"Much as we condemn the excesses of the Belgians, still we must not wreak vengeance on the whole nation as a section of our Press demands. Have not harmless and defenceless foreigners been terribly ill-treated in Germany without distinction of sex? Have not shops and restaurants been demolished in hundreds, wherever a French word was to be met? And the rage of the German masses has found an outlet not only against foreigners, but against good German patriots and even German officers."[[99]]
[!-- Note Anchor 99 --][Footnote 99: Leipziger Volkszeitung, August 12th. This journal as well as the Fränkische Tagespost names Wolff's Agency as their authority in more than one issue.]
The same journal on the preceding day deplored that "we ourselves are not free from guilt." It recounts how German reservists, when leaving Antwerp and Brussels, had sung their national songs in a loud, provocative manner, and taunted the bystanders with such remarks as: "In three days we shall be here again!"
According to the same authority German residents had insulted the populace by displaying their national flag; and German employers had been among the first to discharge employees of their own nationality, without salary in lieu of notice, thus increasing the difficulties of German residents in Belgium.
German official pronouncements are much more reticent in their judgment on these allegations of Belgian cruelties. None the less the Berlin Government must be held responsible for them being scattered throughout the land. After Germany's official representative had returned from Brussels to Berlin he made a statement to the Press. Considering that von Below was in the Belgian capital at the time, his views are instructive.
He expressed his great astonishment that such things should have happened, and asserted that up till the very last minute he had been treated with the greatest kindness and politeness. Neither he nor any of his Legation Staff had experienced the slightest unpleasantness. Further, von Below expressed the conviction that only single instances of such excesses had occurred and these were a result of the quarrelsome Walloon character. No village fête passes off among them without such outbreaks, accompanied by bloodshed.[[100]]
[!-- Note Anchor 100 --][Footnote 100: This may be true, but von Below could have said the same with absolute truth of German village fairs, Kirmesse, etc.—Author.]
German papers of August 15th reported this official version, and four days later a proclamation was issued by State Secretary Dr. Delbrück, calling upon all persons who had been ill-treated in Belgium to report themselves, so that the "numerous" newspaper reports could be confirmed or refuted. The result of the inquiry has never been published.
From a number of witnesses who testified whole-heartedly to Belgian kindness, one will suffice. A lady reported her adventures in the Vorwärts of September 6th, from which the following sentences have been gleaned. "Even if it is true that Germans were subjected to inconsideration and ill-treatment during their flight from Belgium, still there are hundreds of Germans who, like myself, met with generous sympathy and unstinted help.
"A Flemish servant refused her month's wages, saying that her employers would need it on the journey. Many Germans were offered homes in Belgian families till the war was over. My own landlord in Brussels placed an empty flat at my disposal for German refugees. At parting he and his wife were as deeply moved as we, and when I began to make excuses for being unable to pay the rent, she at once prevented me from speaking another word. My husband was provided with a hat which looked less 'German;' they filled our pockets with provisions for the journey, and after his wife had embraced me and my child we left the house in silence.