k.ais»:ii.tL,s A = — ^ ^ A = 2^^ o en n = u ^ m =^ 33 ? = == O 9 = 4 ^ ^^ ^■^— 33 3 = ^= J> ? = T^ 2 g __^^ 1 =^=^ — < 1^^ Deportation of Women and Girls from Lille Translated textually from the Note addressed by the French Government to the Governments of Neutral Powers on the conduct of the German Authorities towards the population of the French Departments in the occupation of the enemy. \With Extracts from Other Documents, Annexed \To the Note Relating to German Breaches of nternational Law During 1914, 1915, 1916. THE DEPORTATION OF WOMEN AND S GIRLS FROM LILLE. Translated textually from the Note ad- dressed by the French Government to the Governments of Neutral Powers on the conduct of the German Authorities towards the population of the French Departments in the occupation of the enemy. WITH EXTRACTS FROM OTHER DOCUMENTS, ANNEXED TO TJHE NOTE, RELATING TO GERMAN \mVEACHES OF INTER= NATIONAL LA^ DURING 1914, 1915, 1916. v> NEW YORK: GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY. \ \ ^ TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. Circular covering the Note to the Diplomatic Agents of France ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 Note of the Government of the French Repnhlic ... 4 Annexes : — A. Documents relating to the deportation and disper- sion of women, girls and men from Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing (April, 1916) 9 I. German Documents : — Proclamation of the Military Commandant at Lille 10 Proclamation of the " Etappen-Komman- dantur " ... ... ... ... ... 10 II. French Documents : — Protests by the French Government ... ... 11 Reply of the German Government ... ... 14 Reply of the French Government ... ... 14 Various Documents : — Protests by the Mayor and the Bishop of Lille ... ... ... ... ... Id Various Letters ... ... ... ... 16 B. Depositions concerning forced labour in the Departments in Gei-man occupation ... ... 35 C. OflScial French and Geiman Documents concerning forced labour ... ... ... ... ... 75 (909fr— 8.) A 2 THE DEPORTATION of WOMEN AND GIRLS FROM LILLE. Letter enclosing the Note to the Powers. The President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Diploviatic Representatives of the French Republic, Paris, 2bth Juhj, 1916. I have requested you to call the atteution of the goverument to which you are accredited to the treatment to which the population of Lille, Roubaix, and Tourcoing have been subjected by the German authorities {Ann. 5). I informed you that I was in receipt of a number of com- munications on this subject. In view of the facts which have been revealed to it, the French Government cannot think it sufficient to cite the 3rd Article of the Con- vention of the Hague relating to the laws and customs of land warfare, or to anticipate the indemnity for which Germany will be held respon- sible on the score of the breaches of the Regulations committed by persons belonging to her armed forces; the Government would feel itself guilty of a grave failure of duty if it did not endeavour to bring some remedial measures to bear on these sufferings. Until the fortune of war enables us to reconquer the occupied districts, the only means of furthering this effort is to make an urgent appeal, in the name of justice and of humanity, to the neutral Powers and to the public opinion of all nations. I therefore beg you to communicate the annexed Note to the Govern- ment to which you are accredited, and to call its most serious attention to the document. This Note embodies the protest of the French Government against the facts which it thereby brings to the knowledge of the civilised world ; the Note is supported by much documentary evidence which is annexed to it. If our compatriots in enemy countries have a means of defence in the devoted zeal of the Governments charged with the protection of French interests, the same is not the case with our fellow-citizens in the territory for the administration of which Germany is temporarily responsible. In the name of militiir}- necessities — which it has not allowed to stand in the way of certain publicists being allowed access to its front — the German Government has, up to the present, refused to allow representa- tives of neutral Powers to be sent to the invaded Departments. Without doubt it fears the ini])ression wliuh would l)e produced abroad by a knowledge of the situation to which the unhajjpy resident population is reduced. Time has been necessary to collect and arrange the evidence establishing the guilt of the German authorities for the events of Holy Week, 1910. To these documents we add all the others which attest tlie various abuses to which our compatriots of tlie occupied districts have been subjected since the beginning of the war. The German Government has paid no attention to the successive sug- gestions which have been made to it with a view to putting an end tT a state of affairs wliich violates all iuternational eugagements, and thus leaves the population of these districts under the constant menace of new severities. All our protests having proved idle, we lay to-day our proofs before the neutral Powers, confident of the judgment which the conscience of the world will pronounce upon the facts. Naturally, it has been imj)ossible for the French Government itself to check every detail of the information contained in the documentary evidence laid before it, inasmuch as it relates to matters which occurred in territory still occujiied by the enemy. But the evidence collected comes from so many sources, is so much to the same effect, and is given by persons of such great respectability, character, and trustworthiness, that it will carry a conviction of its general truth. The mistakes, if any, will not invalidate the general conclusion ; they can be of only secondary importance. It remains to observe that if the German Government's intention is to impugn our information, the course incumbent upon it is to agree to an impartial investigation, and. in purvsuance of this object, to authorise the neutral Powers to institute an enquiry, especially upon the events which occurred at Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing, and the adjacent com- munes between the 22nd and the 29tli April, 1916. A refusal on its part would involve an acknowledgment of the truth of the facts alleged. ^o-" (Signed) A. BET AND. Note of the Government of the French Republic on the Conduct of THE German Authorities towards the Population of the French Departments occupied by the Enemy. On several occasions^ the Government of the Republic has had occasion to bring to the notice of neutral Powers the action of the German military authorities towards the population of the French territory tem- porarily occupied by them as being in conflict with treaty rights. The Government of the Republic finds itself to-day obliged to lay before foreign governments documents which will establish that our enemies have put in force measures still more inconsistent with humanity. By order of General von Graevenitz, and with the support of Infantry Regiment No. 64, detailed for the purpose by the German General Head- quarters, about 25,000 French — consisting of girls between 16 and 20 years of age, young women, and men up to the age of 55 — without regard to social position,^ were torn from their homes at Roubaix, Tourcoing, and Lille, separated ruthlessly from their families, and compelled to do agricultural work in the Departments of the Aisne and the Ardennes. Better than any comment which we can make, the official notices of the German authorities, the despairing protests of the Mayor and the (') Notal)ly, in August last, a French Note denounced the behaviour of the Germans who at Lille, at Roubaix, and in the neighbouring villages, compelled women and girls to make sandbags, work directly connected with military operations. (Ann. 243.) (') The removals were made without regard to social position. It appears, however, that some discrimination was effected later on, after an examination of such hands as appeared incapable of agricultural labour. This measure — in which humanity bore no part — does nothing to lessen the odium of removals, which, none the less, involved keen distress to families. If the Germans hoped by these means to create a class antagonism in a population united against the invader, the examples of devotion, quoted in Annexes 13 and 19, prove their failure. Bishop of Lille, aud extracts from the letters received from these locali- ties which follow (Ann. A) will throw light upon this new outrage com- mitted by the Imperial German Government. The Minister of War, under date of the 30th June, 1916, gives us the following accounts of these occurrences : — Not content with subjecting our people in the North to every kind of oppres- sion, the Germans have recently treated them in the most iniquitous way. In contempt of rules universally recognised and of their own express promises not to molest the civil population, they have taken women and girls away from their families ; they have sent them oflE, mixed up with men, to destinations unknown, to work unknown. In the early days of April, official notices offered to families needing work a settlement in the country — in the Department of the Nord — with work in the fields or at tree-felling (Ann. 28). Finding this overture unsuccessful, the Germans decided to have recourse to compulsion. From the 9th April onwards they resorted to raids — in the streets, in the houses — carrying off men and girls indiscriminately, and sending them Heaven knows where (A?m. 12-32). A wider scope and a more methodical application were soon given to the measure. A General and a large force arrived at Lille (An>i. 13, 21, 22), among others the 64th Regiment from Verdun (Ann. 13, 19, 24). On the 29th and 30th April, the public were warned by proclamation to be prepared for a compulsory evacuation (Ann. 21). The Mayor entered an immediate protest, the Bishop tried to gain access to the local Commandant, local worthies wrote letters of protest (Aim. 10, 11, 16, 22, 23, 28). No effect ! On Holy Saturday, at three in the morning, methodical raids began at Lille in the Fives quarter, in the Marlierejquarter of Tourcoing, and at Roubaix. After a suspension on Easter Sunday, the work went on all the week, ending up in the Saint Maurice quarter of Lille (Arm. 22). About three in the morning, troops, with fixed bayonets, barred the streets, machine guns commanded the road, against unarmed people (Ann. 14, 15, 16, 22). Soldiers made their way into the houses. The oflficer pointed out the people who were to go, and, half an hour later, everybody was marched pell-mell into an adjacent factory, and from there to the station, whence the departure took place (Arm. 2, 13, 16, 23, 32). Mothers with children under 14 were spared (Aim. 2, 13, 14, 16). Girls under 20 were deported only when accompanied by one of their family. This in no way relieves the barbarity of the proceeding. Soldiers of the Land- eturm blushed to be employed on such work (Arm. 20). The victims of this brutal act displayed the greatest courage. They were heard crying " Vive la France," and singing the Marseillaise in the cattle-trucks in which they were carried off (Aim. 14, 20, 32). It is said that the men are employed in agriculture, road-mending, the making of munitions and trench digging (Aim. 22). The women are employed in cooking and laundry-work for the soldiers and as substitutes for officers' servants (Aim. 19, 22). For this severe work, housemaids, domestic servants and factory women have been taken by preference (Ann. 20, 22). No servants are left in the Rue Royale at Lille (Attn. 19). But some brave girls of the upper middle-class have come forward and refused to allow the working-class girls to go alone. The names of Miles B and de B are mentioned as having insisted on accompanying the girls of their district (Arm. 13, 19.) The unfortunate people, thus requisitioned, have been scattered from Seclia and Templeuve (A>u,. 19, 22, 28), as far as the Ardennes (Ann. 19, 20, 28, 32). Their number is estimated at about 25,000, from the towns of Lille, Roubaix, and Tourcoing (Ann. 19). The Quartier de la Place at Lille, the communes of Loos, Haubourdin, la Madeleine, and Lambersart arc said to have been spared. Une(iualled emotion was felt by the population of the North of France, without distinction of classes, d\iring these days of Holy Week.^ (') See the letter of the 30th April, addressed to M. Jules Cambon, Secretary -General to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, formerly French Ambassador at Berlin aud an ex- Prefect of Lille (Ann. 12, 13) 6 These measures surpass in inhuiaanity those previously adopted. It is, however, necessary to return to the latter. It appears necessary to compare the documents annexed to this Note with a reply given by the German Government {Ann. 244) to a previous complaint relating to work enforced, in violation of the Convention, on the civil population of Landrecies and Hancourt (Ann. 242). After declaring that at Landrecies the French who are liable to military service have work suitable to their profession assigned to them, the German Government asserts that at Landrecies, Hancourt, and every- where else the population of the occupied French districts is treated with justice and perfect humanity. The documents annexed to the present Note will show the value of this assertion. It is not a matter of men liable to military service having been forced to work; women, and girls between 16 and 20, have been taken into captivity and sent into exile. Does the German Government, denying the principles, the sanctity of which it accepted in the Hague Convention, maintain that a belligerent has the right to compel enemy civilians to work? In a Note dated the 22ud March, 1916 {Ann. 245), it stated that it felt compelled to " request the French Government to issue orders to all commandants of internment camps on the subject of forced labour, and to require a formal declaration with regard to the matter." This declaration was made to the Imperial Government on several occasions and in the most definite form. How can that Government reconcile its claim in resj^ect to interned German civilians — whom it declares not to be liable to forced labour — with its admission that French civilians, liable to military service, but at liberty, are constrained to labour, or with the disgraceful measures taken at Roiibaix and Lille with regard to women and girls? In orders placarded at Lille the German military authority has endeavoured to justify the wholesale deportations ordered at Lille and Roubaix as a retaliation for the attitude of England in making the provisioning of the population increasingly difiicult {Ann. 1). Nothing can justify such a barbarous measure. Seizure of contra- band and interference with enemy commerce are acts of war; deporta- tion of the population without military necessity is not an act of war. Moreover, to dispose of this pretended justification, it is sufficient to show that Germany has not only stripped — for her own profit — the occupied districts of all the products which would have ensured the subsistence of the inhabitants, but also, previously to any inter- ference with enemy commerce, organised for her own benefit the exploitation of the labour of French civilians. To show this, extracts from the depositions of French citizens who kave been evacuated from the invaded Departments are annexed to the present Note {Ann. B). These depositions were made on oath before the magistrates of the districts where the evacuated people found asylum in all parts of France, by refugees from all points of the invaded Departments. They were made in response to a form of enquiry in which the question of forced labour was not in contemplation — it was too much at variance with international law. They emanate from persons of all ages and conditions, and their absolute agreement (more than two hundred have been taken) proves that the civil population of the Departments occupied by the German troops has been reduced to absolute servitude by the army of occupation. Article 52 of the regulations annexed to the Fourth Convention of the Hague permits requisitions in kind and in services for the needs of the army of occupation. In the recorded depositions there is no question of any regular form of requisitions. Services, sometimes of a most repulsive nature, have been forcibly imposed (Ann. B-i.) on the entire civil population, without distinction of sex,(^) age,(^) or social position. (^) These unhappy people had to present themselves for the work imposed on them by night or by day {Ann. 88-91), at all sorts of places and at great distances from their homes, (*) sometimes even under artillery fire,(^) in most cases without any kind of remuneration, C^) in others for a few crusts of bread (Ann. B-viii. and Ann. 122, 230). The German military authority has never concerned itself with the care of the population which the war has brought under its provisional administration. The products of the forced labour of the population has been transported to Germany in spite of the absolute destitution of the workers. C) Finally, it can be established from these depositions that the German authorities have not hesitated to compel the population to take part in military operations against their own country (Ann. B-x.) ; they have even obliged them to assist in pillaging their own countryside ! (Ann. 95, 158-160). They have employed them as direct auxiliaries of the combatant forces, either by placing them in front of the German troops to serve as shields (Ann. 73, 161, 164, 173, 183, 186, 210) or by compelling them to do work in connection with military operations (Ann. B-xi. and Ann. 86, 100). Where this working material — for there is no more a question of human beings but of mere machines moved from place to place as required — where this human material gives out in certain districts of the occupied territory, the German authorities draw without limit either on the internment camps where, contrary to all law. the mobilisable men belonging to this territory have been confined (Ann. B-vi.), or on the other invaded districts. The people are not sent back to their former homes. These civilians are formed into regiments and, although the Germans themselves acknowledge that they ought not to be compelled to work, they are sent to any point of the districts occupied by the German ai'my and compelled to perform the most severe labour.!'**) And when France demands, in the name of some agonised family, infor- mation as to the fate of an unhappy exile, the German Government replies (Ann. 104) that the military authorities do not consider themselves (') Ann. B-iu. and Ann. 35, 55, 126, 184, 185, 230. (») Ann. B-iii. and Ann. 55, 100, 152, 171, 174, 179, 184, 198, 207, 210. (') A7m. B-iL and Ann. 90, 95, 118. («) Ann. B-v. and A)in. 200, 225. (*) Ann. 88-91. (") An7i. B-vii. and Ann. 35, 52, 73, 89, 100, 151. C) Ann. B-ix. and Aim. 69, 86, 116, 159, 202, 217. C) Ann. 96, 96, 105, 106, 114, 116-120, 202, 210, 226, 241. 8 ^nder any obligation to explain their reasons for these transferences. For entire months it is impossible to find out what has become of the unhappy people (Ann. B-vi.). The indisputable result of the following declarations, read as a whole, is that, without any immediate necessity, not in the excitement of battle — moments which might excuse the violations of international law committed by the German authorities — those authorities, in pur- suance of a deliberate purpose and according to a predetermined method, have reduced the unfortunate population of the invaded districts to a condition which can be likened only to slavery. In 1885, at the time of the African Conference of Berlin — with respect to which Germany had taken the initiatiA^e — she engaged, so far as the African territories subject to her sovereignty or her influence were con- cerned, to preserve the native populations and to improve their material and moral conditions of life. After having collected the information, of necessity very restricted, which reaches it from invaded France and which it submits to the consideration of the Neutral Powers, the Government of the Republic is entitled to doubt whether the German authorities are observing, with regard to the populations of which it has for the moment the charge, the engagements entered into by the Imperial Government in respect to the black populations of Central Africa. A. BRIAND, President of the Council. Minister of Foreign Affairs. Until a more complete code of the laws of war can be issued, the High Contracting Parties think it expedient to declare that in cases not included in the Regulations adopted by them, the populations and belligerents remain under the protection and the rule of the principles of the Law of Nations, as they result from the usages established between civilised nations, from the laws of humanity, and the re- quirements of the public conscience. {Hague Conveniion, 18th October, 1907 : Laws and Cutitoms of War on Land — Preamble.) All the Powers exercising the right of sovereignty or exercising influence in the said territories engage to preserve the native populations, to ameliorate their moral and material conditions of life, and to co-operate in the suppression of slavery and above all of the slave-trade. {General Act of the African Conference of Berlin, 1SS5, Article 6.) Family honour and rights, the lives of individuals and private property, as well as religious convictions and liberty of worship, must be respected. {Hague Convention, ISth October, 1907, Article 46.) ANNEXES.