The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-06-13
BARON Won GERLAcH TELLS
GERMANS WHY THEY ARE
HATED BY ALL THE WORLD
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i CONTINUED from First Page)
promise made to Belgium on August
Il, 1914, to right the wrong done.
Only Mised Majority
at was only this misled majority Of
the German people that. still believe
that Germany always was lover of
peace and that the other nations were
filed with an unbridled lust for war.
"All the rest of the world knows
that the German army command
practiced extreme ruthlessness, #
not inhumanity. In part this may
have been due to the fact that we
not only were not fighting on our own
soil, but also were more expert than
our enemies in the production and
application of instruments of murder.
1.-THE fact remains, nevertheless,
that by sinking merchant and passen-
ger ships by our submarines without
warning we inaugurated an especial
ly hateful system in violation of in
ternational law; by using poisonous
gas and flame throwers we set very
bad example; that by our attacks
upon open places in England, mill
tarily worthless, we created senti-
ment of hate among the English
masses; that by Systematically de-
vastating the whole Somme region
we melted the whole French nation
to send up a unanimous shout for re-
venge; that by bleeding white the
territories occupied by us and de-
porting their populations we furnish
ed semblance of truth of the accu-
sation that we were robbers and
slave drivers
i But the majority of German peo-
lple still believe that we confined our
selves to what was absolutely neces-
sary from a military standpoint; that
we adhered scrupulously to interna-
I tional law, while the others were the
lbaralong murders-beasts in human
form. u
- All the rest of the world knows
that German propaganda in foreign
lands were more abominable than
anything ever heard of before; that
tlong before the United States entered
the war we misused our diplomatic
offices, committing all forms of cor
ruption and violence; that we prosti-
Ituted the sinviolability of diplomatic
intercourse with neutral countries,
such as Norway, Sweden and Switz-
erland. for the purpose of smuggling
Explosives and bacteria into enemy
countries, there to be used against
our foes; that we stopped to the
most infamous measures in our at
J. tempts to make traitors of our Irish
and other prisoners of war.
World Atmosphere of Hate
4 Whoever knows only part of the
sin committed by our former rulers
understands the world atmosphere of
hate surrounding us. But, as / have
pointed out, the majority of the Ger
man people do not as yet know of
these crimes. However, it must
learn to know of them, unless we
wish to continue meeting hatred with
hatred. In that case the world would
continue to be what it was during the
war-one vast battlefield. o.
1--WE need pacifism within as we'll
as without We Germans must learn
to understand ourselves and other
nations as well. Hate is an evil coun-
sellor. Violence will always beget
violence. The system of Clemenceau
or Noske will not redeem the world
any more than the system of Tirpitz
and Ludendorf
First, let us learn to understand
others Cancellation will be the next
step. Should that be impossible we
may well despair of the future of
mankind"
Baron Won Gerlach's condemnation
of the militaristic policy which has
brought Germany to the brink of ruin
and earned for her the hate of every
other nation has been received with
all the more attention because he is
mot socialist or radical agitator, but
has been known as an idealistic paci-
| fist throughout his career.
/ After the revolution last November
he entered the Ebert cabinet as un,
der secretary of state. When war
clouds arose on the Polish border he