The Land of Deepening Shadow - Germany-at-War by D. Thomas Curtin
page 48 of 320 (15%)
page 48 of 320 (15%)
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CHAPTER VI THE LIE ON THE FILM At the end of an absorbingly interesting reel showing the Kaiser reviewing his troops, a huge green trade-mark globe revolved with a streamer fluttering _Berlin_. The lights were turned on and the operator looked over his assortment of reels. An American had been granted permission to take war films in Germany in the autumn of 1914, to be exhibited in the United States. After he had arrived, however, the authorities had refused to let him take pictures with the army, but, like the proverbial druggist, had offered him something "just as good." In London, on his return journey home, he showed to a few newspaper correspondents the films which Germany had foisted upon him. "The next film, gentlemen, will depict scenes in East Prussia," the operator announced. Although I had probably seen most of these pictures in Germany, my interest quickened, for I had been through that devastated province during and after the first invasion. Familiar scenes of ruined villages and refugees scudding from the sulphur storm passed before my eyes. Then came the ruined heap of a once stately church tagged _Beautiful Church in Allenburg Destroyed by the Russians_. The destruction seemed the more heinous since a trace of former beauty lived through the ruins, and you could not view this link of evidence against the Russians without a feeling of resentment. |
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