-A. DOCUMENTS EELATINCt TO THE WHOLESALE DEPORTATION AND DISPERSION OF WOMEN, GIRLS, AND MEN. PROM LILLE, ROUBAIX, AND TOURCOING. (April, 191(i.) 10 I —GERMAN DOCUMENTS. Annexe 1. Proclamation of the German Military Commandant of Lille. This document and the one following it, which were brought to the knowledge of the French Government from numerous sources of information which confirmed one another, were placarded at Lille during Holy Week {Ann. 13, 21, 23, 32). The attitude of England makes the provisioning of the population more and more difficult. In order to relieve the distress, the German Government has recently asked for volunteers to go to work in the country. This offer has not had the success anticipated. Consequently, the inhabitants will be evacuated by order and removed to the country. The evacuated persons will be sent to the interior of the occupied FrendTi territory, far behind the front, where they will be employed m agriculture, and in no way on military works. This measure will give them the opportunity of making better pro- vision for their subsistence. In case of necessity, it will be possible to obtain provisions from the German depots. Each evacuated person will be allowed 30 kilogrammes of luggage (household utensils, clothes, &c.), which it would be well to prepare immediately. I therefore order as follows: — Pending further orders, no person shall change his residence. No person may be absent from his declared legal residence between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. (German time) unless he is in possession of a permit. Since this measure cannot be recalled, it is in the interest of the population itself to remain calm and obedient. THE COMMANDANT. Lille, April, 1916. Annexe 2. Notice. {From the French Text.) All the inhabitants of the house, with the exception of children under fourteen and their mothers, and of the aged, must prepare themselves to be transported within an hour and a-half. An officer will decide definitively what persons are to be taken to the concentration camps. For this purpose, all the inhabitants of the house must assemble in front of the house; in case of bad weather they may remain in the passage. The door of the house must remain open. No protest will be listened to. No inhabitant of the house (even including those who are not to be transported) may leave it before 8 a.m. (German time). Each person will be entitled to 30 kilogrammes of luggage; if the weight is excessive, the whole of the luggage of the person concerned will be peremptorily refused. The packages must be packed separately for each person, and provided with an address legibly written and firmly 11 affixed. The address must bear the surname, first name, and the number of the identity card. It is absolutely necessary that each person should, in his own interest, provide himself with eating and drinking utensils, with a woollen blanket, with good shoes and with body linen. Every person must bring hi?; identity card. Any person endeavouring to avoid transportation will be punished without mercy. Etappen-Kommandantur. II.— FEENCH DOCUMENTS Protests of the Erench Government. Annexe 3. Telegram. From the Avibassador, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to M. Beau, French Amhassador at Berne, Paris, 21 th June, 191G. The population of the North of France are being subjected by the German authorities to a regime which violates all the rules established by international law, and more especially by the Regulations annexed to the Convention of the Hague, 1907, for the government of territories occupied and provisionally administered hy the enemy. Persons of both sexes are being removed, separated from their families, carried oS to distant places, and arbitrarily compelled to perform work of difierent sorts. About 25,000 French citizens, girls between 16 and 20, young women, men up to the age of 58, have been indiscriminately removed from their homes at Roubaix, Tourcoing, and Lille. A notice from the Koniman- dantur at Lille was placarded on the 12th May last, granting to the persons who were to be transported the space of one hour and a half to make their preparations for departure, and threatening recalcitrants with severe penalties. The Mayor and the Bishop of Lille entered protests against this abuse of power. Kindly request the Spanish Minister at Berne to be good enough to acquaint His Excellency the Spanish Ambassador at Berlin with these facts and to beg him to intervene with all possible energy in order to put an end to this state of things and to ensure that the people who have been the victims of these arbitrarj' acts shall be sent back to their homes. The Department will furnish yon as soon as possible with copies of the documents which it may collect bearing upon this subject and upon the position of the French population in the occupied districts. (Signed) JULES CAMBON. 12 Annexe 4. Telegram. Froin the Amhassador, Secretarij-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the French Amhassador at Berne, Paris, 21th June, 1916. Following' on my previous telegram : We are informed that the girls belonging to families of a certain social rank have been returned to their relations, but the great majority of the persons removed from their homes have not been set at liberty. (Signed) JULES CAMBON. Annexe 5. Telegram. From the Amhassador, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Diploinatic Representatives of France, 1st Jvly, 1916. The French Government has learnt that 25,000 French citizens, men, women, girls and children, without distinction of social position, have been removed from Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing, and the neighbouring villages and taken either into the invaded French Departments or even, it is believed, to Germany, to be compelled to perform agricultural labour. On the 12th May last, the Kommandantur of Lille posted up a notice giving the persons whom it was intended to remove the space of one hour and a half to make their preparations for departure, and threatening recalcitrants with severe penalties. The Bishop and the Mayor of Lille protested against this abuse of force, which is in violation at once of international law, of the Con- ventions relating to the conduct of war on land, of humanity, and of morality. The Government of the Republic is at this moment collecting the documents which establish these facts, as well as those which have come to its knowledge in regard to the general manner in which the popula- tions of the invaded French districts are treated by the occupying authorities. Without waiting for the transmission of these documents, I beg you to bring to the notice of the Government to which you are accredited this fresh violation of the Law of Nations by the German authorities. We liave requested the Spanish Government, which is charged with the defence of French interests in Germany, to lodge the most emphatic protest with the Imperial Government, in order to put an end to this state of things and to ensure that the persons who have been the victims of these arbitrary proceedings shall be restored to their homes. The French Government is anxious to present its most energetic protest to the Governments of all civilised countries. (Signed) JULES CAMBON. 13 Annexe 6. Telegram. From the Amhafssador, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the French Ambassador at Madrid, Paris, bth July, 1916. Following on my telegram of the 27th June: — The Council of Ministers has decided that special representations should be made tn His Majesty the King of Spain on the subject of the removal from their homes of 25,000 French men and women belonging to the towns of the Department of the Nord, who have been compelled to undertake agri- cultural labour in the other invaded Departments. The President of the Council requests you to give eifect to these urgent representations, laying stress on the odious nature of the measures taken. The Mayor of Lille, M. Delesalle, in a protest addre^^jed to the German authority at the moment when the news of this abuse of power became generally known at Lille, wrote as follows:—" To destroy and break up families, to tear peaceable citizens by thousands from their homes, to force them to leave their property without protection, constitutes an act of a nature to arouse general indignation." And Monseigneur the Bishop of Lille, interceding " in the name of the religious mission confided to him," in defence of " the Law of Nature which the law of war must never infringe, and of that eternal morality whose rules nothing can suspend," has protested in these terms: — "To dismember the family by tearing youths and girls from their homes is not war ; it is for us torture and the worst of torture — unlimited moral torture." These moving words have not prevailed against the brutality of the occupying authorities. They must be listened to. No voice is more capable of making them heard than that of the sovereign of the country charged with the defence of the interests of our compatriots in Germany. (Signed) JULES CAMBON. Annexe 7. Telegram. FroTTi the French Ambassador at Madrid to the President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Madrid, 2nd July, 1916. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency's telegram dated the 28th June last. In accordance with your instructions I have not failed to imj)ress on His Excellency, M. Gimeno, the ill-treatment of which the inhabit-ants of the invaded districts are the victims. I have begged him to request His Excellency, M. Polo de Bernabe, to make an energetic protest against the proceedings of the German authorities. (Signed) GEOFFRAY. 14 Annexe 8. Answer of the German Government. The German Government admits that the measures in question have been put into effective operation ; the documents which follow will show the conditions under which they have been carried out. All the depositions annexed to the present Note establish that the work enforced on the French civil population has been solely in the interests of Germany herself, and not only of her army of occupation. Even should the German Government claim to have established clearly that the work was solely in the interests of a population which the intervention of the Spanish -American Committees would have been adequate to provision by other means, it remains none the less the fact that the method employed is contrary to humanity and must revolt the conscience of every free people. Telegram. From the French Ambassador at Berne to the President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, bth July, 1916. His Excellency the Spanish Ambassador at Berlin telegraphs as follows in reply to the communication made to him in pursuance of the instructions contained in your telegram of the 27th June: — " The German Minister of Foreign Affairs has declared to me verbally that the persons referred to in the teleg-ram of the 29th June — to a number with which he is not acquainted — are employed on harvest work, for the benefit of the occupied provinces, in order to procure food for the inhabitants, who would otherwise die of starvation as a result of the policy pursued against Germany by France and England." "■o' (Signed) BEATJ. Annexe 9. Telegram. From the Ambassadnr^ Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the French Ambassador at Madrid, Paris, 8th July, 1916. I communicate to you herewith the telegram of which I am in receipt from our Ambassador at Berne : — {Telegram of the 5th July. Ann. 8.) If the occupying authority has experienced difiiculties in finding the voluntary labour necessary for agricultural operations, the reason is that since the last harvest, the workers have not enjoyed the fruits of their labour. Just as in the case of raw materials and of industrial equipment, the produce of the earth has been requisitioned and sent to Germany. We may be allowed, then, to doubt to-day whether the crops resulting from the labour enforced under the cruel conditions with which you are acquainted will be used for the benefit of our compatriots — who are, moreover, pro- visioned by the Spanish- American Commission. Whatever may be the motives of the measure taken, it is, owing to the method by which it is effected, absolutely contrary to the Law of Nations and to humanity. The French who have been torn from their homes and forced to perform this labour must be set at liberty as quickly as possible. 15 In bringing the foregoing information to tlie notice of tlie Spanish Government, I beg you to request that Government to make renewed representations on this subject to the German Government. (Signed) JULES CAMBON. VARIOUS DOCUMENTS. Annexe 10. Protest of the Mayor of Lille. This document, as also the one which follows, has been communicated to the French Government, which is in possession of confirmatory evidence in regard to it from several different sources. Monsieur le Gouverneur, Being still convalescent from illness and confined to the house, I hear, with inexpressible emotion, intelligence which I still wish to be able to discredit. I am informed that the German authority entertains the intention of deporting a considerable portion of our population and of removing them to other parts of the occupied territory. After the official declaration which you placarded on the walls, to the effect that the war was not waged against civilians, that the rights, property, and liberty of the population would be guaranteed to them on the sole condition that they remained quiet, I could not have believed that such a measure would be resorted to. If such is to be the case, as first magistrate of our city, I must permit myself to express the most energetic protest against what I should consider as a gross violation of the Law of Nations as universally recognized. To destroy and break up families, to tear peaceable citizens by thousands from their homes, to force them to leave their property without protection, constitutes an act of a nature to arouse general indignation. Our soldiers, like yourp, are doing their duty valiantly, but all the international conven- tions agree in leaving the civil population outside the scope of this terrible conflict. I venture, therefore, to hope, Your Excellency, that such an eventuality will not come to pass. (Signed) DELESALLE, Mayor of Lille. Annexe 11. Protest of Monseigneur Charost, Bishop of Lille, addressed to General von Graevenitz. Monsieur le General, It is my duty to bring to your notice the fact that a very agitated state of mind exists among the population. Numerous removals of women and girls, certain transfers of men and youths, and even of children, have been carried out in the districts of Tourcoing and Roubaix without judicial procedure or trial. The unfortunate people have been sent to unknown places. Measures equally extreme and on a larger scale are contemplated at Lille. You will not be surprised, Monsieur le G6n6ral, that I intercede with you in the name of the religious mission confided to me. That mission lays on me the burden of defending, with respect but with courage, the Law of Nations, which the law of war must never infringe, and that eternal morality, whose 9098 B 16 rules nothing can suspend. It makes it my duty to protect the feeble and the unarmed, who are as my family to me and whose burdens and sorrows are mine. You are a father ; you know that there is not in the order of humanity a right more honourable or more holy than that of the family. For every Christian the inviolability of G-od, who created the family, attaches to it. The German officers who have been billeted for a long time in our homes know how deep in our hearts we of the North hold family affection and that it is the sweetest thing in life to us. Thus, to dismember the family, by tearing youths and girls from their homes, is not war ; it is for us torture and the worst of tortures — unlimited moral torture. The violation of family rights is doubled by a violation of the sacred demands of morality. Morality is exposed to perils, the mere idea of which revolts every honest man, from the promiscuity which inevitably accompanies removals en masse, involving mixture of the sexes, or, at all events, of persons of very unequal moral standing. Young girls of irreproachable life — who have never committed any worse offence than that of trying to pick up some bread or a few potatoes to feed a numerous family, and who have, besides, paid the light penalty for such trespass — have been carried off. Their mothers, who have watched so closely over them, and had no other joy than that of keeping their daughters beside them, in the absence of father and sons fighting or killed at the front — these mothers are now alone. They bring to me their despair and their anguish. I am speaking of what I have seen and heard. I know that you have no part in these harsh measures. You are by nature inclined towards justice ; that is why I venture to turn to you ; I beg you to be good enough to forward without delay to the German High Military Command this letter from a Bishop, whose deep grief they will easily imagine. We have suffered much for the last twenty months, but no stroke of fortune could be comparable to this ; it would be as undeserved as it is cruel and would produce in all France an indelible impression. I cannot believe that the blow will fall. I have faith in the human conscience and I preserve the hope that the young men and girls of respectable families will be restored to their homes in answer to the demand for their return and that sentiments of justice and honour will prevail over all lower considerations. (Signed) ALEXIS-ARMAND. Bishop. Annexe 12. Letter addressed by M. D.,(^) retired Surveyor of Taxes, to M. Jules Camhon, French Ambassador, formerly Prefect of Lille. Paris, July 2nd, 1916. My DEAR Secretary-General, You will find enclosed a letter from Lille, addressed to tlie family of my son-in-law, M. G., copied in his office. The letter is from Mme D,, the wife of a merchant of that city. It gives evidence of the ill-treatment by the Germans of the population of Lille and the suffering's which our unfortunate fellow-countrymen have had to endure. I hope sincerely that the letter may be of some use to you. I am, Yours, . (Signed) G. D. (') It ia imoosaible to give the names of the writers or of their families, as they are still in the occupied territory. 