My Four Years in Germany Part 8

[Ill.u.s.tration: WAR DAYS IN BERLIN. AMBa.s.sADOR GERARD AND HIS STAFF.]

One morning an American woman spoke to me and said she would consent to go home on one of these s.h.i.+ps provided she was given a state-room with a bath and Walker-Gordon milk for her children, while another woman of German extraction used to sit for hours in a corner of the ballroom, occasionally exclaiming aloud with much feeling, "O G.o.d, will them s.h.i.+ps never come?"

In these first days of the war we also made a card index of all the Americans in Berlin, and, so far as possible, in Germany; in order to weed out those who had received the pa.s.sports in the first days when possibly some people not ent.i.tled to them received them, and to find the deserving cases. All Americans were required to present themselves at the Emba.s.sy and answer a few questions, after which, if everything seemed all right, their pa.s.sports were marked "recommended for transportation to America."

I sent out circulars from time to time to the consuls throughout Germany giving general instructions with regard to the treatment of Americans. The following circular sent out on August twelfth is a sample:

"AMERICAN EMBa.s.sY, BERLIN, August 12, 1914.

"_To_the_Consular_Representatives_ _of_the_United_States_in_Germany,_ _and_for_the_general_information_of_ _American_Citizens._

"A communication will to-morrow be published in the _Berlin_ _Lokal_Anzeiger_ regarding the sending of a special train to the Dutch frontier for the special conveyance of Americans.

Other trains will probably be arranged for from time to time.

No further news has been received regarding the sending of transports from the United States, but applications for repatriation are being considered by the Emba.s.sy and the various consular offices throughout Germany according to the Emba.s.sy's last circular and the announcements published in the _Lokal_Anzeiger_.

"All Americans leaving Berlin must have their pa.s.sports stamped by the Foreign Office, for which purpose they should apply to _Geheimer_Legationsrat_ Dr. Eckhardt at Wilhelmstra.s.se 76. Americans residing outside of Berlin should ascertain from their respective consular representatives what steps they should take in this regard.

"Letters for the United States may be sent to the Emba.s.sy and will be forwarded at the first opportunity.

"German subjects who desire to communicate with friends in Great Britain, Russia, France or Belgium, or who desire to send money, should make their requests to the Imperial Foreign Office. Americans are permitted to enter Italy. The steamers of the Italian lines are running at present, but are full for some time in advance. The Emba.s.sy is also informed that the steamer from Vlissingen, Holland, runs daily at 11 A. M. The Amba.s.sador cannot, however, recommend Americans to try to reach Holland by the ordinary schedule trains, as he has received reports of delays _en_route_, owing to the fact that all civil travellers are ejected from trains when troops require accommodations. It is better to wait for special trains arranged for by the Emba.s.sy.

"The Dresdener Bank and its branches throughout Germany will cash _for_Americans_only_ letters of credit and checks issued by good American banks in limited amounts. Included in this category are the checks of the Bankers' a.s.sociation, Bankers' Trust Company, International Mercantile Marine Company, and American Express Company. All checks and letters of credit must, however, be stamped by American consuls, and consuls must see that the consular stamp is affixed to those checks and letters of credit only as are the bona fide property of American citizens. The Commerz & Disconto Bank makes the same offer and the Deutsche Bank will cash checks and letters of credit drawn by its correspondents.

"American consular officers may also draw later on the Dresdener Bank for their salaries and the official expenses of their consulates. Before drawing such funds from the bank, however, all consular officers should submit their expense accounts to me for approval. These expense accounts should be transmitted to the Emba.s.sy at the earliest opportunity.

"THE AMBa.s.sADOR."

It will be noticed from the above circular that all Americans were required to have their pa.s.sports stamped at the Foreign Office. One American did not receive back his pa.s.sport, although he had left it at the Foreign Office. The Foreign Office claimed that it had delivered the pa.s.sport to some one from the Emba.s.sy, but we were not very much surprised when this identical pa.s.sport turned up later in the possession of Lodi, the confessed German spy, who was shot in the Tower of London.

After a time the American Government cabled me to advance money to dest.i.tute Americans; and the ladies in the ballroom, with their a.s.sistants, attended to this branch, advancing money where needed or so much as a person needed to make up the balance of pa.s.sage on steerage tickets from Holland to the United States.

At the same time we gradually built up a banking system. Those in the United States who had friends or relatives in Germany sent them money by giving the money to our State Department, and the State Department in turn cabled me to make a payment.

