The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-03-28
German Sources.

In this pamphlet throughout, as II
the preceding pages, the evidence Is
drawn mainly from German ano
American sources. The German
sources include official proclamations
and other official utterances, letters
and diaries of German soldiers, ano
quotations from German newspapers
The diaries which are so frequently
quoted form unique source. The
Rules for Field Service of the Ger
man Army advises each soldier to
keep such diary while on active
service. Very many German SOL
diers who have been taken prisoners
had kept such diaries, and these have
been confiscated by the captors.
Many have been published, frequent
" with facsimile reproductions to
guarantee their authenticity. The
best known collection was made by
Bedier, whom Prof. Holman, OF the
University of Berlin, properly de-
scribed as 1.-The distinguished Prof.
Joseph Bedier of the College de
France Of Bedier's publication
Prof. ,Nyrop, Of the University OF
Copenhagen, says:
"He has translated the diaries and
commented upon them just as one
does with all old historical docu-
ments, and, in order that everyone
may be in position to check up his
work, he has also accompanied the
account with facsimile copies of the
documents he used. Here, accord
ingly, at the outset every proof OF
the evidence which he has employed
is provided. No Justification is pos
sible. The accounts are those of eye
witnesses, and these eyewitnesses are
Germans. They tell what they them
selves or their comrades have done,
marks with running comments which
show that not only have common
law and The Hague convention been
Syiolated, but sins have also been
scaMmitted against the most elemen-
Icy slaws of humanity. Both the
material and the presentation are
alassailahle. The details which are
provided by the German soldiers in
regard to their own violent acts are
horror-striking."
Prof. Hollmanns attempted to prove
that Bedier had made mistakes in
translating and interpreting, but he
did not deny the geh1ineness of the
diaries. These Notebooks" he
says, may well be Authentic and
accept this without further comment
for all of which are provided with
the name of thei- authors and whose
authenticity can in any case be es-
tablished after the war"
The American evidence is drawn
mainly from material in the archives
soe the State department. In ad
dition, statements from our ambas-
sadors and ministers and other we'll
known officials and authors are Civ
en-. Messrs. Hoover, Kellogg, and
Walcott have written statements es-
pecially for this pamphlet. All of
this material is essentially the testi-
mony of neutrals, for it is based
wholly On observations made before
the United States entered the war.
Occasionally official documents and
well authenticated facts from for
eign sources are used.
The purpose of this pamphlet is
to show that the system of frightful-
ness, which is itself the greatest
.atrocity, is the definite policy of the
German Government, against which
more humane German soldiers them
selves revolted at times. For this
reason it has not seemed necessary
to set forth the individual acts of
cruelty; such acts are cited only
when necessary to illustrate the sys-
tenn. Anyone who wishes to read
chapters of horrors can find them in
the Report of the Committee on AL
legged German Outrages, presided
over by the former British Ambas-
sador to this country and therefore
generally known as 'the Bryce re-
port" in the official reports by the
Belgian Commission d'Enquete; in
the official French reports compiled
under the auspices of the French
minister for foreign affairs; in many
other publications, and especially in
the conclusive admissions of the
official German White Book cited
above. The last, published by the
German government, is the most
damning testimony concerning the
system of frightfulness.