançonne was declared seditious on the 23rd March, 1915. But a month later the execution of the first four verses was declared to be permissible. What did the Germans mean by that? Let us remember that none of the known versions of our national song (the two versions of Jenneval and that of Rogier) consists of more than four verses. Which, then, are those that our persecutors forbid? In their rage for prohibition they have prohibited something that does not exist!—unless they were speaking of the verse invented by La Libre Belgique, and published in its tenth issue. It would be amusing if the German authorities had fallen into a snare set by a prohibited newspaper!

In Brussels the Germans had not dared openly to interdict the Brabançonne, as they did another national anthem which had, so to speak, the freedom of the city of Brussels: we mean the Marseillaise (placard of the 27th March, 1915). Never did one hear the Marseillaise so often as after the Germans forbade us to sing or play it; only it was now whistled. So, as might have been expected, whistling the Marseillaise was made a crime. As for the Brabançonne, it was prohibited in an underhand sort of way. It used to be sung every day in a school in Brussels; but two German soldiers of the Landsturm, who were guarding a neighbouring railway, heard it, and felt offended. Hence a letter to the communal authorities, demanding that the national anthem should be sung or played with more discretion. It is now seldom played save in the churches: at High Mass on Sunday and the funeral services for soldiers.

The National Anniversary of July 21st.

In July 1915 the people of Brussels hit on a new method of celebrating the national anniversary of the 21st July. Since our tyrants would obviously forbid us to fly our flag at half-mast, in token of our being for the time in mourning for our country, a number of shopkeepers announced, by means of a small printed notice, that "the shop would be closed on Wednesday, the 21st July." The Germans were displeased; moreover, they issued a decree forbidding all demonstrations.

21st July.

Order of the Governor of Brussels dated 18th July, 1915.

I warn the public that on the 21st July, 1915, demonstrations of all kinds are expressly and severely prohibited.

Meetings, processions, and the decoration of public and private buildings also come under the application of the above prohibition.

Offenders will be punished by a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months and a fine which may amount to as much as 10,000 marks, or by one of these penalties to the exclusion of the other.

They also announced, by means of the newspapers in their pay, Le Bruxellois and La Belgique, that the closing of the shops might be regarded as a demonstration. Their pains were wasted. On the morning of the 21st the shops and cafés remained closed; in private houses the shutters were not opened. In all Brussels only a few taverns were open—taverns frequented by the Germans, which a Belgian would never compromise himself by entering. All that day it was a comforting and impressive spectacle to see the crowd, in its Sunday clothes, grave and deeply affected, with never one uplifted voice, passing along the streets of closed houses. Never had the like been seen in Brussels. No one would have dared to hope for such unanimity of feeling after eleven months of occupation. The Germans were raging. They brought out troops, who, with bayonet and cannon, occupied the principal public squares; they ran an armoured motor-car up and down the most frequented streets; they dragged artillery along the avenues surrounding the city. But they did not succeed in fomenting the slightest disturbance; the Brussels public was too firmly determined to preserve its dignity and its tranquillity.

In all the churches the Te Deum was replaced by a High Mass, followed by the playing of the Brabançonne; the latter was sung in chorus by the congregation, who were moved to tears.

The comic note was struck by the Germans. Suddenly, in the afternoon, motor-cars began to hustle the crowds that had gathered; they bore red placards, which were immediately pasted up, announcing that the cafés, cinema-halls, etc., were to be closed at 8 p.m. Now all these establishments had been closed since the morning. The Germans must have lost their heads to make so grotesque an exhibition of themselves.

As a sort of reprisal, the authorities suspended the two newspapers which had not appeared on the 21st July: Le Quotidien and L'Écho de la Presse. Immediately La Belgique, which had appeared, suspended itself, in order to produce a belief that it was not German! As for the Bruxellois, it said not a word of the striking demonstration of the 21st.

In other Belgian towns the shops were closed. In Antwerp more than the shops were closed; the bureau of German passports, in the Place Verte, announced, by means of two written notices, in German and Flemish, that it was closed for the 21st July. The Germans were trying to repeat the trick of the ivy-leaf. In vain, however, since the 21st was to occur only once!