17 Annexe 13. Letter attached to the above. " My dear E., Lille, April SOth, 1916. What I have to tell you is so sad and so long that I have not the heart to write it twice. Will you read this letter and then pass it on to M., for her to send round and finally keep in her own hands. " Mt dear M., The last three weeks, and especially the last week, we have spent in the most terrible anguish and moral torture possible for a mother's heart. On the pretext of difl&culties caused by England in the matter of provisions and of the refusal of the men out of work to volunteer for work in the fields, the Germans have embarked on a forcible evacuation of the population, with an inconceivable refinement of cruelty. They did not proceed as on the first occasion by whole families; no, community of suffering they thought would be too easy for us, and so they took one, two, three, four or five members from each family — men, women, youths, children of 15, girls, any one — whoever was chosen, quite arbi- trarily, by an officer. And to prolong the agony for us all, they operated by districts, without even giving notice in which district they would operate each night; for it was at dawn, at 3 in the morn- ing, that these heroes, with a band, and machine guns and fixed bayonets, would go and hunt out women and children to take them away. God knows where or why. They say : Far from the front, for work which has nothing to do with the war ; but we have already heard that the poor things have been received in certain places with volleys of stones because they were coming, it was alleged, volun- tarily, to work where the population had refused to do so. It is a diabolical lie, as is the whole scheme; for this was the object of the registration card, giving age, sex, capacity and aptitude for all sorts of work, and the identity card which we had to carry with us always, and the prohibition to sleep away from home. Well, for about the last three weeks raids were carried out in the two large neighbouring towns ; any one was taken, in the streets, in the trams, and those who were taken never reappeared. We were terrified, and when several girls and children had been carried off like this, the civil and ecclesiastical authorities protested in admirable terms : "I cannot believe," said one, "in this violation of all justice and all rights; this abominable act, opposed alike to moralitj^ and justice, would bring on its authors universal condemnation." " I learn," said another, "that our families are threatened with extreme measures; I have faith in the conscience of humanity; a punishment which could tear girls and children from their mothers, to send them to unknown destinations in horrible promiscuity, would be as cruel as it is undeserved ; it would be contrary to the very elements of morality. You are a father, your Excellency, and you will under- stand what such extreme measures would mean for our closely united families." In answer to this, the writers of the protests were assembled on Thursday before Easter at 4 o'clock, and when they were assembled placards of terror were posted up, and they were given to understand that that was their answer, and that when they went into the streets they could read it like the rest of the population. Further, they were told, as the abominable action had been decided upon, they 9098 B 2 18 had nothing- to do but to hold their tongues. Well, the notice warned everybody — except infirm old men, children under 14 and their mothers — to hold themselves ready for deportation, each being entitled to 30 kilogrammes of luggage. With this object in view, domiciliary visits were going to be made, all the inhabitants of a house being bound to present themselves at the door of the open house with their identity card in their hands, to show themselves to the officer, who notified which of them was to be deported ; no protest was to be made. As we came out of church we read this threat, which was to be carried out at once for some, and which, in other cases, hung over our heads like a sword of Damocles ; and this during ten long days and ten interminable nights, since the Germans were working by districts. And it was left to the arbitrary pleasure of an officer to choose the victims. And not knowing from night to night if it was our turn, we used to wake up as if in a dreadful nightmare, with sweat on our brow and anguish in our heart. No words can tell you what those days were. We are all still prostrate from it. On the night of Friday to Saturday before Easter, at 3 o'clock, the troops, on their rounds to invest the first district on the list. Fives, came to our house. It was terrible. The officer went round, pointing out the men and women whom he chose, and giving them, to make their preparations, a period varying from an hour to ten minutes. Antoine D. and his sister of 22 were carried off. After considerable difficulties the sister under 14 was left, and her grandmother, ill from grief and terror, had to receive the rites of the Church at once; at last the girl was allowed to return. But here an old man, there two invalids could not get leave to keep the daughter who was their only support. And everywhere the German jeered, adding insult to injury. For example, at the house of the doctor, B.'s uncle, they left Madame the choice between her two servants; she chose the elder one. " Good," they answered, " that is the one we will take." The youngest Mile L., who has just had typhoid and bronchitis, saw the sergeant who was carrying off her servant approaching her: "What a sad duty we have to do." " More than sad, monsieur, one might call it barbarous." " That is a hard word. Are you not afraid that I shall give you away? *' And, as a matter of fact, the traitor did denounce her. She was given seven minutes and carried off bare-headed, in slippers, to the colonel who was in charge of this noble military operation and who condemned her to go in spite of the doctor's opinion. And it was only due to his inexhaustible energy and the pity of a German less brutal than the others that she obtained her release at 5 o'clock in the evening, after a day of perfect agony. The miserable peoj^le, at whose doors a sentinel for each victim was on guard, were taken off first to some place — a church or a school — then in a troop, all classes together, of all moral grades, modest girls and prostitutes, surrounded by soldiers, with a band at the head, to the station, whence they set out in the evening without knowing their destination or to what work they were to be set. And through it all our people preserved their calm and their dignity admirably, although that day the Germans gave them every provocation, by parading the motors full of these wretched victims round the streets. They all started off with cries of " Vive la France! " " Vive la liberte ! " and singing the Marseillaise. They comforted those who were left behind, their poor weeping mothers and the children ; pale with grief and choked by tears, they forbade them 19 to weep ; they did not weep themselves and remained proud, appearing impassive in face of their persecutors. I will go on with my story. 'A respite was announced for Easter Day and the Monday, torty-eight hours; it was a great deal. A fresh vehement indignant protest was despatched to the High Command ; a slight hope sprang up again. In the evening the sermon ended with these admirable words: " I should have liked to leave you with a word of joy and hope, but those who for the last two years have oppressed us and have over- whelmed us with a thousand persecutions, have turned these days of rejoicings into days of mourning. My risen Christ, wilt Thou not breathe in me a word of confidence on this day of the Resurrection? Listen, my people, let the wicked man accomplish his iniquity, keep your soul tranquil and your heart courageous. And you, my children, be brave. Providence is near and will know what you have suffered, the Eternal God will take upon Him your defence. He will brand with an indelible mark the forehead of your oppressor, and those who have seen you set out on a bitter path with mourning and weeping will see you return with triumph and great glory, for suffering passes away, but to suffer for the Right and for Justice endures for ever (Prophecy of the Prophet Baruch)." These words, delivered from the pulpit, with authority, seemed a very Anathema. All shuddered, and tears stood in the eyes of all. We were counting on a respite of at least one more night, but in the evening, at half past nine, the Town Hall caught fire. It is better to preserve the general silence about this occurrence ; what is the good of talking? The fire broke out just above the office in which were the only requisition vouchers, pledging the credit of State to State. Thanks to our Town Councillors, who were more devoted than can be expressed, these vouchers were saved, as well as the town records and accounts, till the next time. But the fire soon took hold in every part; there was no water and the building was gutted. And by the light of the fire, at three in the morning, the domiciliary visits began again in the Vauban quarter. By good luck the D.'s, counting on the respite, imagined it was a simple verification, and, as no one was chosen in their house, were not even alarmed. It was not until an hour later that they realised that people were being carried off. Mile B., Mile de B., Mile L., who could only be released at 5 o'clock in the evening; young men, D., D., Van P., Jean F., J., M., mostly 17 years old, and numbers of others, 1,500 to 2,000 a day. The servants were carried off every- where almost, or offered themselves voluntarily to take the place of the daughters of the house or to accompany them. On the other hand, Mme D. took the place of her maid who was ill; when she was sent back she wanted to stay : "You ought not to send me back because I have some money, can't you see that it is disgraceful," and they threatened to send her back forcibly. The concentration camps looked like slave markets, and the Germans were told so. As our turn came late, we had time to warn as far as possible the girls whom we call among ourselves " les Soeurs " or *' les Nous Ueux." They packed their luggage courageously, each of them wanting, in case of the worst, to lake the otlier's place, and I liad to decide who had better be let go. On the Monday we got some comfort in the small vilhige where we used to go with you last year; everybody overwhelmed us with their sympathy, anxious for us and with us, for no one, not even our Town Councillors, was free from fear. All did their best for us and Mme D. made me promise to let her know; if the above mentioned girls were to go, she, as she 20 was free, would go with tliem and be a motlier to them. And for the whole week this agony lasted, this anguish weighed us down. A., A.'s servant, was carried off but let go again, thanks partly to her father; so too C. and her yQung sister, whose gratitude was touching. L. A.'s daughter carried off. x\t last our turn came. As you can imagine, I could not sleep. I heard the troops coming round and woke up the whole household when the visits began in the street at four o'clock. It lasted till half-past one, our turn at half-past ten. Do you realise our agony for those six mortal hours? No doubt we had a chance of succeeding in getting them exempted, but it was almost equally certain for every one that some would be taken, and was it not too much to spend the day without any real certainty of getting them off — a day for them spent among the lowest girls of our district. Well, God again showed us His fatherly protection, and after counting every one the Germans went on without choosing anyone; but we are still prostrate. It was wretched to watch the girls of our street going past in silence, one by one, escorted by a sentry; three from the little workshop which I had started. I had warned them with deep emotion of the dangers they would have to guard against. It was the Good Friday before the first deportation and they could not restrain their tears and like everyone else they were distressed at the thought that they were going to be made to work for the enemy and were asking what they would have to do. Meanwhile all fear has not passed for us. Is not father himself, alas ! threatened ? They have taken the principal accountant of our factory, the husband of M., who is the same age as he is. What if he were to be taken, too? Pray, dear, pray all of you with us, I implore you, and while thanking God for having spared us this time, us, Aunt A. and all her children as well as our relations and friends (relations of B.), pray God to continue His protection, we have such great need of it ! Will deliverance never come? Think, my friends, of the grief of all these mothers who were watching over their daughters with such care and from whom their daughters have been roughly torn. And soldiers and officers have consented to do such work. They were told — another lie — that we had revolted and that it was a punishment. And at Roubaix the officers of the Guards refused, in the face of a calm and dignified population, to carry off . women and children by night. Here it is the 64th regiment, back from Yerdun, that has consented to do the work. Some of them, they said, would have preferred to stay in the trenches. . . _ . At any rate they will get the Iron Cross, and the name of this glorious feat of arms will decorate their colours. Above all, above all our soldiers at the front must not avenge us by similar acts; that would sully the fair name of France. Let them leave it to God to avenge such misdeeds, such crimes. The Germans, as a woman told them from whom they took her husband, her son, and her daughter, will be accursed in their race, in their wives and in their children. This is the end of this long and miserable story, but I have m.-t been able to depict the terrible suffering of those whose homes have thus been decimated. Many will die of it. As Monseigneur said, it is the passion of our families added to the Passion of Christ. One woman sweated blood on seeing her j^oung son taken ; he was brought back to her, but she did not recognise him. It is terrible and our position seems to me very critical. Pray for us. Soon, we are 21 told, it will be all the men. Many wko are left, were told : " In a fortnight." Then, the story runs, it will be deportation to France, if one pays, and that we shall have to refuse to do. . . . The Germans are trying already to get money and I know one who is near to you and who refused with his usual calm dignity ; like all good Frenchmen he has given his all to France and has nothing left, but then no more business, no more outside trade, and I am afraid they will try to force us that way, no more food. Already, since you went away, or rather during the last three months, they have only distributed meat twice. But let us finish on a more cheerful note. Yesterday we had a good letter from H. at last; he cannot, unfortunately, tell us of the family which is on the other side, but only of those who are near him, that is how he told us that our dear G. and H. have gone to work and are well. If at the price of all our sufferings we could succeed in seeing all those again whom we love, with what joy would we bear our misery ! How cheerfully do we already offer our sacrifice to that end ! We are not at all overwhelmed, everyone remains firm and full of courage, and the Germans, in spite of the pleasure some of them say they have taken in the sight, have hardly ever had the chance of seeing our women and girls weep. Do you remember? We used to say laughingly: "When you have gone, we shall tell you that what we suffered when you were there was nothing." Alas! we did not think we were speaking so truly. The very day after your departure came the proclama- tion about typhus and the Draconian regulations for those who had it, the threat, carried out in many cases, of patients being taken to hospital where their families could not nurse them or even see them. Then a thousand annoyances: cards, registration, &c., and the privation of everything, meat, butter, eggs, vegetables, potatoes, nothing more except by smuggling, which was getting more rare and more dangerous every day. And less news than ever — only one letter since your departure and M. P.'s. And yet others get news. Still, perhaps, all these small trials spare us greater ones. Let us say our "Fiat" together, pray God together to continue His protection to us. Here we think of you, love you, pray with you, suffer for you. Love to the dear children whom we miss so much and to all our dear ones, to G., and to you, all love from Marie. " P.S. — This letter is no exaggeration. You can communicate it, so as to make the German people known to those who would not have enough, hatred and contempt to prevent them having dealings with Germans after the war. We are told that on the other side people think that our life, apart from some petty persecutions, is bearable. Well, then, no. It has not been for the last five months. There was the typhus gaining ground steadily, then the explosion and the terrible shock of it even for those not directly affected. And the privations of all sorts. The petty persecutions which go so far as to dej^rive the town of all substantial food. No meat, except that of the Committee, may be brought into the town, and we have had twice 150 grammes per person in four months; again, one pays 5 francs a pound for it even to the Committee. In order to give my family a slice of meat as thin as a leaf and as large as the hollow of your hand, each slice costing me 1 franc 50, I am almost always obliged to go and fetch it in Hellemmes or Marcq, risking nothing less than to be led off into the Citadel, since it is forbidden to bring into 22 Lille from the outside any meat or other provisions in however small quantities. All the grocers, greengrocers, butchers, are shut. Many live on nothing but rice. One day a cartload of fish and eggs arrived for us ; contrary to all right, they were commandeered and sent to Germany. Another day there arrived, through the Committee, for the town 55,000 francs worth of meat. A series of vexatious proceedings stopped it and left it to rot where it lay. The potatoes here and in the neighbourhood are being spoilt ; the Germans will not let them be brought in and our strength is diminishing I am not telling you this to make you pity us, but to show you that even physically we are not strong enough for the moral tortures which we endure, deprived of all comforts, of all news of you. So the mortality is increasing alarm- ingly, 45 per cent, in a population reduced by half. Numerous cases of madness in certain districts are not to be wondered at. We are at the end of our strength; one has to be constantly on the watch to defend and help the poor people. We only keep going by a constant strain of spirit and strength. Up till now I have written each week, but I am losing heart for it, and I think I am going to resign myself to waiting for an answer. Communicate this scrap, too, to everybody. (Signed) D." The following 16 letters have been communicated by the Ministry of War, and the originals are preserved in that department. Annexe 14. Letter from X, at Lille, 1st May, 1916, to Mnie L. G., at Paris-Passy. " This week has been terrible for our unhappy town : 1,200 to 1,500 people have been carried off every night, escorted by soldiers with fixed bayonets and bands playing, machine guns at the corners of the streets, principally girls and young women of all sorts, also men from 15 to 50, sent ofP promiscuously in cattle trucks with wooden benches, for unknown destinations and employments, nominally to work on the land. You can imagine the despair and agony of their relations. We learn this afternoon that the horrible business is over and our quarter has been spared. I had come to sleep at home for the first time in two years, in the attempt to save my maid. I am at last going to sleep without the fear of being wakened in the middle of the night to go and open the door to an invasion of soldiers. There will be nobody left except mothers with children under 14, or old men. In the middle of all this the Town Hall was burnt out one night, as if by magic. The deported people, however, showed truly French courage; they kept back their tears, and the trains left the station to the sound of the Marseillaise. The worse things are, the nearer to deliverance it seems to us we are coming." Annexe 15. Letter from M. X., at Lille, to M. V ., at Paris. " We have seen our streets invaded in the middle of the night by hordes of soldiers, with fixed bayonets and machine guns (how shameful !), tearing girls of all ages and lads of fourteen from their mothers' arms, without pity for these mothers who, on their knees, implored their 23 conquerors for mercy, and all these unfortunate creatures massed indis- criminately with the dregs of the population, packed into commandeered trams, sent off like troops of slaves to an unknown destination. What impotent hatred for the moment, but later what responsibility for the higher authorities, from the private to the general ! Tell all this to our son." Annexe 16. Letter, dated 2Qth April, 1916, from X., at Lille, addressed to Mme E., at Versailles. " People like us carry on fairly well from day to day in the matter of provisions, and those who are suffering would hardly admit it, now that it is being used as a pretext for a measure which turns the three towns upside-down, namely, the deportation of the citizens. I say pretext, for there are sure to be other reasons — to aggravate us, to carry out noisy reprisals, for they know quite well that we shall get them, and to lay their hands on the male population from 17 to 55, which would be especially explicable if they want to prepare for their retreat. But why are they taking women in the proportion of 20 to 30 per cent., as far as one can see from the last few days? Is it for agricultural work, as they say? Is it to form concentration camps? Is it to repopulate the Ardennes region which is said to be depopulated, or to have all the remaining civilians from here to oppose our advance down there? I also think that they may have embarked on this vile business through sheer stupidity : the order comes from above, the subordinates, includ- ing the Governor, carry it out; the protests of the Mayors and the Bishop have been rejected. The decision, so they say, is irrevocable; the slaves have nothing to do but to keep silent. We are in their hands. The first operation took place on the night from Good Friday to the Saturday; pause for Easter; the second took place last night, and it will go on. Tou know that each house has to have a list posted of the inhabi- tants. We must be at home, there is no means of getting out of it since the identity cards. I did not see the proceedings of tonight, but the ceremonies must have been the same as before. The streets guarded at both ends by troops, sent on purpose a week ago from Cambrai or elsewhere, machine guns in place, 10 to 15 men halt before the house with fixed bayonets, two enter with a non-commissioned officer and the officer, who decides and chooses those who are to go. These have from 20 minutes to an hour to come down into the street with a nominal 30 kgm. of luggage, and are marched to some place — the church of Fives, the school of St. Joseph — and from there to the station for the east. In the morning the women cried out as they passed : " We are going to Belgium. It is not to cultivate the soil of France." If they want to carry us off into Germany before the advance of our troops let them say so. But the worst is this uncertainty. I do not want to overload the picture, it is dark enough. It is enough for you to know that since the beginning of this raid they have carried off young girls; that that still seems to be part of their system; that, as a matter of fact, these deportations of young girls were frequent the first night, although they have, it is said, sent a certain number of them back from the station, and this has been done again to-night. Think of the terror of the fathers and mothers, of the distress of daughters of good families, who do not know what