This payment was made by my drawing a draft for the amount stated on the State Department, the recipient selling this draft at a fixed rate to the Deutsche Bank in Berlin. This business a.s.sumed great proportions, and after the Americans who were in a hurry to go home had disappeared, the ones remaining were kept in funds by their friends and relatives through this sort of bank under our management.

On August twenty-third, a.s.sistant Secretary of War Breckenridge, who had come from America on the wars.h.i.+p _Tennessee_, bringing gold with him, and a certain number of army officers, arrived in Berlin and took over our relief organisation in so far as it applied to the repatriation of Americans, housing it in rooms hired in a nearby hotel, the Kaiserhoff. This commission: was composed of Majors J. A. Ryan, J. H. Ford and G. W. Martin and Captains Miller and Fenton, but the relief committee and the banking office were still continued in the Emba.s.sy ballroom.

A bulletin was published under the auspices of the American a.s.sociation of Commerce and Trade and the advice there given was that all Americans having the means to leave should do so when the opportunity for leaving by special trains was presented, and proceed direct to London whence they could obtain transportation to the United States. All Americans without means were directed to apply to the relief commission which was authorized to pay for the transportation and subsistence of stranded Americans in order to enable them to return home.

The enormous quant.i.ty of baggage left behind by Americans in Germany was a problem requiring solution.

In spite of repeated advice to leave, many Americans insisted on remaining in Germany. Few of them were business people; there were many song-birds, piano players, and students. We had much trouble with these belated Americans. For example, one woman and her daughter refused to leave when advised, but stayed on and ran up bills for over ten thousand marks; and as arrest for debt exists in Germany, they could not leave when they finally decided to go. All of us in the Emba.s.sy had to subscribe the money necessary to pay their most pressing debts and they finally left the country, leaving an added prejudice against Americans.

CHAPTER X

PRISONERS OF WAR

During the period of the first months of the war, in addition to other work, it became necessary to look after those subjects of other nations who had been confided to my care.

At first the British were allowed considerable liberty, although none were permitted to leave the country. They were required to report to the police at stated times during the day and could not remain out late at night.

The j.a.panese had received warning from their Emba.s.sy as to the turn that events might take and, before sending its ultimatum, the j.a.panese government had warned its citizens, so that a great number of them had left Germany. After the declaration of war by j.a.pan, all the j.a.panese in Germany were immediately imprisoned.

This was stated to be in order to save them from the fury of the population and certainly the people seemed to be greatly incensed against the j.a.panese. When I finally obtained permission for their release and departure from Germany I had to send some one with the parties of j.a.panese to the Swiss frontier in order to protect them from injury. They were permitted to leave only through Switzerland and, therefore, had to change cars at Munich.

Before sending any of them to Munich I invariably telegraphed our Consul there to notify the Munich police so that proper protection could be provided at the railway station.

On one occasion a number of j.a.panese were waiting in the Emba.s.sy in order to take the night train for Munich. I sent a servant to take them out in order that they might get something to eat in a restaurant, but as no restaurant in Berlin would sell them food, arrangements were made to give them meals in the Emba.s.sy.

The members of the Siamese Legation, who in appearance greatly resemble the j.a.panese, were often subjected to indignities, and for a long time did not dare move about freely in Berlin, or even leave their houses.

The j.a.panese were marvels of courtesy. After I visited some of them at the civilian camp of Ruhleben, they wrote me a letter thanking me for the visit. Nearly every j.a.panese leaving Germany on his arrival in Switzerland wrote me a grateful letter.

When I finally left Germany, as I stepped from the special train at Zurich, a j.a.panese woman, who had been imprisoned in Germany and whose husband I had visited in a prison, came forward to thank me. A j.a.panese man was waiting in the hotel office in Berne when I arrived there, for a similar purpose, and the next morning early the j.a.panese Minister called and left a beautiful clock for Mrs. Gerard as an expression of his grat.i.tude for the attention shown to his countrymen. It was really a pleasure to be able to do something for these polite and charming people.

