TRANSFERS TO SWITZERLAND

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$359. Transfer of Wounded and Invalided Prisoners to Switzerland. In April, 1916, agreements between Germany and Great Britain and between France and Germany were reached under which each government agreed to transfer to Switzerland all wounded prisoners held by it as well as all prisoners suffering from any one of twenty specified diseases or infirmities. In order to determine who were eligible to transfer it was agreed that the prison camps and hospitals in both countries should be inspected by Swiss medical men. Prisoners designated by the medical commission were to be assembled at some convenient place for final examination by a commission of which two-thirds of the members were to be Swiss. Finally, it was agreed that each government should defray the cost of the internment of its nationals in Switzerland.1 After long negotiations an agreement was reached between Germany and Russia, largely through the efforts of Mr. Gerard, for the exchange of incapacitated prisoners of war. The selection of those entitled to the benefit of the arrangement was to be made by members of the Danish Red Cross society, who were authorized to visit prisoners' camps in both countries. Instead of being transferred to Switzerland, however, they were to be returned by way of Sweden to their own countries, the transfer through Sweden being placed entirely in the hands of the Swedish Red Cross society.2

Under these arrangements many thousands of wounded and otherwise incapacitated soldiers were either repatriated or transferred to Switzerland where, although still held as prisoners,

1 The correspondence relating to the Anglo-German agreement was published as a parliamentary white paper. Misc., No. 17 (1916), Cd. 8236. The arrival of the first contingent of French prisoners from Germany took place on May 25, 1916, and called forth an enthusiastic welcome from the Swiss population. Cf. the description of the reception in the New York Times of June 18, 1916. The first British contingent arrived on May 30. The extraordinary reception which they were accorded by the Swiss is described by the British minister at Berne in a despatch of June 2, 1916, to Sir Edward Grey. Cf. a pamphlet entitled The Reception of Wounded Prisoner Soldiers of Great Britain in Switzerland, London, 1916. Cf. also Régime des Prisonniers, pp. 91–93.

2 The agreement of November 11, 1918, between the United States and Germany contained detailed provisions for the repatriation of certain classes of prisoners, notably those who had been in captivity for one year, while those not eligible for repatriation, but who had attained the age of forty years, were to be transferred for internment in a neutral country. The end of the war came, however, before the terms of the agreement could be put into effect.

their lot was materially improved; they were no longer confined in enemy camps, but were among friends and could breathe the air of a neutral and friendly country. Those who were entitled to the benefit of these liberal arrangements, however, constituted a very small proportion of the total number of prisoners, for the terms of the agreement were strictly construed, and no prisoner who did not clearly come within the category of wounded, infirm, or incapacitated was transferred or repatriated.

$360. Repatriation of Prisoners in Long Captivity. In April, 1918, an agreement was reached between the German and French governments under which all non-commissioned officers and soldiers (with certain exceptions), held by either side, who had been in captivity not less than eighteen months, who were between forty and forty-five years of age and fathers of at least three living children, or who were between forty-five and forty-eight years of age, should be reciprocally repatriated. Those not belonging to these classes should be repatriated on the basis of man for man exchange. All officers belonging to the above-mentioned classes were to be interned in Switzerland. The terms of the agreement were also made applicable to Belgian prisoners of war held by Germany and to German prisoners held by Belgium. Civilian prisoners held in internment camps by either side, whatever their age or sex, with a few exceptions, were to be allowed to leave the country in which they were held, and those interned in Switzerland before November, 1916, on the ground of ill health were likewise to be liberated. In July, 1918, a somewhat similar agreement was reached after five weeks of negotiations between representatives of the British and German governments at The Hague. In general, the agreement provided for the exchange on a man for man basis of captives who had been in prison at least eighteen months, and for a general exchange of civilians. The German government, however, raised various questions concerning German prisoners in China and the release of U-boat crews, whom the British government declined to liberate, in consequence of which the

1 In March, 1918, it was stated that 26,000 prisoners of the several belligerents were being cared for in Switzerland. Of these, 16,000 were English, French, and Belgian, while 10,000 were German. Besides, some 500,000 invalid and sick prisoners of various nationalities had been exchanged and repatriated through Switzerland since the beginning of the war.

RELEASE OF PRISONERS IN LONG CAPTIVITY 57 above-mentioned agreement appears not to have been ratified by the German government before the conclusion of the armistice.1

1 From first to last the German delegates at the Conference raised numerous objections and did not regard with favor the proposal of the British delegates looking toward a general exchange of combatant prisoners and of interned civilians. -There were roughly four thousand British civilian prisoners in Germany and twenty thousand German civilian prisoners in England. The German delegates were willing to agree to an "all for all" exchange; but as in 1915, this solution was not acceptable to the British government, which insisted on a man for man basis.

