The Russian Minister at Dresden was ordered to leave at nine hours’ notice. With great difficulty he had the time extended to twenty-four hours. He and his staff were put into a carriage with blinds drawn, and he was kept under observation by two police officials all the way to Munich.
Brutal Behaviour, which was Permitted by the German Police, of the Mob, to the Diplomatic Representatives of Foreign Countries
We cannot be surprised that the mob shows little self-control in circumstances so critical as a declaration of war. But what cannot be permitted is that mob violence should be let loose, and not be forbidden by the authorities, upon the representatives of foreign powers, whose mission under such circumstances automatically comes to an end. In Germany, on certain occasions, the authorities were actually accomplices of the mob. This was the case as regards the treatment of the French and Russian diplomatic body as they were leaving Berlin.
When the French diplomatic body was passing through Neumunster, near Kiel, violent demonstrations were made by a party of ladies of the German Red Cross. These ladies crowded round the carriage in which were the staff of the French Embassy, shouting and shaking their fists. As a glass of water was being brought to a little girl of three years old, who was travelling with the Embassy, these ladies took hold of it and threw it to the ground. In some cases the behaviour of the crowd was so shameful that Commandant de Rheinhaben, who had been instructed to travel with the Embassy, said that in all his life he had never had so painful a duty to perform.
The demonstrations against the Russian diplomatic body began on the 27th July, according to a subsequent statement of M. de Sverbeef, Russian Ambassador to Berlin, to one of the editors of Novoïé Vrémia, 29th August, 1914. A howling mob, he said, filled all the streets round the Embassy, shouting insults to the Russians. This lasted till two o’clock in the morning. These demonstrations began again the following day, but, curious to relate, were at first aimed at Russia and not at France. At the beginning of the war it was supposed at Berlin that France would not participate in the struggle.
“I left Berlin,” continued the ambassador, “with the staff of the Embassy on Sunday, 2nd August, at noon. A mob had gathered in front of the Embassy in the morning. To avoid unpleasantness, the gate had been shut. It was only opened at the moment when we were getting into a motor. I went in front in the motor of the United States Ambassador. The crowd did not attack me and I heard hardly any hostile cries. On the other hand, the mob indulged in murderous attacks on the other motors.
“Although at Berlin the fact of these murderous attacks on the members of the Russian Embassy is denied, they are nevertheless authentic. The mob wounded not only the men, but also the ladies. It was not merely the proletariat who gave themselves up to these acts of violence, but people who appeared to be quite of high position participated.”
Moreover, several official representatives of Russia were arrested in the street, but were set at liberty again when their papers had been examined.
Crapovitzki, the Chamberlain, formerly Secretary-in-Chief of the Russian Embassy at Berlin, was struck on the head by blows so violent that his blood saturated two handkerchiefs, and he had to put himself under medical care at Copenhagen.