Paris Peace Conf. 850e.00/2
The Chargé in Switzerland (Wilson) to
the Commission to Negotiate Peace
No. 87
Berne
, January
11, 1919.
Sirs: I have the honor to transmit herewith
for your information a copy and translation of a note from the Swiss
Political Department,
[Page 62]
dated
January ninth 1919, enclosing a communication from the German Legation
regarding the measures which are said to have been taken by the French
Authorities in regard to Alsace Lorraine.
I beg to add that copies of the enclosed note are being sent to the
Department of State.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure—Translation]
The Swiss Political
Department to the American Legation
in Switzerland
Allg. D. Int. 540 I
The Swiss Political Department has the honor to transmit herewith to
the Legation of the United States of America, to be forwarded to its
Government, a copy of a note from the German Legation at Berne.
By this communication the German Government protests against the
measures which are said to have been taken by the French authority
in regard to Alsace-Lorraine.
The Department avails itself of this occasion to renew to the
Legation of the United States of America the assurance of its high
consideration.
[Subenclosure—Translation]33
Memorandum From the German Government
In conformity to the Armistice Agreement of November 11th, 1918, the
French armies have occupied parts of the Prussian Rhine Province
Hessen, the Palatinate and Alsace-Lorraine, after their evacuation
by the German troops within the agreed extension of time. From the
first day of the occupation, the French Government has carried on
quite a peculiar policy with regard to Alsace-Lorraine. Not only did
it content itself with the right devolved upon it to occupy the
evacuated territories militarily and to take such measures in those
places as were required by military necessity and in the interest of
the occupying troops, but it has started a struggle of political
extermination in the entire Rhineland territory against whoever is
German, thinks or feels German. Though not empowered in any way by
the Armistice Agreement to do so, the French Government has
dismissed from their offices all the judicial and administrative
officials of the country and has kept on duty only such German
functionaries whom they cannot get
[Page 63]
along without. It has furthermore proceeded to
the expulsion of a considerable number of inhabitants of the region
and looked on inactively in the presence of shameful scenes which
took place upon the departure of those expelled from Strassburg,
Colmar, Mulhouse and other places. The fact that it is a question of
systematic expulsions is shown by the fact that in one town on the
Baden frontier (Kehl), in the course of the past fortnight over 800,
and in a single day 119, expelled persons passed. The French
Government has also arrested a certain number of Alsace-Lorraine
citizens and this under the admitted pretext of “war acts” which
took place previous to the signature of the Armistice. By these
actions, against which the German Government has at different times
protested, but in vain, the French Government has violated the clear
text of Article 6 of the Armistice Agreement as well as the
assurances given by the wireless message of the Minister President
Clemenceau of November 17th.
Moreover reliable information makes it clear that the French
Government has also started a campaign against all that is German in
the schools of Alsace-Lorraine. The professors of the Strassburg
University have been discharged; in the lower schools, even in
purely German-speaking territory the exclusive teaching in French
has been obligatorily introduced and this on a very large scale.
The French Government did not further hesitate either in interfering
in private ecclesiastical business of the people of Alsace-Lorraine,
and therefore expelled and escorted to the frontier in the most
inconsiderate manner the President of the Consistory of the Church
of Augsburgischer Confession in Strassburg. Quite recently according
to trustworthy statements which lie before us the French Government
also tried to turn out in the big industrial concerns of the country
every element which was not French, by compelling the people to
accept French administrators and removing the German managers. It is
even rumored that the French Government is on the point of carrying
out a compulsory liquidation of the German factories. Finally, the
French Government seeks to extend the frontiers of Alsace-Lorraine,
by the fact that from the beginning of the occupation it has
instituted at the northern border of the country new and arbitrary
regulations, which must create the impression that this part of the
Rhine Province, particularly the “Saarbecken” belongs to
Alsace-Lorraine. These lands have never been a part of
Alsace-Lorraine. The solemn protest against this frontier
arrangement which the German Government made November 21st, 1918,
has up to the present been entirely ignored. On the eastern frontier
of the country, the French Government seems to be desirous of wiping
out the clear old border delimitation recognized by the Agreement,
while it has pushed its troops of occupation forward at the Rhine
bridgeheads not only
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to the
valley of the river but up to the east bank of the Rhine. All these
measures taken are not upheld in the Armistice Agreement, nor are
they to be justified through military necessity in a defenseless
country which is but desirous of concluding peace. They are
explained only if the French Government intends to force the German
population of Alsace-Lorraine to become French as soon and as
radically as possible and to enlarge the desired territory by the
annexing of valuable frontier districts which do not belong thereto.
The French Government seems even to have taken the stand that the
severing of Alsace-Lorraine from the German Empire is an
accomplished fact. This is apparent from the note of the Adjutant
General, in which according to instructions from Marshal Foch and
the Minister President (No. 156g of December 26)34 an alleviation of the
present postal blockade between Alsace-Lorraine and the rest of
Germany is denied with the statement: La
correspondance entre France et Allemagne est absolument
interdite. Besides, this misinterpretation finds expression
in the official refusal of the French Government to consent to the
holding of the election for the German National Assembly in
Alsace-Lorraine (note of General Nudant No. 148 of December
24).34 It is
incompatible with the Armistice Agreement, that the French
Government shall hinder the people of an occupied country, without
any military necessity, from the practice of their political rights.
The German Government emphatically emphasizes that the regulation of
the Alsace-Lorraine question is to take place at the ensuing peace
sittings and enters a solemn protest against the French method of
procedure.