CHAPTER XXIII

MILITARY GOVERNMENT IN BELGIUM 1

§ 361. General von der Goltz's Appointment as Governor-general; § 362. Revocation of Consular Exequaturs; § 363. Powers of the Governor-general; § 364. Powers of the Local Authorities Taken over; § 365. German Legislation in Belgium; §366. Restrictions in Respect to Personal Liberty; § 367. Restrictions in Respect to Patriotic Demonstrations; § 368. German Measures in Respect to Education; § 369. Movement to Detach Flemish Belgium; Transformation of the University of Ghent into a Flemish Institution; § 370. Deportation of Professors Pirenne and Frédéricq; § 371. Right of Military Occupants to Interfere with Educational Institutions; § 372. Division of Belgium into two Districts.

§ 361. General von der Goltz's Appointment as Governorgeneral. By the end of August, 1915, the greater part of

1 I have limited the treatment of the subject of military government in occupied territory to German policy in Belgium, partly because of limitations of space and partly because sufficient trustworthy information regarding the government of other occupied territories is not yet available. My chief source of information regarding German military government in Belgium is Huberich and Nicol-Speyer's German Legislation for the Occupied Territories of Belgium in fourteen volumes (The Hague, Nijhoff, 1915-1918). This collection contains the texts in French, German, and Flemish of the laws, ordinances, proclamations, and notices as published in the Gesetz- und V erordnungs-Blatt für die Okkupierten Gebiete Belgiens between September 5, 1914, and the withdrawal of the German armies in the autumn of 1918. I have also used a publication entitled Arrêtés et Proclamations de Guerre Allemandes, published by Allen and Unwin, London, 1915. This collection contains the French texts of the proclamations issued by the German authorities at Brussels between August 20, 1914, and January 25, 1915. Many official documents and reports, such as the Bryce Report on alleged German atrocities in Belgium, the reports of the Belgian commission of inquiry, the Cahiers Documentaires issued by the Belgian government, and others have also been used. In addition to press despatches published in the London Times and the New York Times and various articles in the law reviews, I have made use of many books and brochures, of which the following are the more important: Massart, Belgians under the German Eagle; Waxweiler, Belgium, Neutral and Loyal; Waxweiler, Belgium and the Great Powers; Saint Yves, Les Responsabilités de l'Allemagne dans la Guerre de 1914; Langenhove, The Growth of a Legend; Morgan, German Atrocities; Verhaeren, Belgium's Agony; Nothomb, Les Barbares en Belgique; Williams, In the Claws of the German Eagle; Gibson, Journal from our Legation in Belgium; Cammaerts, Through the Iron Bars; Passalecq, Les Déportations Belges; Passalecq, La Magistrature Belge contre le Despotisme Allemand; Passalecq, La Question Flamande et l'Allemagne; Beck, The Evidence in the Case; also his The War and Humanity; Mokveld, The German Fury in Belgium; de Gerlache de Gomery, Belgium during the War; Nyrop, L'Arrestation des Professeurs Belges et l'Université de Gand, and Whitlock, Belgium (2 vols., New York, 1919).

VON DER GOLTZ AS GOVERNOR-GENERAL

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Belgium had been overrun by the German armies and was under their effective occupation. By a decree of August 26, Field-marshal Baron von der Goltz was appointed governorgeneral of Belgium, and on the same date Herr von Sandt was made chief of the civil administration near the governor-general.1 On September 2, General von der Goltz issued a proclamation notifying the people of Belgium of his appointment, directing their attention to the "victorious advance" of the German army in France, and announcing that his task would be the "preservation of the tranquillity and public order in Belgian territory."

"Every act of hostility by the inhabitants against the German military forces," he added, "every attempt to interfere with their communications with Germany, to injure or interrupt the railway, telegraph, or telephone connections will be punished very severely and every act of resistance or revolt against the German administration would be repressed without pardon." "It is the hard necessity of war," he further added, "that the punishment of hostile acts fall, in the absence of the guilty, upon the innocent. It is the duty of the thinking citizens to exert pressure upon the turbulent elements to restrain them from committing acts against the public order. Belgian citizens desiring to pursue peaceably their occupations will have nothing to fear from the German troops or the military authorities."

Concluding his address, he said:

"Citizens of Belgium, I do not ask anyone to renounce his patriotic sentiments, but I expect from you all reasonable submission and absolute obedience to the orders of the general government. I invite you to give it your confidence and your coöperation. I address this invitation especially to the public officials of the State and of the communes who have remained at their posts. The more you respond to this appeal, the more you will serve your country."

§ 362. Revocation of Consular Exequaturs. Toward the end of November, 1914, the German government informed neutral powers having consular representatives in Belgium that in view of the fact that the German army had occupied various

1 The jurisdiction of the governor-general included not only the occupied territory of Belgium, but also the French district of Givet-Fumay, which was attached to the territory of the governor-generalcy.

By an order of December 3, 1914, General von der Goltz was superseded by General von Bissing, who served until his death in 1916, when he was succeeded by General Falkenhausen, who filled the position until the withdrawal of the German armies in the autumn of 1918.

2 Text in Arrêtés et Proclamations de Guerre Allemandes, pp. 8-9.