is happening, of the horrible situation of those who see their dear ones go, and if, as T tliink, the people of the upper classes 24 escape these risks almost entirely, how wretched is the lot of the respect- able people of the lower classes, who have nothing but their respectability, to have it so exposed. The mothers with children under 14 are left. What more can they do with us, except sell us in the public squares of German towns? " Annexe 17. Letter addressed to Mme D., in Paris, hy X., in Lille, Zrd May, 1916. " Our Eastertide was very miserable. They have conceived the idea of transplanting- part of the population into abandoned or half-abandoned villages in the invaded parts of France to work in the fields. It was done in the best military way. They took men, women, lads, girls of all classes. Exemption for women with small children. Each morning they operated in a district at 3 a.m. The victims were packed together half an hour afterwards at the St. Sauveur station. They did not come to us. There were, as you can imagine, some distressing scenes. Mme C. H., who had gone back to sleep at F. in order to obey the procla- mation, was taken, but was released twelve hours later, having had the good luck to meet at the station an important personage from the factory, who was one of the American Committee. I was not molested." Annexe 18. Letter addressed to Mme R. D., in Paris, hy X., in Lille, 2nd May, 1916. " But this material part (the high price of food) is nothing to the agony that we had to endure the whole of Easter week, owing to the military deportation of women, hj night, to go we know not where. You can understand the revolt and indignation of decent people — to bring up children in order to have them carried off in this inhuman fashion. The town completely plunged in grief, that was our Easter week; this is far more terrible than shortage of food. No one slept for a week, always wondering, 'Will it be to-night?' At 3 in the morning one heard the patrols, a regular deportation of slaves. These odious measures will, we hope, attract attention to us, and we shall be avenged for these barbarous proceedings." Annexe 19. Letter from X., at Lille, dated the 7th May, 1916, and addressed to Madame B., in Paris. " Horrible affair at Lille, tell it everywhere; the deportation of 6,000 women and 6,000 men; for eight nights at two in the morning, districts invested by the 64th Regiment (spread it in France that it came from Verdun), forcibly dragged off' girls of 18 and women up to 45; 2,000 a night. Herded in a factory; sorting out during the day and carried off in the evening; scattered from Seclin to Sedan in abandoned villages, farms, &c. ; cook and wash for the soldiers, replacing orderlies sent to the front; working on the land, especially servants and working girls, few girls of good family. Rue Royale, hardly any servants left; crowded in with men of all ages without distinction ; horrible immorality ; some German officers refused to obey, some soldiers were crying, the rest brutal. Ernest W. carried off, his brother C. was one day in the 25 fortress for having protested, sons have remained; X. is near Hirson. Mile B. and Mile de B. carried off; wanted to follow some poor girls who were their protegees; came to my house at four in the morning, no one taken; no one came to IN'o. 14. Protests by the Mayors and the sous- prefets. Useless. Same operations at Tourcoing (6,000) and at Roubaix (4,000). The town is in despair." Annexe 20. Letter from J., the 8th May, 1916, to Madame V., at BercJc-Plage. " M. C. J., — It is only a fortnight since my last letter and here I am again. My excuse is that you and your friends, perhaps, want news of the forcible deportation of part of our population, and that I can reassure you about the fate of those who are dear to you. The operation went on the whole of Easter w^eek. Except the centre of the town, all the districts suffered. They carried off nearly 10,000 inhabitants, men of 55 and lads of 16, women who were keeping shop and young girls who were torn away from their parents, with only this restriction that those under 20 years of age were accompanied by some member of their family; it was very sad, and the Germans will never purge themselves of such conduct. Many of the soldiers were in despair at the duty which was imposed on them ; the old men of the Landsturm may have blushed at it, but the young non-commissioned officers carried it out with real Prussian thoroughness. As you can imagine there were moving scenes at the moment of separation ; the soldiers led off their victims to the St. Sauveur Station, and their parents could not accompany them. They stayed there till the evening when cattle trucks, with planks for seats, carried them away. They started with cries of " Vive la France," and to the tune of the equally forbidden Marseillaise. This is the first time since the occu- pation that this song and this cry have been heard. In spite of their misery those deported showed a firm bearing in the face of the enemy. A small number of those deported is in the villages round Orchies, the rest are on the Aisne, in the Ardennes, and in Belgium. Very few seem capable of working on the land. You cannot make farm hands out of clerks and young girls and shop girls, of dressmakers and factory hands. We shall not know till later the true reason of these deportations, but the pretexts given will not hold water. The vehement protests of the authorities, perhaps, helped to reduce the expected number of victims, perhaps they will help to get the women back; we hope so without counting on it too much. Meanwhile, tlie whole city is in consternation. As far as the peo{)le who affect you, or whom I know, here is my news. At your cousin's house. Rue X., the Germans did not even appear; at your aunt's everything passed off quietly, they contented themselves with asking your uncle's age and that was all. At Madame C.'s and Madame B.'s no one was taken, they are all on the favoured list. On the other hand, on the list of the unlucky ones you must put your employer's cook and maid, our comrades V., C, R., the engineer F. and his wife. My baker has kept his daughter, but the poor child had been so afraid of possible deportation that she has been ill for the last week. Numbers of j)oople besides are reported to be still in bed in consequence of their anxiety or of the despair caused by separation. Roubaix, Tourcoing had the same fate as us, but the communes in the neighbourhood wore spared, such as Loos, Haubourdin. La 26 Madeleine, Lambersart, &c. E.'s wife was not molested. In short, your family and tlie families of your scliool friends, with whom you are in touch over there, have come off all right, and that is what I wanted to write and tell you at once. There was no trouble either at Madame S.'s or Madame G.'s. Beside these deportations nothing counts, and I ought to end my letter here; but here are a few words more on our situation." Annexe 21. Letter signed R., not dated, and addressed to Madame B., in Paris. " My dear C, I suppose the people in France already know of all the trials through which we are passing, each more painful than the last. We have come out of this last one again scot free, and have stayed here, both of us, till a new order comes. We spent a terrible Easter week here; this is what happened. On Wednesday the 19th of this month, a placard warning the population that there were going to be deportations by order in the invaded terri- tory, that each person was to furnish himself with household utensils and had the right to 30 kilogrammes of luggage. You can imagine the panic in the town. Two days of waiting passed and at last, on the night of Friday 21st to Saturday 22nd, the streets of one district were blocked by the police at 3 in the morning and the alarm given in each house, with the order to keep in the passage with all luggage. They had brought for this vile duty soldiers, or rather brutes, from another locality simply in order that there should not be any friendliness or weakness towards families who would have begged for mercy. Then, according to the number of people living in the house, the brute made his choice. They carried off girls of the family, servants, men of all sorts and of all ages. They attacked chiefly the working class, which unfor- tunately always suffer the most; lads and girls of good family who were caught in the raid were released ; the same was the case with people seriously ill, but for them application had to be made and often they were put into the train before exemption was granted. From the 22nd to the 29th, inclusive, 9,890 were deported ; a reprieve was granted for Easter day. All these poor people wondered where and why they were being taken away ; there were, I can assure you, sad pictures, but always the cheerful side as well, for one heard groups singing, some patriotic songs, others popular tunes, and as they were kept at the station the whole day some groups played cards, while waiting for their departure. One could even say that the greater number were cheerful, or rather put on a good face against their misfortune, to the bewilderment of the Boches, who were amazed to see the French character not recoiling before any sacrifice. In spite of that, it is painful to be at their mercy like this, for every- thing about them is false, and one wonders what is the object of this deportation and in what state of health and morale these people will come back. Then, as a climax to our misfortunes, on Easter night, a fire, due to some unknown cause, entirely destroyed the Town Hall ; for- tunately the essential things were saved, but what a tragic night! " 27 Annexe 22. Letter of the 9th May, 1916, addressed to Mine Jules T., at Versailles , by X., in L/ille. " It began on Saturday before Easter day, at 3 in the morning, at Fives, for Lille, at La Marliere, for Tourcoing, and for Roubaix I do not know in what district. A regiment arrived for this duty, the marked streets were blocked with machine guns and armed soldiers, and men, women, lads, young girls from 14 or 15 years of age, were carried off indiscriminately, but to their greater misfortune the mothers with children below 14 were exempted. During the whole of Easter week 40 to 50 thousand people were carried off from the three towns, district by district. Slavery re-estab- lished for the French under the occupation. These poor slaves were crowded anyhow into cattle trucks, men and women together, and sent in unknown directions. We have heard that some landed at Orchies, Templeuve, Hirson, Sedan, Lens, some to work on the land, on the roads, at munitions and at trenches. Women, especially the servants, kept to wait on the oflficers, to replace the orderlies. All the districts were visited, except the district of La Grand' Place, Rue Nationale, Boulevard de la Liberte; shop girls, clerks, men and women. The first days they carried off girls of the aristocracy, so their mothere in despair tried to accompany them, but they released them generally; in the schools, some boys carried off too, but few. When people had oflficers living in their houses, these often interposed to get them leave to stay. It is terribly sad here, the bombardment, bombs, the explosion, were nothing to the agony of this week; it ended with the St. Maurice district. Monseigneur, the Mayor, the Director of Provision- ing, all protested against these deportations (the pretext given for them was the diflficulty of feeding the population because of the English). The Germans have never troubled to feed us, and provisioning has never been 60 well assured, except for meat." Annexe 23. Letter signed " Louise, ^^ dated the 9th May, addressed for M. E. cfo M. le Chanoine D., St. Onier, Pas-de-Calais. " Dear Papa, On Thursday, 20th April, placards were put up in the evening — ' The attitude of England makes the provisioning of the population ' more and more diflficult. In order to lessen the misery, the population ' will be deported. By Order.' The following night the military began their brutal work in Fives. At 3 o'clock in the morning there was a knocking at the doors, an oflficer came in and chose the people who were to go. A soldier was on sentry duty, with fixed bayonet, at the door. A few minutes were given for packing. Machine guns were placed at intervals; the streets were full of patrols and blocked by soldiers; fixed bayonets everywhere. They collected the people in the church of the district, and they were all sent off promiscuously in cattle trucks. What morals, what hygiene ! Mothers with young children alone got exemption. As we all three came under the conditions, we packed our luggage in great depression. Monseigneur and the Mayor oourageouBly 28 had several conversations with the General ; as Monseigneur was ener getically standing up for the population, he was answered with these courteous words: "You, Bishop, be quiet and go!" The Germans operated hj police districts; Rue I., our old street, was dealt with on the night of Easter Sunday to Monday. People were sleeping peacefully, for the night before they had been told that a despatch from neutrals had put an end to this disgraceful state of affairs. The Miles J., who had been carried off with their brother and their maid, have been released. Madame L.'s maid has been taken, and, generally speaking, all servants ; as our street is in a different district, it was only dealt with on the night Wednesday to Thursday. Fortunately, before reaching us the Germans had made enormous raids at Wazemmes, and they were less unpleasant. Mother stayed in bed, saying she was ill. A. and I received the officer, who authorised us to stay. I think the picture of father in uniform, which we have had in the dining room since the separation, saved me. I said I was the daughter of an officer of whom we had had no news since the battle of the Marne. It was pretty terrify- ing, this military visit. We thank God every day for leading your steps to Naerd. You would certainly have been carried off, both of you. The Germans realise that by this disgraceful act they have set an indelible stain on their flag. Several officers and soldiers are imprisoned in the fortress for having refused the duty. On the other hand a Boche, a doctor of philosophy and of political jurisprudence, a clergyman, told a gentleman that they would recoil from nothing for the safety of the Empire. Is this Satan's last blow, or are we to expect fresh crimes? On the night of Easter Sunday to Monday, fire broke out in the Town Hall. A short circuit, it is said. The Germans were pleased, thinking they saw all their requisition vouchers, &c., disappearing in this huge furnace. A great many things are saved, but of the Town Hall there only remains the tower and the four walls. We were uncertain about hiring a safe, and did not do it. An embargo has been put a second time on the banks." Annexe 24. Letter signed C, Lille, dated 1st May, 1916, addressed to Mme A. A., at La Tranche (I sere). " For the moment I am well enough in spite of the annoyance caused daily by these dirty dogs, and in spite of the present diffi- culties of provisioning, which will soon end in complete famine if this goes on . . . About Easter, on the Saturday before, the Boches proceeded in all districts in the town, except the centre, forcibly to deport a certain number of inhabitants — men, women, girls, lads, without dis- tinction of social status. At 4 o'clock in the morning they blocked the streets and the regiment charged with this work, the 64th, hammered on each door with the butts of their rifles. Then an officer went round and pointed out the people in the house who were to go. About 8,000 persons were carried off' like this and no one knows exactly where they were sent or what work they are to do. To-day about 40 women have come back. You can imagine the effect of this hooligan measure. The same thing was done in the neighbouring towns and villages. With the Germans we must no longer be astonished at anything." 29 Annexe 25. Letter unsigned, from Lille, to M. M., at Rennes, \%th May, 1916. " In the last forcible deportation none of our friends were compelled to go except our old housekeeper and her daughter (the wife of the police- man). They have come back, as M. is not 17 and is a delicate girl. As you must know, we have to submit to all sorts of humiliations and petty persecutions, if not worse." Annexe 26. Letter unsigned, from Lille, 8th May, 1916, addressed to M. B., at Vigan. " The men in grey made raids and carried off men, women and girls to send them nominally to the Ardennes; 200 pupils of Institut Turgot were carried off, little girls of 15 . . . The number is put at 20,000 for the towns of Roubaix and Tourcoing." Annexe 27. Letter frorn^ X., Lille, May, 1916, to Mme Ch. F., at Wimereux. " At this moment households almost everywhere are upset; deportation of men and women above the age of 15, disgraceful in point of morals and cruelty. The indignation of certain mothers made the business a little less bad ; we try to think it is a secret beginning of retreat ; we always keep before us that gleam of hope of deliverance. In our families we were spared; the common people were especially affected." Annexe 28. Letter from, P. and frovi A., at Rouhaix (20th May, 1916), to the family M., at St. Ger7nain-en-Laye. " At this moment there is great excitement here. All our towns are full of disquieting rumours as a result of some deportations of men and lade, as well as of some women and girls. They say that this might become general. A first proclamation had announced that families out of work might go and settle in the country in the Department of the Nord, in the districts where they could make a living more easily. Some days later, about the 5th of April, a second proclamation announced: — 'Workmen can find healthy and congenial work at Gommagnies and Herbignies, in the Val district, GO kilometers behind the front. It is a question of cut- ting medium-sized trees in the Mormal Forest. . . . Wages, 3 fr. a day, plus board and lodging.' Apparently hardly anyone offered him- self. A few days later, in Roubaix and Tourcoing, young- men, women and girls were arrested in the street and in their houses without any reason being given. It is said the arrests were especially of people who had previously been convicted of smuggling potatoes, or of failing to appear at roll calls, &c. For we are bound h;ind and foot, no question of passes of any sort, even to villages near by, nothing except for Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing. It is said that all these people were sent to Sedan, Mezieres and Vervins, to form agriculturnl colonies to work (m the land; feeling grew even stronger when the rumour got about on Saturday that a score of German -30 employes were working at the town hall on the recent census lists of the population, with a view to taking haphazard 25,000 people in Lille, 16,000 in Rouhaix, 10,000 in Tourcoing, three-fifths of whom are to be women and girls and twofifths men from 17 to 50. People refuse to believe it ; it is contrary to international law ; but one cannot be wholly sceptical, for they are said in several factories, Lepers-Duduve, C. & F. riipo. Veuve Touan et fils, to have prepared some of the store rooms to house people, with lavatories for men and for women and a surgery for medical examination, &c. The most improbable rumours are current; that it is a case of reprisals by the German Government for the English blockade, or for a similar act of deportation by the French Government in the conquered German Colonies, or that it is a scheme for repopulating too sparsely-inhabited districts, either with a view to the harvest or as a protection against bombardment by the Allies. Whatever it is, all families are in an agony. Indignant protests have been sent by our leading men, the Mayor of Lille and Monseigneur Charost. The strict enforcement of this measure seems provisionally to be suspended. Let us hope they will get back to a more sound appreciation of international law. ... As regards the deportations of men, are they meaning to take those of military age? No one knows." The two following letters were received and communicated to the Foreign Office by M. Boudenoot, Senator: — Annexe 29. Extract from a letter from Rouhaix. Uth April, 1916. " Now deportations are beginning. Two thousand men and lads have gone from our town, and that is not all. At first they were taken in tbe streets, then in their own homes, only among the common people up till now. I have seen troops of them starting off, and I assure you it is heart- rending. The women throw parcels to their husbands, brothers, sons as they pass. These latter are generally resolute, some of them were singing. It was the sending off of women and girls whom they had hunted out that roused the strongest feeling. You can realise the state of mind of parents seeing young girls of 16 to 20 going off amongst lads of all conditions, no one knows where. In our circles mothers are trembling for their grown sons. The men are packing their belongings in case they have to go. We are in an atmosphere of misery, owing to these new measures, but in spite of it we keep up our courage and our confidence." Annexe 30. Extract from a letter from a mother to her son, aged IT. April Uth, 1916. ** I used to deplore your absence, but now I thank heaven that you are away. Our invaders are embarking now on a terrible man-hunt. I have seen boys of your age led off in herds with grown men for an unknown destination. It is heartrending. It is said that this is only the beginning, and all the men are making tbeir preparations." 