Слике страница
PDF
ePub

intellectuals, that is to say, French; or, conversely, to create an intellectual class which speaks the language of the people.” 1

This, in a word, is the end aimed at by the creation of a Flemish university: to create an intellectual class which speaks the language of the people.

The creation of such a university was already assured before the war broke out. March 31, 1911, three prominent leaders of the Flemish movement prepared a bill for the gradual Flamandization of the University of Ghent. November 19, 1912, the bill was again proposed; and after thorough discussion in the sections (committees) of the Chamber, the principle was adopted—that is to say, it was voted to transform the University of Ghent into a purely Flemish university. This was the state of the case when the war broke out; and it was then, and is now, generally understood in Belgium that nothing remains except to work out in detail a practicable plan for effecting this transformation.

UNIVERSITY TO "LIBERATE" FLEMINGS

The Germans were scarcely established in Belgium before they hit upon this question of a Flemish university as an excellent point of departure from which to begin the "liberation of the Flemings from the Walloon yoke." In the spring of 1915, and again in the fall, the faculties of the University of Ghent were requested by the German authorities to resume instruction. In both instances the faculties declined; whereupon on December 31, 1915, the governor general, ignoring a vigorous protest by prominent leaders in the academic and political world, issued a decree for the Flamandization of the University of Ghent.

The task was assigned to a Studien-Kommission appointed in March, 1916, and composed entirely of Germans, with Professor von Dyck of Munich as secretary. A primary object was to enlist in the new university as many members of the existing faculties as possible. To this end, in February, even before the StudienKommission had been appointed, Dr. von Sandt, chief of the civil

Passelecq, op. cit., 280-282, quoting F. van Langenhove in the Bibliothèque Universelle of Lausanne for December, 1916.

PASSIVE RESISTANCE BY TEACHERS

319

administration, requested the professors in the University of Ghent to state "whether they were or were not able to teach in Flemish." Although very many of them were undoubtedly able to teach in Flemish, only eight replied affirmatively; the great majority made it clear, by the evasiveness of their replies, that they would take no part in any university, Flemish or other, that might be opened under the auspices of the German Government. The leaders in this movement of passive resistance were undoubtedly the two famous historians, Henri Pirenne and Paul Frédéricq. On March 18, 1916, Pirenne and Frédéricq were both arrested and, without trial, on the pretext of having violated their promise of loyalty to the German Government of occupation, were carried away to a German prison camp.

Some months later a second question was put to the faculties of the university, in the form of an invitation from the German authorities, in Flemish, asking them individually if they were disposed to begin instruction in the Flemish language in the fall. Seven members replied affirmatively. Of these seven, five only were Belgians; and of the two foreigners, one was a German. So far the prospect for a Flemish university was not bright. As Professor von Dyck said in his official report, "there would be one, or at most two professors in each of the four faculties." As to the character of the seven, they were, according to a good authority, men without distinction-"pedagogues of no more than mediocre ability." 1

TEACHERS DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN

Meanwhile, the Studien-Kommission sought to obtain in Holland the teachers which could not be recruited in Belgium. A considerable number of Dutch professors accepted positions in the new university; but in his interesting report of October 20, 1916, Professor von Dyck admitted that "it was not easy to find in Holland the elements of intelligent collaboration. . . . It is only gradually that we have succeeded in securing for the University of Ghent a group of Hollanders who share our views." Professor von Dyck goes on to specify some of these "Hollanders" who share

1 Passelecq, op. cit., 145.

...

the German views. "They were naturally found among those who have hitherto sustained scientific relations with Germany. The Zoologist Versluys who, for eight years, studied at Giessen; a young chemist working at Leipzig; a philologian who obtained at Berlin degrees in science; a fourth, member of an ancient Dutch family, who is teaching at Berlin, in the Educational Institute. . . . I may mention also the Dutchman Labberton, the well known apologist for the German invasion of Belgium, whom we have been able to win over, not without having encountered stubborn scruples of all sorts. Finally, the distinguished Germanist, Kossmann, who abandons the fine position which he holds at The Hague in order to serve the Flemish cause." Among the illustrious "Hollanders" who accepted positions in the new university, mention should also be made of Dr. Jolles, a naturalized German citizen of Dutch descent, who had served in the German armies in the present war, very probably on the western front.

