In short, since I crossed the frontier I have not inserted a single idea into this book: it therefore precisely reflects the state of mind of a Belgian who has lived a year under the German domination.
I have forced myself to remain as far as possible objective, in order to give my work the scientific rigour which characterizes the Reports of the Belgian Commission of Inquiry. I have simply transferred, to a domain which is new to me, the methods of my customary occupations.
Here is a list of my principal sources, with the abbreviations which denote them in the text:—
| N.R.C. | Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant. From this journal |
| (with two exceptions) I have taken only those | |
| articles which were not stopped by the German | |
| censorship. | |
| K.Z. | Kölnische Zeitung. |
| K.Vz. | Kölnische Volkszeitung. |
| D.G.A. | Düsseldorfer General-Anzeiger. |
| F.Z. | Frankfurter Zeitung. |
| N.A.Z. | Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. |
| 1st to 12th Report. | Reports of the Belgian Commission of Inquiry. |
| 1st and 2nd Belgian. Grey Books. | |
| Belg. All. | Davignon, La Belgigue et l'Allemagne. |
The English edition is not a complete translation of the French text. To save space, many facts, and above all, many quotations, have been suppressed.
J. M.
Antibes, Villa Thuret,
October, 1915.