What Germany Thinks - The War as Germans see it by Thomas F. A. Smith
page 74 of 294 (25%)
page 74 of 294 (25%)
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public to assist in preventing tunnels, bridges, railways, etc., from
being destroyed by foreign agents and spies. The whole country at once became a detective office of madmen! Ample proof is at hand to show that this lashing of the public mind into brutal fury was the calculated work of the German authorities. "We are now absolutely dependent upon reports issued by the authorities; we do not know whether they are correct or whether they are merely intended to inflame public opinion. Thus reports have been officially circulated of Russian patrols crossing our frontiers, and from Nuremberg of French airmen dropping bombs on the railways in that neighbourhood, whereupon diplomatic relations with both countries were broken off."[36] [Footnote 36: _Leipziger Volkszeitung_, August 3rd.] The whole Press, with the exception of at least some Social Democratic organs, joined in a chorus of hatred and suspicion against Russians residing in Germany. In bitterness towards the Russian State the Socialist journals were solid in their hostility, but the author has only discovered expressions of abhorrence in their columns concerning the ill-treatment, even murder, of innocent foreigners in Germany. This fact must be recorded to their honour. "Certain circles of Leipzig's population are at present possessed by patriotic delirium and at the same time by a spy-mania which luxuriates like tropical vegetation. In reality, love of Fatherland is something quite other than those feelings which find expression in the present noisy and disgusting scenes. These mob patriots must remember that in their mad attacks on 'Serbs' and 'Russians'--that is to say, everybody who has black hair and a beard, whom they at once conclude must belong |
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