1

STUDENTS GOT BY SCHOLARSHIPS

Students as well as professors were thought to be necessary for opening the university. No effort or expense was spared to obtain them. Young men who entered were relieved of many restrictions imposed on other Belgians; Flemish prisoners of war in Germany were offered their liberty if they would enroll; and 240 annual scholarships of 400 francs each were placed at the disposal of students who were, for one reason or another, without adequate funds to carry on their studies. Nevertheless, Professor von Dyck admitted in his report that "the number of students is still very limited on the eve of the opening of the university. We have to-day 40 students enrolled, and about 30 who have declared their intention of enrolling." 2

The official report of Professor von Dyck was read October 20, 1916. On the following day the new university was formally

1 Passelecq, op. cit., 151. A useful pamphlet on the Flamandization of the University of Ghent is Kristoffer Nyrop, The Imprisonment of the Ghent Professors (London, 1917). For the attitude of the Dutch toward the "Hollanders" who accepted positions in the new university, see Chapter 7.

'Passelecq, op. cit., 161. According to the Kölnische Volkszeitung of February 1, 1917, the number of students at that date was about 60.

UNIVERSITY FORMALLY OPENED

321

opened. The Bavarian minister of education and many other high German officials assisted at the ceremonies, of which the chief event was an address by Freiherr von Bissing, the governor general of Belgium. In the course of his address the governor general said:

"Laboring hand in hand with the Flemings, and well-advised by German and Dutch friends, the Studien-Kommission has negotiated the nominations and created the organization of the new educational establishment. . . . It is thus that Germans and Flemings work at a common task, in mutual confidence and with perfect understanding. De Raet chose as the motto of his first publication concerning a Flemish university these words: 'Two Valkyries, epic sisters, dominate the world—thought and the sword. An admirable decree of Providence has willed that these words, written in 1822, should in a singular manner be fulfilled at the University of Ghent. This university is born of the thought of many men concerned for the fate of Flanders. during the years of struggle and suffering. The God of War, with sword drawn, has held it under the baptismal font. May the God of Peace show it mercy through the centuries." 1

By a curious coincidence, it was in this same city of Ghent, almost on the very day on which the God of War, "with sword drawn," was holding the new university under the baptismal font, that some thousands of Belgian citizens were herded into cattle cars at the point of Prussian bayonets and carried away into slavery. These men may have consoled themselves with the thought that, although subject to outward constraint, it would presently be their high privilege to dwell in the land of "inner freedom."

[blocks in formation]

'Passelecq, op. cit., 166; Passelecq, Les déportations belges (Paris, 1917), 25– 27; Nyrop, Imprisonment of the Ghent Professors, 64. The first Ghent deportations occurred between October 12 and 21, 1916.

III. THE ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION OF BELGIUM From the point of view of the German theory that Belgium is not a nation, but two peoples held together against their will, nothing could be more logical than the conclusion that the administrative division should be made to correspond to the linguistic division. It has never occurred to the Belgians to make such an administrative arrangement. The actual situation in Belgium is thus described by Fernand Passelecq:

"The territory of Belgium has, on the map, the general configuration of a triangle divided, from the linguistic point of view, by an imaginary line running . . . from east to west, and crossing six of the nine provinces: namely, Liége, Limburg, Brabant, Hainaut, and the two Flanders. The part to the north of this line is Flemish, the part to the south is Walloon. The principal administrative divisions of the country, civil (provinces) as well as religious (dioceses), do not coincide with the 'linguistic frontier.' The provinces of Limburg, Antwerp, West Flanders and East Flanders are classed, in Belgian legislation on the employment of languages, as Flemish provinces; those of Liége, Luxemburg, Namur, and Hainaut as Walloon provinces; the (central) province of Brabant as mixed, because it comprises two Flemish districts (Brussels and Louvain), and one Walloon district (Nivelles). In fact, according to the linguistic frontier, the province of Namur is the only one exclusively Walloon, and the province of Liége the only one exclusively Flemish." 1

The Belgians have apparently never had any serious desire to change this arrangement. There was, indeed, in the years 19121914, a kind of "political gesture" in that direction. This movement did not originate with the Flemings, who are "subject to the Walloon yoke," but among the Walloon socialists, who were then complaining loudly of "the intolerable pretentions of the Flemish Clerical party." The truth seems to be that the Socialists, who are in a minority in Belgium as a whole but are very strong in 'Passelecq, op. cit., 33.

« ПретходнаНастави »