31 Annexe 31. Letter from Mme D., froin Lille (Nord), to Iter husband, M. D., at Wiviereux. May Uth, 1916. (Communicated to the Minister of the Interior) : " My dearest J., Our friends who have been deported will have given you recent news of us and a number of details of our secluded life, of the advantages of our situation, the benefits conferred by German administration, and the kindness of the authorities. Since their departure we have witnessed a humanitarian measure which consists in dividing up families, taking here a daughter, there a mother, there a father, or leaving an octogenarian of either sex without support or help, in order to permit the people ** voluntarily " deported to get provisions better, and to lead a more normal life by " planting *' potatoes, as they call it. Nothing that has happened has made me so indignant as this infamous proceeding, criminal in its consequences and in its possibilities, carried out under the cloak of humanity. These families are in tears over these forced separations. Parents have lost their reason at seeing their daughter or their daughters going off into the unknown, which is so full of dangers and snares. It has caused tht* death of others, and as for me I have thanked heaven for all these months of separation, which have at least spared me this last agony, alas ! such justifiable agony. The town is in the depths of depression since the deportations, and for the last ten days my mind has been blank, and my heavy heart has been feeling all the despair which I have witnessed. I have had to give consolation and help; poor X. has been carried off, we do not yet know where and under what conditions. All France, all nations must be told of this fresh crime, with its cunning preparation, its cloak of lies, its hidden rascality. Many of those who carried out the work were disgusted with their task. All I hope is that their minds may be enlightened by it, and that they may understand what it means. As usual I was spared, though I held myself in readiness to go since any one might be chosen." Annexe 32. To Monsieur RayTJiond Poincare, President of the French RepubliCy Paris. Sir, We have the honour to express again our most sincere gratitude to you for your most kind reception a few days ago of the deputation which went with feelings of legitimate emotion to inform you of the deporta- tion of lads and girls, which the German authorities have just carried out in the invaded districts. We have collected some details on the subject from the lips of an honourable and trustworthy person, who succeeded in leaving Tourcoing iibout ten days ago; we think it our duty to bring these details to your notice by reproducing textually the declarations which have been made to us : — " These deportations began towards Easter. The Germans announced that the inliabitanis of Roubaix, Tourcoing, Lille, &c., were going to be transported into French districts where their provisioning would be easier. 9098 c 32 " At night, at about two o'clock in the morning, a whole district of the town was invested by the troops of occupation. To each house was distributed a printed notice, of which we give below an exact repro- duction, preserving the stj'le and spelling. (Ann. 2.) " The inhabitants so warned were to hold themselves ready to depart an hour and a half after the distribution of the proclamation. " Each family, drawn up outside the house, was examined by an officer, who pointed out haphazard the persons who were to go. 'No words can express the barbarity of this proceeding nor describe the heartrending scenes which occurred : young men and girls took a hasty farewell of their parents — a farewell hurried by the German soldiers who were executing the infamous task, — rejoined the group of those who were going and found themselves in the middle of the street, surrounded by other soldiers with fixed bayonets. " Tears of despair on the part of parents and children so ruthlessly separated did not soften the hearts of the brutal Germans. Sometimes however, a more kind-hearted officer yielded to too great a despair, and did not choose all the persons whom he should — by the terms of his instructions — have separated. " These girls and lads were taken in trams to factories, where they were numbered and labelled like cattle and grouped to form convoys. In these factories they remained twelve, twenty-four, or thirty-six hours until a train was ready to remove them. " The deportation began with the villages of Roncq, Halluin, &c., then Tourcoing and Roubaix. In the towns the Germans proceeded by districts. " In all about 30,000 persons are said to have been carried off up to the present. This monstrous operation has taken eight to ten days to accomplish. It is feared, unfortunately, that it may begin again soon. The departures took place in goods trucks to the sound of the ' Marseil- laise.' " The reason given by the German authorities is a humanitarian( ?) one. They have put forward the following pretexts : provisioning is going to break down in the large towns in the north and in their suburbs, whereas in the Ardennes the feeding is easy and cheap. " It is known from the young men and girls, since sent back to their families for reasons of health, that in the Department of the Ardennes the victims are lodged in a terrible manner, in disgraceful promiscuity; they are compelled to work in the fields. It is unnecessary to say that the inhabitants of our towns are not trained to such work. The Germans pay them 1*50 m. But there are complaints of insufficient food. " They were very badly received in the Ardennes. The Germans had told the Ardennais that these were ' volunteers ' who were coming to work, and the Ardennais proceeded to receive them with many insults, which only ceased when the forcible deportation, of which they were the victims, became known. " Feeling ran especially high in our towns. Never has so iniquitous a measure been carried out. The Germans have shown all the barbarity of slave drivers. " The families so scattered are in despair and the morale of the whole population is gravely affected. Boys of 14, schoolboys in knickerbockers, young girls of 15 to 16 have been carried off, and the despairing protests of their parents failed to touch the hearts of the German officers or rather executioners. " One last detail: The persons so deported are allowed to write home once a month, that is to say, even less often than military prisoners." 33 Such are the declarations which we have collected aud which, without commentary, confirm in an even more striking way the facts which we took the liberty of laying before you. We do not wish here to enter into the question of provisioning in the invaded districts; others, better qualified than ourselves, give you, as we know, frequent information. It is enough for us to describe in a few words the situation from this aspect : — The provisioning is very difficult; food, apart from that supplied by the Spanish-American Committee, is very scarce and terribly dear . People are hungry and the provisioning is inadequate by at least a half; our population is suffering constant privations, and is growing weaker noticeably. The death-rate too has increased considerably. Sometimas inhabitants of the invaded territories speak with a note of discouragement, crying apparently: "We are forsaken by everyone!" We, on the other hand, are hopeful, Monsieur le President, that the energetic intervention on the part of Neutrals, which the French Govern- ment is sure to evoke, will soon bring to an end these measures which rouse the wrath of all to whom humanity is not an empty word With all confidence in the sympathy of the Government we venture to address a new and pressing appeal to your generous kindness and far- reaching influence in the name of those who are suffering on behalf of the whole country. With renewed expression of our gratitude, We have the honour to subscribe ourselves. Pour le Comite des interets economiques de Roubaix-Tourcoing : Le Prhident^ Signe: TOULEMONDE, Membra de la Chambre de commerce de Roubaix, Membre du Comite consultatif de I'intendance. Pour la Fraternclle des Combattants Roubaisiens : Le President, CHARLES DROULERS, Docteur en droit, President de la Societe de geographic de Roubaix. Pour la Fraternelle des prisonniers de guerre de Roubaix-Tourcoiug : Le President, Signe: LEON HATINE-DAZIN. Pour la Famille du soldat Tourquenois : Le Vice- Pr hi dent, LOUIS LORTHIOIS. Membre de la Chambre de commerce de Tourcoing. Paris, 15th June, 1916. 3, rue Taitbout. '.'Ot'8 C 2 35 MMM B. DEPOSITIONS CONCERNING LABOUR ENFORCED ON THE POPULATIONS OF THE INVADED DEPARTMENTS. (Only a selection of the depositions given in the French Yellow Book is reproduced. The original nuvibering is preserved.) The following documents do not, like the preceding ones, relate to a single incident. Their principal interest lies in the multiplicity and variety of the violations of inter- national law, carried out methodically and incessantly since the beginning of the occu- pation, in all parts of the Departments occupied. They are extracts for the most part from depositions made on oath by French subjects who had returned to France after having been deported from the invaded departments, before the Justices of the Peace of the districts where they found asylum. However important the declarations may be aa regards ill-treatment of all kinds to which the French have been subjected in the invaded districts, of which the civilised world will know one day, answers are given here only to questions dealing with the labour imposed upon civilians in the occupied territories. As stated above, no special question upon this point had been foreseen in the examination, and the replies were given spontaneously by the witnesses, mostly in answer to the question : '' Did the witness receive good or bad treatment " or under the heading : " General remarks." it did not appear possible to give the names of the witnesses or of the localities whence they had been deported, but the original documents of which the following are duly certified copies, are preserved at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It has seemed the best plan to classify these depositions so as to bring out the various violations of the laws of nations or of humanity which they prove. 1. The means of compulsion employed. 2. Social position of the workers. 3. Age and sex of the workers. 4. Duration of the work. 5. Compulsion to work away from home. 6. Transportation of interned civilians from Germany to work away from home. 7. Absence of remuneration. 8. Diet of the workers. 9. Object of the work. 10. Forced collaboration in military operations. 11. Work in connection with military operations. The classification is only made for the convenience of the reader and many dopoeition placed under one head may relate also to one or more of the other heads. MEANS OF COMPULSION EMPLOYED. The means employed by the German Authorities to constrain the inhabitants of the French territory in their occupation to work under their orders have been various : threats, violence, shooting, intern- ment, deportation either of individuals or of groups. It is noteworthy that in a certain number of cases the German authorities tried to disguise the compulsion by obtaining from the French people in their power, either verbally or in writing, con- tracts of sorts for work. These they then repre- sented as voluntary and of free consent. A perusal of the following extracts will show the value of these contracts — sometimes obtained by fraud — deception as to the nature of the work or as to its destination (Nos. 226, 241), or as to the locality (Nos. 95, 119), as to the duration or payment (Nos. 153, 159) — sometimes obtained by violence, threats, arrest, internment, blows, starvation, &c. (Nos. 34, 126, 225, 220, 237, 230). Sometimes civilians had to sign these contracts after being formed into brigades, transported far from their homes and employed for a long time in all kinds of labour when they were bound down in conditions which e.vcluded all liberty (Nos. 96, 226) and where they could not bi-eak the contract (No. 54d). t< ;J8 Annexe 84. M. Pierre L , aged 20, turner, deported from B (Nord) : — At the present time the military authority is endeavouring to recruit civilian artizans, who are to be put to work on the fortifications of Lille. They will be lodged at C and at G and will receive 5 francs a day wages. As nobody has come forward voluntarily, the military authorities have warned the young men of the 1915, 1916 and 1917 classes that they will be sent as prisoners of war to Germany if they do not agree to work for the benefit of the German Administration." Annexe 35. Mile Argentine A , aged 27, workwoman, deported from B- (Somme) : — "The Germans forced us to work without remuneration. We received neither money nor food. . . . The German heads of departments and subordinate officers were in charge of us and obliged us to work whenever requisitioned. If we did not obey their orders, they arrested us and put us on bread and water. . . . We supported ourselves as we best could, principally on vegetables, especially potatoes. Sometimes we received help from charitable people. . . . Emile B , aged 16, was severely beaten with a stick, and kicked and cuffed because he refused to work." Annexe 37. Mme J. R , aged 25, maker of paper-bags, deported from S (Aisne) : — "All we women were subjected to inspection every five days like women of the town. Those who did not accomplish their task (namely, sewing 25 sacks) were beaten by the Germans, especially with a cat-o' -nine-tails. This ill-treatment was mostly inflicted by a sergeant named Franz ; I cannot give the name of his regiment. There were four to look after us. Tor the least thing the Germans used to insult and threaten us. . . . One girl, J. G , of S (I cannot give her exact address), was beaten with the cat and had a jug of water poured over her head because she asked for something to eat. A certain A (I cannot give any further description of her) was so severely beaten that she was taken to the hospital, and we did not see her again." Annexe 52. Mme M. J , aged 34, embroiderer, deported from T (Meurthe-et-Moselle) : — " They obliged me to do fatigue work, consisting of cleaning the road and grubbing up potatoes for them. One day, the work being behindhand, the Germans hanged the Mayor to a tree by cords passed under his arms. They kept him in that position for about an hour in the square where the church is. Then they fastened two other Councillors to posts on either side of the Mayor. Only their arms were tied to the post." 39 Annexe 54b. Extract from a Note Verbale of the Spanish Embassy at Berlin, dated the l^th April, 1916, transviitting to the French Embassy at Berne a Note Verbale of the Imperial Department of Foreign Affairs, dated the Qth April, 1916. In reply to the note verhale of the 2nd February last, the Depart- ment of Foreign Affairs has the honour to inform the Royal Embassy of Spain that the detention of the person mentioned, Eugene Muylaert, of Lille, was ordered by the German military authorities because he refused to perform the work for which he had contracted with the authorities. Moreover, by his insubordinate conduct he induced a certain number of workmen to cease working for the German Authorities. 41 The State may utilise the labour of prisoners of war according to their rank and capacity. Their tasks shall not be excessive. {Hague Convention, 18th October, 1907, Art 6.) This rule, which relates to prisoners of war, applies with stronger force to the civil population who ought not to be compelled to work. II. SOCIAL POSITION OF THE WORKEES. III. AGE AND SEX OF THE WORKERS. IV. NIGHT WORK AND WORK UNDER FIRE. 42 II. SOCIAL POSITION OF THE WORKERS. Annexe 55. Mme Camille D , aged 28, no profession (her husband is a con- tractor for public and industrial works), deported from C (Meurthe- et-Moselle) : — " (Tbe otlier members of tlie family) were not ill-treated, but were exposed to continual annoyances; she and her grandmother (aged 85) were obliged to act as servants to the Germans, who threatened them at every turn and made them do all sorts of humiliating and degrading work." III. AGE AND SEX OF THE WORKERS. Annexe 69. M. P , aged 62, farmer, deported from M (Meuse) : — "They never struck me, but I was terrorised; in spite of my age I had, during the whole of the winter of 1914-1915, to do fatigue work for them, escorted and watched by the soldiers of the Kommandantur, No. 1, of the 17th Corps. The Germans had pillaged everything and they sold back to us, for our subsistence, 108 grammes a day of damaged rye-flour, for which they made us pay at the rate of 75 francs the 100 kilos." Annexe 86. M. L. , aged 54, cloth-embroiderer, deported from L (Aisne) : — " At the beginning of August, 1914, I had gone to L with my wife to carry out some work on my property. On the 1st September, 1914, a great number of Germans passed through. We took them for English soldiers. In the evening they were drunk. They spread terror, breaking the windows, pillaging, destroying what they could not swallow, leaving their filth everywhere. An officer wanted to violate the confectioner's wife. The woman escaped, and the ofl&cer in his drunken fury broke everj^hing in the shop. " During the occupation rigorous orders were given. Many notices were posted up — I have kept a number of them. . . . People had to declare everything that they possessed ; there was no milk and no meat to be had. To keep myself alive I had sometimes to rob the soldiers billeted on me of bread, sausage, and butter. *' The provisions sent by the Americans did not reach us. A man was not allowed to kill his own beasts for his own use. It was forbidden to sell any foodstuffs; it was very difficult to keep one's vegetables. A landed proprietor complained that a German soldier had stolen some vegetables from his land ; his land was, by order, delivered over to pillage and its produce carried off. Captain Olop, of the Artillery, who stayed two months at N , was a brute, a drunkard, and a savage; he said one day to Mme L that he was surprised that the people of R had not perished of want, under his regime, and that the people of N would not perish either. Another officer made a similar remark to Mme L to the effect that the Germans took pleasure in violating all the laws of war, one after the other. The Germans put 43 tlie men and women of the countryside to work. I managed to avoid doing it. The Russian prisoners passed through L , carrying munitions to the front." IV. NIGHT WOEK AND WORK UNDER FIRE. Annexe 88. Mile Y , aged 27, day-labourer, deported from H (Pas-de- Calais) : — " I can inform you that my sister M , who is younger than myself, was forced by the Germans to go to work in the fields, although she was unaccustomed to such labour, for whole days and even through the night. My sister was engaged on this work between the lines of the two combatants, in spite of the continual bombardment. She was not allowed to stop work." Annexe 89. M. D , aged 55, miner, deported from H (Pas-de-Calais): — " At H the Germans forced girls between 14 and 35 to work in the fields without payment or wages. One night in August, 1915, the Germans compelled the girls of H to work on the land by night two hundred metres from the French front. That only happened once; the girls protested and refused to resume work." Annexe 90. Mme D , aged 40, of no profession, deported from H (Pas-de- Calais) : — " I have nothing to say except that I think I ought to bring to notice the conduct of the Germans in obliging the French — even women — to work both by day and by night in fields lying between the two lines of fire — and this in spite of the continual bombardment. I can even mention by name the girl M who lives with me at M and who was often engaged on this kind of very dangerous work. The Germans were very severe, and it was impossible to escape compliance with their demands. So far as I myself am concerned, I have no complaint to make on this point." Annexe 91. Mile V , aged 21, day-labourer, deported from H (Pas -de- Calais) : — "I have not been ill-treated, but all the same I have occasion to complain of the German authorities. " For four months, from June till almost the end of October, I was compelled to work, by day and often by night, in fields situated between the French and German lines, in spite of the shells. " We were compelled to lie down at night when the French patrols passed. There were a great number of us; all the people of the village who were capable of working were subjected to the same treatment." 44 Annexe 93. Mile Henriette B , aged 18, sorter at the Mines at L , deported from D (Pas-de-Calais): — "I was imprisoned for two days for not arriving punctually for the work in the fields to which we were compelled to go every day — even on Sundays — from 8 to 12, and from 2 to 5. The corporal, whose name I do not know, forced us to remain at work in spite of the shells; he himself used to hide behind the hayricks. We had a disc with a number, which we carried round our necks." Annexe 94. Mile M , deported from W (Pas-de-Calais): — "From March, 1915, until the 30th September, 1915, all the girls belonging to W were obliged to work in the fields, under military escort, three times a week, in spite of the shells which, latterly, fell unceasingly. Once the English shells fell upon the metal works where we were engaged in threshing wheat. The Germans went down into the cellars but forced us to go on with our work. A girl who ran away, had to work all the day long, next day, as a punishment." 