Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1919 — LIFE UNDER HUN WAS LIVING HELL [ARTICLE]

LIFE UNDER HUN WAS LIVING HELL

Englishman Tells of Four Years in Bruges During Occupation. CRUELTY OF KULTUR RULE Determined Efforts by German Officers to Break Spirit of Belgian Residents Prove Futile—Fined Indiscriminately. London, —Life under ‘the German heel is vividly portrayed in the diary of Mr. Humphrey Page, an Englishman who lived four years In Bruges during the German occupation. Events nre recorded showing determined attempts by the German officers to break the spirit of the Belgian residents proved futile. The ramifications of kulfur=TUle also are shown. Here are some of the events, sketchily told: Tn September, 1916, the Bruges city council was directed to find a specified number of workmen for the Germans under penalty of $25,000 fine for each day’s delay. All who refused to work were imprisoned. M., Schrauvune, leading attorney, discussing this affair with Belgians in a case, said he would not work for the Germans, and considered Belgians who did as cowards. The next day the attorney was summoned before the German commander, fined $750, sent to Sedan for six months’ hard labor, but never was returned. ’ There were all sorts of petty tyranny. French and English, advertisements op buildings had to be removed. Even printed funeral notices Id French were forbidden. Ban on King’s Picture. No resident over ten years old was allowed to be in the streets without a passport containing his photo. It was a punishable offense to exhibit portraits of the Belgian king and queen. German officers, stood at church doors to confiscate coins, worn as brooches or lockets, bearing the likeness of tlfe Belgian king. Nowiflwas allowed to be on the streets after 8 p.' m. Occasionally, when the whole town was punished for some alleged offense, every resident had to remain indoors after 6 p. m., an especial hardship for the poor in summertime. One of the sources of income to the ■German overlords was fines inflicted on persons whose watches or clocks kept Belgian time, instead of German, as ordered by the kaiser. An officer sent to inspect the convent of St. Andre, a girls’ school, reported that the sister who showed him around had a wrist watch showing Belgian time. The sister was fined $250. A Grand Place shopkeeper was Imprisoned thAe mouths for telling an officer Belgian instead of German time. With gje beginning of 1917 prices of all commoditieg soared. A pound of starch cost $2.50, an ordinary candle 60 cents, ordinary shoes sls to

S2O a pair, re-soling same $3. while dress goods and flannels became so expensive only the wealthy could buy. Food supplies were unsatisfactory and the Germans did nothing to alleviate them. In November, 1917, metals of all sorts, especially brass and copper, were confiscated, German soldiers going from house to house and building to building to strip away the metal. Uses Funeral for Propaganda. On February 2, 1917, some German planes dropped bombs by tpistakc on Bruges, Von Buttlar, commandant, decided the funeral of the victims could be utilized for propaganda purposes. He got a wreath and a photographer, and whilb the mourners were about the grave, made them line up, put himselt-dn the center and had the scene recorded?' On September 3, 1917, allied airmen dropped bombs at the Bassin and were fired at from St. Croix. .Shells fell in Bruges, killing a dozen people. The German officers refused to allow funeral mass notices to be posted unless the line “killed by English shells” was added. The

Belgians refused and the notices were torn down. Two Germans constructed bombproof cellars accommodating 200 to 1,000 persons each. While excavating they came upon 8,000 hidden bottles of wine belonging to M. Ganshof. The wine was taken without payment. The bomb-proofs were for Germans and people In small houses without cellars had to~ take their chances at night, although they could use the "public refuges’* in daytime.