Evening star., 1918-08-20
VIEWS OF NAN WHO DISCLOSED
LICT1NOWSKY MEMORANDUM
Capt. Won Beerfelde, Who Secretly Cir
culated Document, Described by Berlin
Paper as daredevil" Wearer
of Iron Gross.

On April II. 1918, the Wiener Ar
better Zeitung wrote as follows:
According to the Berliner Lokal
Anxeiger the retired Capt. Won Beer
felde. the first one to circulate the
Lichnowsky memorandum, is said TO
be held for trial because of attempted
treason. 1t was Capt. Won Beerfelde
who secretly had fifty copies made of
the Lichnowsky memorandum which
Privy Councillor Richard Whiting. the
director of the National Bank and the
given him for perusal and sent II to
a number of men in public life. solely
in order to serve the interests Of truth
and peace"
That was just a month after the
memorandum had appeared. which
also opened the eyes of those who had
still doubted the guilt of the kaiser
and his councillors. The whole world
knows today that during the four
years of the war no other document
has been able to arouse the German
Michael like this one and the German
government has used every possible
means TO mitigate the disastrous ef-
fects upon il. We know today that in
our country this memorandum. which
the friends of German democracy have
issued and are now distributing by
the hundred thousands. has. like no
other document, led thousands of
path of right thinking. But it has
not been so well known that 1t was
a junker. a valiant officer of the Ger
man staff, who, purely from love of
truth and because he believed that
to know the truth would lead to
br~ hi ho-
fore the public eye.
Who Is Man Who Threw Bombp
The Berlin vorwaerts gives the fol-
lowisg account of him in its issue of
April 10:
Hans Georg Won Beerfelde belongs
to an old junker and officers family
traditions. AS captain of the guard
he had been discharged shortly before
the war because of illness. On Au-
gust 8. 1914, he volunteered. and as
captain and then as battalion COM
mander fought his way through Bel
gium as far as to Somme. When ILL
ness forced him to return home he
brought the iron cross of the first
class with him and the testimony of
his superiors that he had trained and
led the best and most efficient battal-
ion in the division.
with these qualifications Capt. Won
Beerfelde was placed IN the acting
general staff. This transfer proves
that he was considered neither moral
ly irresponsible nor mentally deficient
but it was his doom: for it transferred
him to the dangerous borderline,
where warfare ends and politics begins.
and the captain thereby entered a
world which was filled with secrets
that were most alarming to him.
The unsurpaSsable perfection of all
monarchic and conservative institu-
tions. the exclusive guilt of the base
and inscriptions enemy in having
caused the war-those were the un-
shakable articles of faith of the un-
political junker officer. When he
learned certain things which have
long been no secret to those initiated
in things political. it shattered his i'll
lusions. The captain no longer be-
lieved in anything in which he had
hitherto believed and his active tenn
permanent. which was in need of faith.
turned all the more eagerly to new
truths or to that which he considered
the truth.
Discusses States Of Transition.
such states of transition are dan
gerous. for it is necessary for the one
who is passing through this stage
to adapt himself suddenly to an en-
tirely new world of thoughts and
conceptions. which he enters With
great fervor. That is the great hour
- H. g. + ok~