45 The authority of the legitimate power having actually passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all steps in his power to re-establish and insure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country. (Hague Conven- tion, 18th October, 1907, Art. 43.) y. COMPULSORY LABOUR AT A DISTANCE FROM HOME. 46 Annexe 95. M. C , aged 49, assistani>surveyor, deported from La M (Meuse) : — "When I left with my children the German Commandant told us to take provisions for two days, informing us that we were to be deported and that we should reach the Swiss frontier in two days; when we arrived at L (Meurthe-et-Moselle) they kept us prisoners for a month. We were partly maintained there by the commune, and my daughters were forced to work for the Germans at agriculture and at cleaning the streets and the houses pillaged by them; they paid no remuneration. During this time I was ill. I was nursed to some small extent by my children, and subsequently found myself obliged to go into hospital at B (Meurthe-et-Moselle), being assisted by the said commune, since I was at the end of my resources. When I came out of the hospital I left the place." Annexe 96. Extract from the letter of a prisoner at the German Internment Camp at X , ^th April, 1916. " Let it be remembered that it is thanks to this work of our prisoners and to the work of the civilians brought from the occupied districts (they compel them to enter into engagements to work for three months or more in Westphalia or in the Rhineland) — let it be remembered that it is thanks to this work that our enemies reckon on being still able to produce what is of service for their defence! " Annexe 99. Mme P , aged 45, cook, deported from (Aisne) : — "No ill- treatment, but I, with others, was requisitioned to go and bury the French soldiers who had fallen in the district of A (Aisne). The French soldiers, taking us for Germans, fired some shells ; we fell back, and the Germans took aim at us, to prevent us from retreating. Then we stayed where we were. Nobody was hit." Annexe 100. M. A , aged 15, pottery hand, deported from L : — " On the 24th August, 1914, an officer and a sergeant, seeing me on the threshold of my door, told me to go to the Mairie. There they gave me two horses and ordered me to take some guns to D . We were twenty-five French drivers to twenty-five horses and four French 75's, escorted by mounted dragoons. " At D I was set to repairing the roads and to building up the renches — eight to nine hours' work a day. " For three months' work I received 6 marks in a single payment." 47 Annexe 103. Declaration of M. F , dated the 20th June, 1915. The undersigned F , born at S , having been made a civil prisoner at S , on the 5th December we were interned, to the number of about a thousand, one section at L , and the remainder at Q . At L we were forced to work from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., and when you fell ill, they came to fetch you just the same, and compelled you to work; if anybody objected at all, it was three days' cells, on bread and water I saw a comrade, who had tried to escape, being beaten; he had his hands tied behind his back for five days' cells. On the 13th March a hundred of us were sent to work at H , in the Somme, to dig beetroots. We started at six in the morning and worked till six in the evening. Often if a man raised his head and rested from work for a few moments, the soldiers would throw them- selves on him, crying " Hof , Hof ! " and beat him with the butts of their rifles or throw beetroots in his face. Our diet was a loaf of German bread every three days; coffee that was mere dirty water in the morning; a bowl of soup at noon, made with rice or flour; coffee again in the evening. It often happened that we got no bread, because, so they said, the convoy had been held up by the French ; when some comrades escaped, we were deprived of our food ; for two days we had nothing but coffee for our entire diet. Once ten of our comrades escaped; next day eight of them were re- captured. They received more than two hundred blows with a horse-whip and were deprived of bread for two days : the guards who escorted them to work carried sticks, and if any of them raised his head he got a blow from a stick They were forced to march with a military step, to stand to attention, and to salute the German officers. On the 13th May we were returned to L , where the diet consisted of 250 grammes of bread, and (at 4 o'clock) soup with rice and a fragment of meat, which smelt, and which one was often obliged to throw away; we were forced to work, — to go to the forest, where we moved tree-trunks, — or else we loaded cotton or old iron for transport to Germany. The Major in command of the place is named von M . 20th June, 1915. (Signed) F . 909i 49 Relief Societies for prisoners of war, regularly constituted in accordance with the law of their country with the object of serving as the inter- mediaries for charity, shall receive from the bellige- rents, for themselves and their duly accredited agents, every facility, within the bounds of military necessities and administrative regulations, for the effective accomplishment of their humane task. {Hague Convention, 18th October, 1907, Art. 15.) The action of Relief Societies, as of the Embassies charged with the defence of French interests, cannot be practically exercised in regard to civilians not prisoners of ivar who have been brought back from Germany to the invaded districts and whose residence and condition it is impossible to ascertain. VI. CIVILIAN PRISONERS RETURNED FROM GERMANY TO WORK AT A DISTANCE FROM THEIR HOMES IN OCCUPIED TERRITORY. 9098 1) 2 50 Annexe 104. It appears necessary to insert here the following official document of the German Government, which establishes that civilian prisoners have been returned into occupied territory, without its being possible to ascertain their residence or their condition, and that this step was taken for reasons which the German authorities refuse to give. The treatment of these French citizens is subject to no rules and no control. They are com- pletely lost to their relatives. It is impossible to tell on what work they are employed. Ext/ract from a Note Yerbale of the German Department of Foreign Affairs, dated 27th October, 1915, communicated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic by Note Verbale of the Spanish Embassy at Berlin, 13i/i November, 1915 (relating to the transfer of civilian prisoners who have been returned from Germany to Montraedy). The German authorities are clearly of opinion that they are- under no obligation to state the reasons which have motived this transfer. The prisoners in question — who, moreover, have been sent back to Germany some time since — have enjoyed .... the same rights of correspondence , . . . , etc. Annexe 105. Extract from a letter of Mme D , deported from C (Somme), resident at La R (Vaucluse), to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. 1st January, 1916. " I beg to ask you for news of my husband, made prisoner by the Germans on the 24th September, 1914, in the commune of C (Somme) ; I am very uneasy about him. I have received only one letter from him — in June — in which he told me that he was going into the North of France to work in the invaded districts. I have, myself, had to undergo every kind of hardship at the hands of our cruel enemies ; they have burnt my house This is my husband's address: D , civilian prisoner, Holzminden (Germany)." Annexe 106. Extract from a letter from Mme B , residing at G (Aube), to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. «' Sir^ — Exiled from the Meuse, I had my unfortunate husband, who was made prisoner on the 17th September, 1914, taken away to Germany and interned in the camp at Grafenwohr till June, 1915; then he was returned to the invaded districts to work; since then I have, up to now, received only one card from him, telling me that he was at B (Ardennes)." 51 Annexe 109. Eatract from, a letter from Mvie B , at C (Oise), to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, relative to her brother, N , a civilian prisoner interned at Darmstadt. 9th November, 1915. " My brother. M. N., was a civilian prisoner in tlie camp at Darmstadt. He has been transferred from the camp, and is at Montmedy, near Bar- le-Duc in the Meuse, an invaded district; since he was transferred, we have had no news of him. Letters are returned with this address. . ." Annexe 110. Extract from a letter from Mme B , at L {Pas-de-Calais), to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, relative to her son B . 13th December, 1915. " I should be very grateful if you would give me news of my son B , detained originally at Hameln-s/-Weser, and removed to Montmedy. The last two parcels sent to him have been returned to me and I have had no news since the 9th June . . . ." Annex 111. Extract from a letter from Mme K , deported from B (Meuse), residing at L {I sere), to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, relative to her husband , aged 51, confined as a prisoner at Eh enb erg -Landau, where he remained till the \Qth June. 29th November, 1915. *' I have had a card from him in which he tells me that he is leaving the camp at Ebenberg-Landau and is being sent to Montmedy (Meuse) — that the prisoners are told that they will be able to go and find their families, and that he will write as soon as he arrives. Since then I have heard nothing. I had written to the Agency for Prisoners of War at Geneva. I received a card on the 23rd October, telling me that he was in the invaded districts. . . ." Annexe 112. Extract from a letter front Mme D , at A {Alpes-M aritiines) , to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, relative to her husband D , affcd 38, made a civilian prisoner in September, 1914, at M (Somme) and interned at Erfurt. 29th November, 1915. " He remained at Erfurt till June; having no news during Jiine, July and August, I decided to apj)ly to the Spanish Ambassador, in the course of September; he informed me that my husband was at Montmedy. lieing entirely without news of him since then, I should be very grateful, etc." 52 Annexe 113. Watract frovi a letter from Mme P , deported frovi M (Aisne), resident at P , near P (Oise), to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, relative to her husband P , aged 46, and his son A P , aged 21. 29tli November, 1915. " In the last instance my husband left the camp at Havelberg towards the end of June, 1915, to be sent probably to Montmedy ; according to un- official information, he would be at the present time in the neighbourhood of Guise (Aisne). My son left the camp at Havelberg at the end of June, and was also sent to Montmedy ; he is perhaps in the Department of the Aisne; the latest letter received from him, in July last, came from r (Aisne)." Annexe 114. Extract from a letter from Mvie M G , at Troyes (Aube), to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, relative to M. W , of S (Meuse), made a civilian prisoner in September, 1914, and interned at Grafenwohr till the Ibth June, 1915. 26th January, 1916. " He left at this date (15th June, 1915) with a party of workers for Anderny (Meurthe-et-Moselle) ; since he left the camp I am without news." Annexe 115. Extract from a letter from Mme G to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, relative to M. J , aged 53, farmer, made a civilian prisoner in September, 1914, at C (Ardennes), interned at Grafenwohr (Bavaria) till Ibth June, 1915, and to M. J , aged 22. (Same j^aHiculars.) 10th December, 1915. *' All the letters which I have written to them during June have beeii returned to me, marked: — 16.6.15. Transferred to Montmedy." Annexe 116. (Depositions.) M. L , aged 23, domestic servant, deported from R , near B (Ardennes): — "Arrested in September, 1914. Shut up in the church at R with three hundred men of the adjacent villages. Taken to Grafenwohr (Bavaria). Returned from Grafenwohr to Montmedy 15th June, 1915. He was sent from Montmedy to C (Ardennes) with 62 other prisoners. He is employed there in agricultural work : on the crops. These are seized by the Germans to be sent to Germany. As for potatoes, they leave to the inhabitants only 60 pounds a head for 3 months. He received in wages one franc a day, out of which they levied 50 pfennigs for food. So he and the other prisoners had 30 pfennigs a day left! He escaped." 53 Annexe 117. M. H , aged 19, farm-servant at F (Meuse) : — "Arrested at Forges, ITtli September, 1914, with ten hostages. Taken to G , then to B, , then to T , and to camp at Grafenwohr (Bavaria). Broiight back to France (15th June, 1915) and employed on agricultural work in the Canton of C (Ardennes)." Annexe 118. M. F , aged 21, bank clerk, at C (Nord) : — "Arrested in October, 1914, at B (Meuse). Taken to camp at Darmstadt. He left Darmstadt in May, 1915, for Montmedy, when he was sent to P (Ardennes), where he stayed till the end of October. Afterwards he moved about the Canton generally. During this time he was engaged on agricultural work — mostly threshing. He escaped in January, 1916." Annexe 119. M. C , aged 58, farmer, deported from C (Aisne), February, 1916 : — " I stayed at Zerbst from October till June. Then they took all the farmers and told them that they were to be sent back to their country, but really it was to do haymaking for the Germans. The city of L fed us, and, as it had not much to spare, we were even worse off than before. It was good, but there was precious little of it! During this time it was impossible for us to go and see our families." Annexe 120. M. V , aged 55, drover, deported from T , Canton of V (Aisne): — "In the camp at Zerbst there were about 12,000 French soldiers, and about 500 civilians. At Holzminden they reckoned that there were from 16,000 to 18,000 prisoners; 400 civilian prisoners left the camp on the 9th February, 1916, to be repatriated. At L he found himself one of the 150 civilian prisoners from the Aisne, returned from Germany for the hay harvest; he was lodged in the barracks and fed by the municipality." 55 Neither Requisitions in kind nor services can be demanded from communes or inhabitants except for the necessities of the army of occupation. They must be in proportion to the resources of the country. {Hague Convention, \Uh October, 1907, Art. 52.) VII. WORK WITHOUT EEMUNERATION. YIII. DIET OF THE WORKERS. 56 VII. WORK WITHOUT REMFNERATION. Annexe 122. M. F , Swiss citizen, born at T , Canton of Lucerne, aged 53, cowman on the farm of M. J. , at N (Maine), and bailiff of tbe farm: — "From tbe 5th September onwards the Germans forced me to work every day at most revolting labour, made me answer to a roll- call twice a day, and never gave me a farthing. Until February I had to pay for the bread which was measured out to me (125 grammes of black bread). After February the bread was provided by the commune." Annexe 124. M. C , aged 44, keeper, deported from B (Maine): — "He declared that the Germans had detained one of his sons, aged 17. They made him woik on the land ; he was paid 15 centimes a day, as he also was himself while in the invaded districts." Annexe 126. M. B , depoited fiom L (Nord) : — "The German authorities compelled us to work in the fields, getting beetroots and what remained of the ciops. All the women and girls, as well as the men, were forced to go, without any pay. At the least sign of refusal, they talked of shooting us." Annexe 134. Mme B , aged 58, householder, deported from A (Arden- nes) : — (She was not ill-tieated but) " The Geimans obliged her and her daughter to wash the linen of the German Red Cioss Hospitals. They ordered that the linen should be returned dry within a certain time — regardless of the tempeiatuie ! — and thieatened one, if it was not leady, with being sent as a piisoner to what they called " the ", that is to say the ironworks at . For the laundry work they gave us bills drawn on M. Poincare." (This is corroborated in Annexe 137 by Mile B , daughter of Mme B .) 57 VIII. DIET OF THE WORKERS. Annexe 142. Mile B , aged 18, farm-servant, deported from M (Aisne) : — " They compelled me to act as servant to German officers. But I slept at home, to avoid any attempt upon me. The officers' military servants accompanied me both coming and going. I was not paid, but I ate at the officers' quarters." Annexe 146. Mme G , aged 37, small holder, deported from L (Arden- nes) : — " For four months I had to work for the Germans, who forced me to milk a herd of cows and to clean the streets, but I never got any wages for this work. They gave me a loaf of bread — about 3 pounds — for myself, my four children, my father-in-law, and my husband ; even this amount they did not give us every day." Annexe 149. Mme S , aged 31, lace-maker, deported from A (Meurthe-et- Moselle) : — "From the moment that they deported me they forced me to go and plant potatoes and cultivate and sow the fields for them. For at least two months all they gave us was three pounds of black bread to last five people three days ! " 59 Requisitions in kind must be in proportion to the resources of the country. Supplies in kind shall as far as possible be paid for in ready money ; if not, their receipt shall be acknowledged and the payment of the amount due shall be made as soon as possible. (Hague Conven- tion, 1907, Art. 52.) An army of occupation can only take possession of cash, funds and realizable securities which are strictly the property of the state, depots of arms, means of transport, stores and supplies, and, generally, all movable property of the state which may be used for operations of war. (Ibid., Art. 53.) IX. OBJECT OF THE WORK. 60 Annexe 151. Mme G , aged 46, houseliolder, deported from C (Aisne) on 12th January, 1916: — "The inhabitants and working people of C are obliged to work in the fields. The Germans take possession of all the crops. " Up till 1st September, 1915, the men received 1 fr. a day, and the women 60 centimes, but since that date the Germans have stopped pay- ment and make the people work just the same." Annexe 152. Mme C , deported from G (Meuse) : — "During the three weeks that we were at G (Meuse) with 110 people from the same village, camped in a barn, I was compelled to go into the fields every day, beginning on 17th September 1914, to gather potatoes and beetroot. We were requisitioned by German non-commissioned officers, guarded by soldiers, and we used to work in gangs of 20 at least. "We began work at 8 o'clock in the morning; we returned, under escort, to our barn for our midday meal, which consisted of a sufficient quantity of black bread and some horrible sort of soup. " We worked again from 2 till 5. " We were not paid ; we were only authorised to pick up a few potatoes to eke out our food. " We slept anyhow on dirty straw, not to say litter. " From G we were taken to D (Meuse), where we remained 17 days. I was occupied each day in removing the crop of potatoes and beans. The order of work and the food was the same as at G . We slept in a fine barn, in a bed. We were authorised to take from G our sleeping effects (except the bed) because there were among us some old men and young children. " I may add that all the crops that we collected were for the great part sent away to Germany ; the trees, too — walnut trees, cherry trees — which the Germans pulled up." (Walnut is used to make the butts of rifles.) Annexe 153. M. Albert Camille L , aged 17, no profession, deported from A- (Oise), in January, 1915: — "Directly the Germans came, we really suffered from hunger. We only had 120 grammes of foul black bread. As to meat, we only had the refuse thrown away by the soldiers, and we had to pay very high even for that. "The Boches encouraged the population to cultivate the land ; they even sold us potatoes for seed ; then, when the crop was ready, they took it all without even giving requisition vouchers. The corn they worked at themselves without troubling about the boundaries of the fields; they demanded repayment of the price of this work, then harvested it all and took it. It was absolutely forbidden for us to have any corn or meat in our houses on pain of imprisonment. " The Germans took prisoner about 40 civilians, between 18 and 45, in our village. Ten are shut up in the factory of C. They are employed on forced labour. All the trees in this district are cut down. There is not a walnut tree left." 61 Any compulsion on the population of occupied territory to furnish information about the army of the other belligerent or about his means of defence is forbidden. — {Hague Convention. Art. 44.) The giving up to pillage of a town or place, even when taken by assault, is forbidden. — {Hague Con- vention. Art. 28.) A belligerent is likewise forbidden to compel nationals of the adverse party to take part in the operations of war directed against their country. — {Hague Convention. Art. 23.) FORCED COLLABORATION IN MILITARY OPERATIONS. This evidence is only reproduced here because it is connected with the depositions about the labour imposed on the populations of the invaded Depart- ments. It corroborates too facts of the same nature already leported by the Commission appointed to establish German violations of international law. 62 a. Compulsion under Threats to give Information to the Enemy. Annexe 155. M. C. , aged 71, farmer, deported from P (Vosges), on lOth October, 1915: — " One day, I think it was the 13th or 14th September, they commandeered me to shew them the way to the Chateau of P . At a halt the soldiers showed me some cartridges to threaten me; one of them pretended to cut my throat with the back of his sword. I only got home at 5 o'clock in the evening. " When I got home I found my house had been looted. A calf had been stolen. My linen was thrown about." h. Collaboration in Looting. Annexe 158. M. M. , aged 49, farmer, deported from M (Meurthe-et- Moselle), on 4th January, 1915 : — " M. M. witnessed organised loot- ing. The prisoners were sent to fetch the objects taken out of the houses and carried them on wheelbarrows to the German captain, who had all the plunder loaded on trucks. This forced labour was done by prisoners under an armed escort. The German soldiers also laid hands on the bottles of wine and spirits in the cellars; they drank these liquors till they were soon in a state of extreme drunkenness." Annexe 159. Extract from a Declaration made by M. B. , a French soldier of the 21st Coy, Regiment of Infantry, before the French Consul- General at Rotterdam, 28th September, 1915 : — " Towards the beginning of September, 1915, the Germans began, in the streets of H (Aisne), to collect the peaceful inhabitants, able- bodied men, and make them work under their orders. " There was a captain or commandant in charge of the town. Each day brought an order more terrible than the last; alarming placards covered the walls. " Requisitions of wines and liqueurs, spirits, &c., of furniture, mirrors, bedding, wardrobes, phonographs, photographic apparatus, arms, horses and foals, cows and calves, as they needed them. " Everything was carried off systematically and sent away to Germany. All this work was done by the men who were left in the country and were paid by the town. What was not carried off was broken to pieces and made useless." Annexe 160. M. M , aged 70, farmer, deported from M (Pas-de-Calais), 5th April, 1915: — " At C , where he stayed five months, he was for most of the time badly fed and camped with others in a large building where there was nothing but damp straw (food : remains of slaughtered beasts, a few carrots and black bread). 