On August twentieth I paid my first visit to a German prison camp. This was to the camp at Doeberitz situated about eight miles west of Berlin, a sort of military camp with permanent barracks. Some of these barracks were used for the confinement of such British civilians as the Germans had arrested in the first days of the war. There were only a few British among the prisoners, with a number of Russian and French. I was allowed to converse freely with the prisoners and found that they had no complaints. As the war went on, however, a number of British prisoners of war were taken by the Germans during the course of the great retreat of the British in Northern France. Then officers and privates began to come into Germany and were distributed in various camps. Finally, in the autumn of 1914, the British Government decided on interning a great number of Germans in Great Britain; and the German government immediately, and as a reprisal, interned all the British civilian men who, up to this time, had enjoyed comparative freedom in Berlin and other cities of the Empire. The British civilians were shut up in a race track about five miles from the centre of Berlin, called Ruhleben. This race track in peace times was used for contests of trotting horses and on it were the usual grandstands and brick stable buildings containing box stalls with hay lofts above, where the race horses were kept.

On August twentieth I paid my first visit to the police presidency in Berlin where political prisoners, when arrested, were confined. A small number of British prisoners subject to especial investigation were there interned. This prison, which I often subsequently visited, was clean and well kept, and I never had any particular complaints from the prisoners confined there, except, of course, as the war progressed, concerning the inadequacy of the food.

I had organised a special department immediately on the breaking out of the war to care for the interests of the British. At first Mr. Boylston Beal, a lawyer of Boston, a.s.sisted by Mr. Rivington Pyne of New York, was at the head of this department, of which later the Honourable John B. Jackson, formerly our Minister to the Balkan States, Greece and Cuba, took charge. He volunteered to give his a.s.sistance at the commencement of the war and I was glad of his help, especially as he had been twelve years secretary in the Berlin Emba.s.sy and, therefore, was well acquainted not only with Germany but with German official life and customs. Mr.

Jackson was most ably a.s.sisted by Charles H. Russell, Jr., of New York, and Lithgow Osborne. Of course, others in the Emba.s.sy had much to do with this department.

The first privates, prisoners of war, came to the camp of Doeberitz near Berlin. Early in the war Mr. Grew, our First Secretary, and Consul General Lay visited the camp for officers at Torgau. The question of the inspection of prisoners of the camps and the rights of Amba.s.sadors charged with the interests of hostile powers was quite in the clouds. So many reports came to Germany about the bad treatment in England of German prisoners of war that I finally arranged to have Mr. Jackson visit them and report. This was arranged by my colleague, our Amba.s.sador to Great Britain, and in the first winter Mr. Jackson made his trip there. His report of conditions there did much to allay the German belief as to the ill-treatment of their subjects who were prisoners in Great Britain and helped me greatly in bringing about better conditions in Germany. After vainly endeavouring to get the German government to agree to some definite plan for the inspection of the prisoners, after my notes to the Foreign Office had remained unanswered for a long period of time, and after sending a personal letter to von Jagow calling his attention to the fact that the delay was injuring German prisoners in other countries, I finally called on von Bethmann-Hollweg and told him that my notes concerning prisoners were sent by the Foreign Office to the military authorities: that, while I could talk with officials of the Foreign Office, I never came into contact with the people who really pa.s.sed upon the notes sent by me, and who made the decisions as to the treatment of prisoners of war and inspection of their camps; and I begged the Chancellor to break down diplomatic precedent and allow me to speak with the military authorities who decided these questions. I said, "If I cannot get an answer to my proposition about prisoners, I will take a chair and sit in front of your palace in the street until I receive an answer."

The result was a meeting in my office.

I discussed the question involved with two representatives from the Foreign Office, two from the General Staff, two from the War Department and with Count Schwerin who commanded the civilian camp at the Ruhleben race track. In twenty minutes we managed to reach an agreement which I then and there drew up: the substance of which, as between Great Britain and Germany, was that the American Amba.s.sador and his representatives in Germany and the American Amba.s.sador and his representatives in Great Britain should have the right to visit the prison camps on giving reasonable notice, which was to be twenty-four hours where possible, and should have the right to converse with the prisoners, within sight but out of hearing, of the camp officials; that an endeavour should be made to adjust matters complained of with the camp authorities before bringing them to the notice of higher authorities; that ten representatives should be named by our Amba.s.sador and that these should receive pa.s.ses enabling them to visit the camps under the conditions above stated. This agreement was ratified by the British and German Governments and thereafter for a long time we worked under its provisions and in most questions dealt direct with the War Department.

Of course, before this meeting I had managed to get permission to visit the camps of Ruhleben and Doeberitz near Berlin; and Mr. Michaelson, our consul at Cologne, and Mr. Jackson and others at the Emba.s.sy had been permitted to visit certain camps. But immediately preceding the meeting on the fourth of March and while matters were still being discussed we were compelled to a certain extent to suspend our visits.

