File No. 763.72115/2648
The Chargé in Germany (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 13, 10 a. m.]
4719. Department’s 3621, November 29, 3 p. m.1 The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs handed to me to-day the reply of the [Page 869] German Government to the formal representations of the Government of the United States with regard to the Belgian deportations, of which reply the following is a translation:
The Government of the United States has protested against the deportation of Belgian laborers to Germany and against their being compelled to work, proceeding from the view that these measures are incompatible with the principles of humanity and international usage as to the treatment of the population of occupied territory.
The German Government believes that the Government of the United States of America is not correctly informed as to the reason for these measures, the manner in which they are carried out, and therefore considers it appropriate first of all to explain the true state of affairs.
In Belgium unemployment has been spreading for some time among the industrial laborers in an alarming manner This great increase in the unemployed is attributable to the blockade policy which has cut off the importation of raw materials for the Belgian industries and the exportation of their manufactures and thus caused the greatest part of the plants to shut down. As a result, nearly half of the Belgian factory laborers, whose total number is about 1,200,000, were completely deprived of occupations and a great many more than half a million Belgians who formerly earned their living by work in industries made dependent on public relief; this number is nearly triple when the families are added, making approximately 1,500,000 people. Such a state of affairs made a radical remedy most urgently necessary, whether from the point of view of Belgian political economy, for which the unemployed form an insupportable burden, or from the point of view of public order and morals which are gravely imperiled by the general lack of employment and its attendant features. This necessity has long been recognized and emphasized by discerning Belgians also.
In view of this situation the Governor General at Brussels issued an ordinance on May 15, 1916, whereby persons enjoying public relief who decline without sufficient reason to take up or continue work corresponding to their capacity are threatened with imprisonment Or compulsory labor. In consequence of the prostration of the Belgian industries it was not possible to furnish all the unemployed with an opportunity to work or at least some suitable occupation in Belgium itself. There was no choice but to assign them work in Germany where a large number of Belgian laborers are voluntarily employed already and feel themselves quite well [off], the wages being high and personal liberty very extended. Compulsory labor is enforced against those unemployed who do not follow their example.
This measure is completely in accordance with international law. For, pursuant to Article 43 of the Hague land war ordinance, the occupying power shall take steps to insure public order and safety in the occupied territory, and to this end intervene with supplementary ordinances wherever the laws in force in the country do not suffice. It undoubtedly comes under the head of the maintenance of public order to have those capable to work made to work if possible, and not permitted to become a burden on public charity and form a national past on account of their idleness.
In carrying out the measure hardships have been avoided and all possible consideration shown. If isolated mistakes have been made in selecting the persons taken to Germany—and in particular, people may have been included to whom the conditions of the ordinance of May 15, 1916, do not apply—this is to be connected with the fact that the Belgian authorities frequently refused their aid in drawing up the lists of the unemployed or made false statements. Care has been taken that such mistakes shall be remedied as soon as possible, for the principle that only such persons shall be deported to Germany as receive public relief, find no work in Belgium, and refuse the work assigned to them in Germany, is adhered to with all possible firmness.
The unemployed deported to Germany are taken from the concentration points established at Altengrabow, Guben, Cassel, Meschede, Münster, Soltau, and Wittenberg to the places of labor where they are employed in agricultural and industrial plants. As a matter of course, work which a hostile population cannot by international law be compelled to perform is excluded. If the American Government attaches importance thereto, permission will gladly be granted to a representative of the Embassy here to inform himself by a personal visit as to the condition in which the people are living.
[Page 870]The German Government regrets the fact that the circumstances set forth above have plainly been completely misrepresented in the United States of America through the mendacious press agitation of Germany’s enemies. It would greatly deplore it, not the least so in the interest of the Belgian population, if the beneficent work of the relief commission should be impaired in any way as a result of these misrepresentations.
In conclusion, the German Government cannot refrain from pointing out the fact that the removal of the German population from the parts of Germany and its colonies occupied by enemy troops, especially the dragging of women, children, and old men from East Prussia to Siberia, did not so far as is known here afford the neutral countries any Occasion to take steps with the Governments concerned similar to those that they have now taken towards Germany. And yet it is susceptible of no doubt that these latter measures constitute a gross violation of the laws of humanity and the rules of international law, whereas the German measures are quite in accordance with these principles according to what has been set forth above.
In informal conversation Zimmermann told me that steps were being taken to ameliorate so far as possible the conditions and manner of carrying out the deportation measures.