63 ** In this place the able-bodied men were employed by the Germans in dismantling- and packing up the contents of two factories ; all the objects and materials as well as the machinery were loaded onto motor waggons or lorries and transported to Germany. One of the factories is situated on the Bapaume road ; the other in Cambrai itself, close to the canal. In the first about 1,900 bales of linseed, 400,000 kilos, of oilcake, with all accessory machinery; it was the same in the other." (c) Civilians employed as a shield. Annexe 161. Mile D , aged 24, no profession, deported from H (Meuse) in February, 1915: — "At C (Meuse) the Germans had civilians placed in rows in front of the German lines to get them killed by French bullets; the French did not fire." (The incident referred to took place on September 23rd, 1914.) Annexe 162. M. L , aged 73, farm-servant, deported from M (Ardennes) : — " The undersigned saw, from his garden, two persons wounded with bombs. They were being forced to march in front of the Germans." Annexe 163. Mme M , aged 48, agricultural worker, deported from A (Oise), 24th February, 1915: — "My husband, M , born at E , on 4th April, 1867, was arrested on 22nd September, 1914, in our home. Was taken, with other Frenchmen, to the second line of fire so that they should be bombarded by our own countrymen. Brought back to the church at A , kept for two days, then taken to F , and from there to Germany. ** Since then I have had no news of him except through the Red Cross on 25th September, 1915." Annexe 164. Mme S , aged 40, day-worker, deported from S (Meuse), 13th May, 1915: — "The schoolmaster of Stenay, M. T , was put to scout for them by the Germans when they entered the town. He was killed by French bullets." Annexe 166. Mme A , aged 25, seamstress, deported from L (Meurthe-et- Moselle), 20th March, 1915:— "The inhabitants of V took refuge in L . I saw them arrive covered with blood; their beards had been torn out; they had been maltreated. According to tbem, the Germans put them in front of their troops in the advance on L , where they were fired on from the fort." 9098 B 64 Annexe 167. M. Q , aged 65, day labourer, deported from P (Aisne) the end of February, 1915: — "Forty women, wbo had been arrested and were guarded by armed men, were obliged to clean the roads, to take manure into the field opposite Soissons, at the place called Lapre, in order to defy the Allies and prevent them firing." Annexe 168. M. B , aged 63, day labourer, deported from M (Ardennes), 14th December, 1915: — " The German authorities had all the trees cut down, cut into lengths, and sent them to Germany. Thirty men were always taken as hostages and were put on the railway lines." Annexe 169. Mme F , aged 51, owner of a vineyard, deported from C- (Meuse), 9th December, 1914 : — " The day of her arrest and the following day she was taken on two separate occasions on to the hill with a party of villagers and placed in front of the German first line; the first day from noon till 6 o'clock, the second time all day. " She received no food from the Prussians during her internment in the church ; she used to go and fetch something to eat in the fields." (These incidents took place on the 18th and 19th September, 1914, at C (Meuse).) Annexe 170. M. S , aged 17, farm hand, deported from R (Somme), 12th February, 1915: — "On their arrival at R on August 30th, 1914, the Germans did not treat the civilian population badly, but when they came back from the battle of the Marne, they killed several civilians. Four days after their retreat they forced me, as well as the deputy mayor of R , to go in front of them in the firing line in consequence of the advance of the French on R . Under cover of the darkness we returned to R about midnight — my father, who was with me, as well. Every day we were compelled to attend a roll-call about 8 o'clock in the morning and 4 o'clock in the afternoon. When they were at Rove, the Germans compelled us to clean the town." Annexe 171. Mile G , aged 12, no profession, deported from B (Somme), 31st November, 1914? — "Once, in September, 1914, about 7 o'clock in the morning, my aunt and I were taken as hostages, when we were at breakfast; they took us, with four other girls, towards the station. There they placed us in front of them (it was a party of Uhlans) and opened fire on the French, who replied ; my uncle, Paul V , who was with us, received a bullet through the heart and fell dead. We lay down on the ground, pretending to be dead; then some Zouaves arrived and captured the party of Uhlans. Then we were free and went home." 65 Annexe 172. Mme F . aged 56, householder, deported from S (Meurthe-et- Moselle), 19th December, 1914: — "Every demand of the Germans was accompanied by threats, and was made by them revolver in hand. " On August 22nd, 1914, the Germans made the whole population come out of their houses and forced them to march in front of their columns towards the Trench guns. " I do not know the name of the German officer in command. Besides, I heard he was killed that day." Annexe 173. M. M , aged 63, mason, deported from B : — " On October 8th, 1914, in company with about a hundred civilian prisoners, men, women and children, he was compelled with threats to march in front of a strong detachment of German troops, " These troops apparently wanted to cross a bridge over a stream not far from B , and, as they thought that the French troops would defend the bridge, they made this troop of prisoners march in front of them. " Close to the bridge, indeed, the French opened fire on the Germans; the latter .soon gave way. We were thrown into a ditch beside the road and none of us was hit by the French bullets. Some hours later, as the French were no longer firing, and with good reason, as they had been ordered to retire, the Germans came back to look for us; they made us leave our shelter bj^ pricking us with their bayonets." Annexe 176. Mme N , aged 28, householder, deported from M (Ardennes): — "On August 26th, 1914, at 9 o'clock in the morning, the Germans made me prisoner and put me with 53 others, women and children, in front of their troops to prevent the French firing at them. In spite of this, the French fired at the Germans over our heads, without hitting us. We remained in this situation till 1 o'clock." Annexe 179. M. P , aged 61, freeholder, deported from R (Nord), 7th February, 1916: — "The Germans took me prisoner in my house; an officer of the rank of lieutenant took me into the battle of R ; on the way I was struck several times by another German officer with the flat of his sword. " When I reached the front of their detachment I found my neighbour G , aged about 62, a retired factory superintendent, wbo was killed in the course of the battle, certainly by a French bidlet." 9098 E 2 66 Annexe 181. Mme Y , aged 54, charwoman, deported from S (Ardennes), 23rd April, 1915: — *' The German troops reached S on the 25th of August. 1914, at 9 o'clock in the morning, preceded by some Uhlans. The latter were driving in front of them men, women, and children from the town to act as guides. Among them were M. M and Mme L . M. M was killed by the bullets of French soldiers who tried for a moment to oppose the enemy's entry. His dead body waa found in the street. Mme L returned home safe and sound. " Many of the inhabitants of S , among them the couple H , relations of this repatriated woman, living at T , can cor- roborate this story." Annexe 183. M. B , aged 42, workman, deported from L (Meurthe-et- Moselle), 28th November, 1915:— "On August 1st, 1914, M. B , who had been for nearly twenty years employed in a foundry at L (Meurthe-et-Moselle), presented himself at the police station of this town where he was told that he must await a summons to serve, as he was liable for auxiliary service. " On August 6th, knowing that the enemy was investing L , he decided to make for the French lines; the next day, August 7th, he was arrested by the Germans at C (Meurthe-et-Moselle) ; his captors ill- treated him, taking from him 2,220 fr. in cash. From the Tth to the 27th of August they kept him with them, giving him no food and pushing him into the front rank if attacked ; that is how he received four wounds, a fracture of the left leg necessitating his transportation to Metz, then to Regensburg (Bavaria). " Put first in barracks, then in the civilian prison, he remained at Eegensburg from September 12th, 1914, till February 20th, 1915, and during this time was not able to correspond in any way with his family, who thought him dead. On this last date he was transferred to the camp at Holzminden, where, after some days, he was admitted to the hospital, which he only quitted on November 28th, 1915, to be repatriated." Annexe 184. Mme F , aged 65, dressmaker, deported from V (Aisne), 10th January, 1916: — "On September 16th, 1914, at the moment of the French attack, the Germans had made loopholes in the walls at V (Aisne) through which the riflemen had levelled their rifles, and they had placed a certain number of inhabitants, including my family and my grandchildren^ on the other side of the wall, in front of the rifles. The French attack having developed on the other side, the Germans sent the women and children home and kept the men, who were sent into captivity in Germany." (■) Girls aged 13, 8, and U years. 67 Annexe 185. Mme W (F), aged 36, no profession, deported from M (Meurthe-et-Moselle), 14th May, 1915: — "On the morning of August 23rd, 1914, there was an artillery duel between the French and German armies above M , which by some extraordinary chance did not suffer. When the Germans arrived, they set fire to the village, on the pretext that they had been fired at, which was untrue. In an instant almost all the houses, which were farms, were in flames. They tried to set fire to mine, too, but it was only partially burnt. *' They looted all the inside, carrying off all my belongings, even my underlinen. As I deal in wine, I had various liquors in my cellar. All that could not be drunk on the spot or carried off was scattered about in the cellar or broken ; there was 10 centimetres of liquid in the cellar. " The next day they completed the disaster by burning the remaining houses. At the present moment about seven are left intact out of about fifty. " Meanwhile, the male population had been assembled, and the Germans threatened to shoot them, on the pretext that there had been firing from the village. " They were placed in front of a body of Germans who were advancing in the direction of the French positions. " They marched so for three hours; at last, at 9 o'clock in the evening, as the German detachment had not been attacked, they were brought back to M under escort. " The troops who committed these crimes were the 119th Regiment of Infantry and the 122nd which came the next day. It was by order of the superior officers, for in Germany the soldiers are too well disciplined to act on their own initiative." Annexe 186. M. D , day labourer, deported from L (Somme), 27th February, 1915: — " In L I lived on the road to F , at the edge of the district, towards C . On the morning of the 24th September, 1914, our 117th Regiment of Infantry was engaged with the Germans. There was a rattle of musketry and gradually our troops evacuated the village. About one o'clock the German infantry arrived; they were mad with rage. To the number of about 20, they came into my house. One of them — I think he was a non-commissioned officer — seized me brutally by the arm and forced me into the street, while his companions laid hands on my chickens and rabbits and took possession of my clothes. First, they led me towards R ; in the course of their march I saw them ransack the houses and arrest the men, whom they drove in parties in front of them. " The Germans ordered us to take the road to L . Scarcely had we reached the square in L , when the French, posted at the beginning of tbe open country, opened a brisk fire. D , G. C , E. C , and C fell at my side from bullets meant for the Germans. The firing ceased at once. The Germans recoiled slightly, telling us not to move. I helped D 's sons to look to their father. At about 5 o'clock in the evening I succeeded in escaping, but a few minutes later I was caught again and kept under surveillance with twenty-three of my neigh- bours till the next morning, then released. From September 24th till October 6th, 1914, the German authorities forbade the inhabitants to leave their houses on pain of death. On October 6th I was arrested by the Germans with twenty-four of my neiglibours." 69 Requisitions in kind and services must be of such a nature as not to imply for the population any obligation to take part in military operations against their country. {Hague Convention, Article 52.) XI. WORK IN CONNECTION WITH MILITARY OPERATIONS. 70 a. Construction of Trenches, Roads, and Railways. Annexe 198, M. B , aged 61, day labourer, deported from A (Somme) : — " At P official orders were issued imposing work; at S no official order was issued; at least, I saw none." " Eound P and S , civilians, of from 16 to 50 years, were digging trenches." Annexe 199. Mme F , deported from B (Aisne) : — " The village of B- was invaded by the Germans on September 1st, 1914, and I do not know of any punishment being inflicted on workers employed by the enemy; at the same time, when they needed men for work, they used to announce to the population with a bell that they were to go and clean out the canal and unload coal and repair the bridges and railway lines. For this work they got no pay except a voucher for bread to the value of 30 centimes, " Further, I can state that on November 14th, 1914, two officers on their rounds came and ordered us to open our door at half-past eight (French time) ; one of them was a lieutenant, the other was a sub- lieutenant. " When we had obeyed their orders, they came in, revolver in hand, and at the same moment the sub-lieutenant went up to my sister-in-law, seized her by the breasts and tried to outrage her. As I cried out, the lieutenant came up to me and held his revolver levelled at my face for a good five minutes, and it was only at a noise outside that we could recover our liberty; and they threatened to have us severely punished, saying that we had insulted them. *' The next day, November 15th, two soldiers, with fixed bayonets, took us to the kommandantur in L , where an officer had us led to prison, where we remained till the following morning at 11 o'clock without water or food. * ' In the first week after their arrival in B , they looted everything, our provisions and our wood, without troubling about our existence and without giving us a single requisition voucher." Annexe 200. Mme M , aged 21, day worker, deported from V (Somme), 12th January, 1916:— "My husband's brother, G. M , aged 20, was taken away by the Germans, who made him work for five months at trenches towards M . Then they brought him back to V ." Annexe 202. M. A , aged 52, factory superintendent, deported from C- (Meurthe-et-Moselle), 7th January, 1916 : — " He states that the Germans cut down all the walnut trees in the district and razed the State forests, forwarding the wood to sawmills which were running day and night. They removed all the copper that they found in the country and levied a contribution of 40,000 fr. The roads are mined." 71 " Shortly before his return, 2,000 Russian prisoners were digging trenches at B (Meurthe-et-Moselle). Other prisoners, Eussian and French, were engaged in breaking up and loading ballast to make concrete." Annexe 207. Mme C , aged 34, small holder, deported from B (Meurthe^et-Moselle), April 9th, 1915 : — " States that she saw a German ofl&cer fasten the Mayor of B to a wall and threaten to shoot him, for not having opened a door when ordered to do so ; states further that the enemy made her son, aged 12, go with her horse and cart and take planks to the next village to make trenches — too hard work for a boy of that age." Annexe 210. M. H. , aged 16, pit hand, deported from F at the end of October, 1914: — " On the approach of the Germans I had taken refuge at H (Pas-de-Calais), at my aunt's house. On October 24th, 1914, the Germans succeeded in taking H and the surrounding country as far as L , My aunt and I had taken refuge in the cellar, when seven Germans arrived at about 7 a.m., ransacked the house and discovered us in the cellar. They made us come upstairs but did not strike us or hustle us. One of them spoke French. A motor was waiting at the door. They put me into it between two Germans with fixed bayonets. My aunt was left at home. " I was taken to the plain of L , where I found other lads, aged from 15 to 18, from the district of H . There were 50 of us. They set us to work to make trenches for the Germans, and we were kept there six days. We slept where we were, on the ground, with only one blanket against the cold. Fortunately it did not rain. The food was bad, though adequate in quantity. When the work did not get on fast enough to suit them, the Germans beat us with horsewhips. " At the end of six days we were all fetched away one afternoon in motors — three of us in each; I was alone in mine, however; we were taken to L . It was the 25th or 26th of October. We arrived after a few minutes. Firing was audible as the French were attacking the main bridge at L . The Germans put all of us in front of them to act as a shield. The officers drove us to the front with horse-whips and the soldiers with their rifle butts. They all hid behind us. They swore at us too. As the French went on firing and the 75's were thundering, several of us fell. We were kept there all the afternoon, standing up, with the Germans behind us, firing over our shoulders. We were terrified, and many were crying. But we told one another we must stay there and let the French kill us rather than see the Germans win. I was wounded towards the end of the afternoon, and was hit by a shell from a 75 in the left arm, which made me lose consciousness. Thirty out of the 50 were already killed or wounded. Before we came, the Germans had compelled other lads of our age to serve as shields, for there were still about 10 of them, wliom we saw quite clearly. Also there were numerous bodies of young civilians in front of us. " When I came to myself again, I was on a stretcher. I was surrounded by French soldiers and a medical officer, for the French had 72 taken the bridge at L and had picked me up in their advance. The doctor said that I had been very lucky and that it was time to put stitches in my arm as I had lost a great deal of blood. I was carried to the ambulance at B , where I stayed some days. *' I heard afterwards from my companions that of our party of 50, 40 had been killed, either than day or the next; three were wounded and only seven had come off scot free. I know one of the other two wounded very well; his name is S (C), and he is 17 years old; he comes from H L (Pas-de-Calais). He was taken by the Germans at B M , where he was working in the mines too. He was wounded in the little finger of the right hand by the explosion of a shell. The third one, whose name I do not know, was hit on the left wrist by a fragment of shell." (The Justice of the Peace inspected young H 's wound. There was a long and fairly broad scar close to his elbow, showing that the wound was a serious one.) Annexe 219. M. V , aged 44, machine tool fitter, deported from M (Arden- nes), 13th May, 1915 : — " I was forced to cut down a great many walnut trees and then load them on lorries, under the supervision of soldiers with fixed bayonets and revolvers in their hands. We were overworked and often sworn at. We were told that anyone who gave up work would be shot on the spot." b. WoEK IN Factories and Mines. Annexe 225. Mme Vve. S , aged 24, deported from S : — " About two months after the Germans' entry into S , which took place on August 28th, 191*4, placards were posted in the town offering workmen, principally those from metal works, occupation in such factories, to be paid at the rate of 40 centimes an hour. Few men volunteered : seeing this, the Germans collected them by force and sent them into the factories; patrols hunted them out of their houses and took them either to the factories or to the quays to unload boats or to the land they were holding, to dig trenches. In the works, especially in the M works, they turned them on to repair guns. Then the Germans again commandeered about 3,000 young men. They sent some of them to Germany and kept some to work there. The Germans did not let them go again ; they sent them by rail either to Q or to P , where they kept them digging the ground. They were very badly fed and slept on rotten straw. When their work was not to the liking of the Germans, they were beaten with scourges. These young men did not get their pay direct; it was handed over to their parents at the rate of 20 fr. a month. *' The men who worked in factories were generally employed in gangs, and so with those who cut wood and made planks and joists for the trenches : those who worked at S bought their own food and slept at home. " As regards their pay, I know that they were paid in paper money, either in municipal vouchers or in German mark-notes. " On the 16th of April, 1915, when the station at S was bombarded by French aviators, the Germans commandeered everybody whom they could collect in the town, and made them clear up the debris." 