In the first days of the war it was undoubtedly and unfortunately true that prisoners of war taken by the Germans, both at the time of their capture and in transit to the prison camps, were often badly treated by the soldiers, guards or the civil population.

The instances were too numerous, the evidence too overwhelming, to be denied. In the prison camps themselves, owing to the peculiar system of military government in Germany, the treatment of the prisoners varied greatly. As I have, I think, stated in another place, Germany is divided into army corps districts. Over each of these districts is, in time of war, a representative corps commander who is clothed with absolute power in that district, his orders superseding those of all civilian officials. These corps commanders do not report to the war department but are in a measure independent and very jealous of their rights. For instance, to show the difficulty of dealing with these corps commanders, after my arrangements concerning the inspection of prisoners of war had been ratified by both the Imperial and British governments, I went to Halle to inspect the place of detention for officers there. Halle is some hours from Berlin and when I had driven out to the camp, I was met by the commander who told me that I might visit the camp but that I could not speak to the prisoners out of hearing. I told him that our arrangement was otherwise, but, as he remained firm I returned to Berlin.

I complained to the Foreign Office and was told there that the matter would be arranged and so I again, some days later, returned to Halle. My experience on the second trip was exactly the same as the first. I spoke to von Jagow who explained the situation to me, and advised me to visit first the corps commander at Magdeburg and try and arrange the matter with him. I did so and was finally permitted to visit this camp and to talk to the officers out of ear-shot.

This camp of Halle was continued during the war, although not at all a fit place for the detention of officers, who were lodged in the old factory buildings surrounded by a sort of courtyard covered with cinders. This building was situated in the industrial part of the town of Halle. There was no opportunity for recreation or games, although several enterprising officers had tried to arrange a place where they could knock, a tennis ball against the wall.

It was the policy of the Germans to put some prisoners of each nation in each camp. This was probably so that no claim could be made that the prisoners from one nation among the Allies were treated better or worse than the prisoners from another nation.

In the beginning of the war the Germans were surprised by the great number of prisoners taken and had made no adequate preparations for their reception. Clothing and blankets were woefully wanting, so I immediately bought what I could in the way of underclothes and blankets at the large department stores of Berlin and the wholesalers and sent these to the camps where the British prisoners were confined. I also sent to the Doeberitz camp articles such as sticks for wounded men who were recovering, and crutches, and even eggs and other nouris.h.i.+ng delicacies for the sick.

At first the prisoners were not compelled to work to any extent, but at the time I left Germany the two million prisoners of war were materially a.s.sisting the carrying on of the agriculture and industries of the Empire.

The League of Mercy of New York having telegraphed me in 1914, asking in what way funds could best be used in the war, I suggested in answer that funds for the prisoners of war were urgently needed.

Many newspapers poked fun at me for this suggestion, and one bright editor said that if the Germans did not treat their prisoners properly they should be made to! Of course, unless this particular editor had sailed up the Spree in a canoe and bombarded the royal palace, I know of no other way of "making" the Germans do anything.

The idea, however, of doing some work for the prisoners of war was taken up by the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation. Dr. John R.

Mott was at the head of this work and was most ably and devotedly a.s.sisted by the Rev. Archibald C. Harte. I shall give an account of their splendid work in a chapter devoted to the charitable work of the war.

At only one town in Germany was any interest in the fate of the prisoners of war evinced. This was, I am glad to say, in the quaint university town of Gottingen. I visited this camp with Mr. Harte, in April, 1915, to attend the opening of the first Y. M. C. A. camp building in Germany. The camp was commanded by Colonel Bogen, an officer strict in his discipline, but, as all the prisoners admitted, just in his dealings with them. There were, as I recall, about seven thousand prisoners in this camp, Russian, French, Belgian and British. It is a pity that the methods of Colonel Bogen and his arrangements for camp buildings, etc., were not copied in other camps in Germany. Here, as I have said, the civil population took some interest in the fate of the unfortunate prisoners within their gates, led in this by several professors in the University. The most active of these professors was Professor Stange who, working with a French lawyer who had been captured near Arras while in the Red Cross, provided a library for the prisoners and otherwise helped them. Of course, these charitable acts of Professor Stange did not find favor with many of his fellow townsmen of Gottingen, and he was not surprised when he awoke one morning to find that during the night his house had been painted red, white and blue, the colours of France, England and America.