73 Annexe 226. M. P , aged 55, deported from S : — " I never worked for the Germans myself, but I know that a certain number of the inhabitants were forced to do so. Once they were enticed away, they could never escape again ; if they did not go back to work, the Germans sent and brought them by force. " At Mme D 's the workmen were employed on repairs to motors; at the factory M they had to repair guns ; at the factory V , Boulevard X, a steam saw mill, 400 workmen were engaged in making stakes for the trenches; these were paid 2 fr. 25 a day. " One day the Germans had demanded 300 young men to work in the fields ; instead of using them for agriculture, they made them dig trenches." c. Making Sandbags. Annexe 230. Mile L . aged 26, brickmaker, deported from S ( Aisne) : — " Shortly after the capture of S , the Germans compelled me to work with a good number of other women. We had to wash the soldiers' linen, but especially to make sandbags for the trenches, "About 300 of us were shut up in a school in the town: we were forbidden to leave the building. Reveille was sounded at 5 a.m. and we worked till 7 p.m. The work was done in gangs. " The women who refused to work or who declared they could only work after having enough to eat (the food was very bad and very scanty), were beaten either with a great cat-o '-nine-tails or kicked, or a large jug of water was thrown over them and they were beaten afterwards. '* I was a prisoner in the school for 11 weeks. For the first 10 weeks T was not paid at all ; the last week (we had been told we should be repatriated) we were paid at the rate of 5 centimes for 2 sacks, in paper money issued by the municipality of S . " For food we were given some turnips in the middle of the day, some carrots in the evening, always boiled, without salt, or butter or fat, and about a halfpenny worth of bread for the whole day. On Sundays, sometimes some rice, sometimes potatoes with a little beef fat. " The sacks we made were solely for use in the trenches." (This is corroborated in Annexe 231 by Mile R , aged 25, of the same town.) Annexe 237. Mme Ij B , aged 27, brickmaker, deported from S , 25th April, 1915 : — " I saw the Germans ill-treat a girl called A , kicking her in the stomach, because she refused to sew sacks before having anything to eat. I saw her seriously ill; she was given three days' imprisonment and subsequently deported. " A young girl, J G , of S , living Rue J P , was beaten with a cat-o'-nine-tails and liad a jug of water thrown over hor for having asked for food before working. The work consisted cbiefiy in washing linen and making sjindbags." 74 Annexe 238. Mme L B , aged 30, schoolmistress, deported from S (Yosges), ITtii April, 1915: — "The Germans compelled several women at S to work for them, making sandbags; they had to make a certain number a day. The men had to do forced labour for the Germans : sweeping the streets, maintaining the roads, working at trenches. They had to be ready to answer a roll-call at any hour of the day or night." Annexe 239. Mme L M , aged 26, no profession, deported from M- (Nord), 16th December, 1915 : — " The Germans ordered us to make sand- bag's. When we refused, they imprisoned us in a factory and threatened to shoot us. As we persisted in our refusal they only gave us a slice of bread and butter a day, and this went on for four days. To prevent us getting any sleep, a German soldier used to patrol the factory at night and tickle our chins." (This is how the Germans in many cases got people to contract to work, and afterwards represented it as voluntary consent.) Annexe 241. Letter addressed to M. Durre, depute d/u Nord, in Paris. *•' Monsieur le Depute, I have the honour to inform you that men living at M and F — — (Nord) and at B (Belgium) have been in civilian prisons in Germany since July 17th for having refused to work for the enemy. You will find below an extract from the letter giving* me this sad news, which was brought to me by a young man who left M on July 29th : -^ " At the beginning of June the German police in M — (Nord) summoned all the former hands in the sawmills who were still there and ordered them to work. As they refused they were locked up in the Town Hall for two days. They set to work on the 3rd day, as they were told they were to saw planks to make huts for prisoners, and they worked for about a month. At the end of that time they were ordered to cut thick blocks ; they refused again, saying they would not work for the trenches. Seventeen of them were taken to S for 14 days and then removed to Germany on July 17th." I will give you some names: C , V , B , R , all from M (Nord), the rest are from F (Nord), M (Nord), and B (Belgium). These men worked before the war in the factory C , of which I was a director (steam sawmills). The work was done with the rough planks we had in the yard and the factory machinery." 75 The Contracting Powers will issue to their armed land forces, instructions which shall be in con- formity with the " Regulations respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land " annexed to the present convention, {Hague Convention^ Art. 1.) A belligerent party which violates the provisions of the said Regulations shall, if the case demands, be liable to make compensation. It shall be respon- sible for all acts committed by persons forming- part of its armed forces. {Ibid. Art. 3.) ANNEXE C. OFFICIAL FRENCH AND GERMAN DOCUMENTS. It seems necessary to draw the attention of the Neutral Powers to the text of certain French and German notes, relative to the work m invaded territories. The view of the Imperial German Government is expressed in these olhcial communications. These texts need no commentary. A perusal of the previous pages will show the value of the statements contained in the following German communications 76 Annexe 242. Telegram. The Minister of Foreign Affairs to the French Ambassador at Berne. Paris, 22nd August, 1915. Please forward by telegram to the Spanish Embassy in Berlin the following communication, of which I am also forwarding a copy to the United States Embassy in Paris : — It appears from recent information that the German authorities are subjecting the population of the districts of France in their occupation to labour of the hardest description and to a discipline of the most wanton severity. From the deposition made on oath by a civilian prisoner, who has succeeded in leaving these districts, it is clear that at Landrecies, the inhabitants, even if they are ill, are compelled to work from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., and that all the food which they receive is a loaf of bread every three days, most inferior cofiee in the morning, rice and vegetable soup in the middle of the day, and in the evening coffee similarto that of the morning. The author of the deposition in question affirms that, after an attempt to escape, one of his companions was brutally beaten and kept five days in a cell with his hands tied behind his back ; that at Hancourt (Somme) eight others of his companions received, for the same offence, more than 200 strokes with a horsewhip, were kept without bread for two days, and were then sent to work under the supervision of German soldiers armed with sticks. The French Government would be grateful to the Spanish Ambassador at Berlin if he would request the Imperial Government to make inquiry into these facts and to communicate what steps they have taken to improve the situation of the inhabitants of the districts in their occupation, ss, situation as contrary to the principles of humanity as to the rules of international law. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ventures to beg His Excellency M. Polo de Bernabe to be good enough to telegraph the date on which this communication is handed to the German Government. (Signed) Delcasse. Annexe 243. (This note, relating to the employment of French prisoners in Germany and of the inhabitants of the invaded districts on work connected with military operations, was communicated to the Neutral Powers. Only the part relating to civilian work in the invaded districts is here reproduced.) Extract from a Note hy the French Government. Paris, August Slst, 1915. The employment of prisoners of war on military works constitutes a clear and flagrant violation of international law. The violation is the more serious when the compulsion is imposed on civilians inhabiting invaded districts. In the terms of the regulation annexed to the Fourth Hague Convention (Article 62) : — Neither requisitions in kind nor services can be demanded from communes or inhabi- tants except for the necessities of the army of occupation. They must be in proportion to the resources of the country, and of such a nature as not to imply for the population any obligation to take part in military operations against their country. 77 It appears from a letter from Tourcoing, dated the 12tli of June, 1915, that the Germans in that town assert the right to compel the inhabitants to make harrows in order to break the dash of the French cavalry and sacks which, when filled with earth, are used as shelter in the trenches. The Germans have the workmen seized in their own homes by their military police. This practice is confirmed by more recent documents. It has extended to Lille and the whole district. The German authorities assert the right to compel the population to make sandbags for the trenches. An interchange of correspondence between the Governor and the Mayor of Lille, M. Ch. Delesalle, between June 10th and 21st, 1915, establishes the fact that the German authorities intended to make use of the Mayor's influence in order to force the workmen to work and pro- posed to impose on the city itself the duty of manufacturing sacks. An order of the Kommandant of the place, von Swerwis, posted at Marcq on the 27th of June, 1915, makes the following regulations for the manufacture of sacks : — " The Kommandantur will deposit in each house of the street designated the material, ready cut out, for the preparation of 10 sacks. The first distribution will take place on Monday at 7 a.m. (German time) and the sacks will be collected every day at the same hour. The first distributions began with the Rue de Lille until the new order. To make up for lost time, for the first two days 15 sacks will be dis- tributed per house." The following shows how the German authorities try to justify these measures. A proclamation by the Governor of Lille, dated June oOth, contains the following passage: "For some days the French workmen have refused to go on with the work which they had hitherto done for the German authorities. They were told by unscrupulous agents that their action was contrary to Article 52 of the Hague Convention. This idea is absolutely false : Article 52 says expressly that work for the army of occupation is allowed ' if it is of such a nature that it does not implicate the population in military operations against their country.' This is not the case with the work demanded." But it was, on the German authorities' own showing, a question of turning out of sandbags for the trenches. Here, again, is an extract from a communication from the Komman- dant of Halluin, Schranck, to the Municipal Council and leading men of the town : — "It is not for us to discuss on whose side is right, because we are not competent and shall never reach accord on the point. It will be the busines>s of diplomats and representatives of the different States after the war. To-day, only the interpretation given by the German authorities is valid, and for that reason we demand that everything needed for the maintenance of our troops shall be produced by the workmen of tlie territories in our occupation. I can assure you tliat the German military authorities will, uuder no condition, waive tlieir demands and their right, even if a town of 15,000 inhabitants has to be destroyed . . . Return to reason and see that all the workmen come back to work without delay; otherwise you will expose your town, your family and your persons to tlie greatest misfortunes." (The order adds : " Ihere it only one will and that is the will of the German Military Authorities.") 78 As regards "the sanction," it consisted of: — (1) A certain number of sentences, exceeding in some cases two years' imprisonment, promulgated by the Military Tribunal at Roubaix, on June 25th, 1915, on persons convicted of " having been present at the destruction of the property of a family whose members were working for the Germans and for having tried to prevent them working by threats." On June 24th the bootmaker Jacoby was condemned to death " for having threatened with a weapon some French workmen who wished to work for the German authorities and for having tried to prevent them continuing their work." (2) In the arrest, effected on July 1st, 1915, of 130 French citizens of Roubaix, including the highest industrial and commercial notabilities, and their despatch to the prisoners' camp at Gustrow (Mecklenburg). This arrest en masse was effected partly on the pretext that these industrials refused to work and to employ their factories to supply the needs of the German Army. Finally there was a succession of vexatious measures. A proclama- tion of the Governor of Lille, dated June 30th, compels the inhabitants of the Communes of Lille and Hellemmes to stay in their houses from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. (German time). At Roubaix, on July 9th, a proclama- tion by the Kommandantur insists on the closing of all shops, restaurants, &c., in the towns of Roubaix, Croix, Hem, Lannoy, Lys, Soers, Mouvaux, Tourers, Wasquehal, and Wattrelos, on the inhabitants staying in their houses between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., and announces new and stricter measures, especially the deportation of certain persons. As the attitude of the population remains the same in spite of these persecutions (there are still a considerable number of working women in prison who refuse to give way), acts of revolting brutality are com- mitted, especially in the villages. It is clear from private evidence that at Marcq especially some working women who refused to work were locked up, kept without food and sleep, and struck by their guards when they lay down or fell asleep. It appears sufficient to authenticate the definite, repeated, and systematic violation of Articles 6 and 52 of the Fourth Hague Convention, which forbid the employment of prisoners of war and of the inhabitants of invaded territory on works in connection with military operations. From the majority of the preceding proofs the violation of the texts which forbid the employment of prisoners of war on "excessive" labour becomes equally clear. The despatch of prisoners, often weakened by the fatigues of the campaign, by illness and privations, into mines, the employment of Russian prisoners during March, and of French prisoners during June, to reclaim marsh-lands, constitutes not only a definite violation of the Hague Convention, but a monstrous outrage on the rights of humanity. Annexe 244. NOTE VERBALE OF THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT. January 24th, 1916. The French Government asserts that the civil population of the French territories in German occupation has been subjected to treatment contrary to international law and the duties of humanity. The Imperial Foreign Office, referring to its Note Verbale of November 30th, 1915 (III. b. 26418), concerning the situation of German 79 prisoners in the camp at Casabianda(^), lias the honour to transmit the enclosed to the Ambassador of the United States of America, with the request that he will forward the answer of the German Military Authorities to the French Government. Reply of the German Military Authorities to the statements of the French Government concei'ning the alleged ill-treatment, contrary to international law and the duties of humanity, of which the civil popula- tion of the occupied French territory is said to have been a victim. The telegram of the French Government to the French Ambassador at Berne of August 22nd, 1915 {Ann. 242), transmitted to the German Government by the American Ambassador in Berlin, contains completely erroneous information concerning the treatment and feeding of French civilian workmen in the occupied territory. At Landrecies Frenchmen of military age are compelled to work in accordance with their professions. The work consists principally of fetching wood from the forests for heating purposes. The work lavsts from 7 a.m. till 5 p.m., less 2 half -hours generally lost at the beginning and end of the day's work ; furthermore, pauses of an hour and a half to two hours are granted during the work. The amount of work demanded is less than that exacted from German workmen. At the hardest work, the transport of wood, each group of two men has to transport 2-5 cubic metres of firewood for about 500 metres every day. This only represents a burden of about 20 kilograms. The Commune of Landrecies is charged with the feeding of the work- men, at a payment of 1 fr. 50 per day per man. According to the report of M. Thomas, acting-mayor, who is in charge of the feeding, this sum is quite sufficient. The workmen receive daily about : — 350 grammes of good quality meat. 500-600 grammes of potatoes and turnips. 120 grammes of dry vegetables. 300 grammes of bread. 15 grammes of coffee. 30 grammes of sugar, &c. The municipality has employed the savings made on tlie feeding for the purchase of clothing and especially boots for the workers. The evidence on oath of the French mayor Thomas is at the disposal of the French Government. It is not true that sick persons were constrained to work. A workman who reports himself ill before the beginning of tlie (hiy's wdik i> examined by a doctor; one wlio does so during the work is given a lighter task or sent home. It is true that workmen are punished for attempts to escape; they have not, however, been subjected to corporal punish- ment, but merely to imprisonment. One of them set fire to his mattress. With a view to his own protection as well as that of his companions, his hands were tied behind his back for one night, liesides tlie Frencli- men of military age who are compelled to woik under the aforesaid conditions, there are also 250 workmen at Landrecies who work at their own request; they receive 3 to G fj'. a day and i)rovide their own food. Some Frenclimen at Rancourt — ;ind not at Hiiucourt. where no French men have been constrained to work — were transferred to Landrecies in May, 1915. A searching enquiry has revealed nothing to lead us to suppose that up to that date workmen who had tried to escape had been (') The camp sit Casabianda has been closed. 90