Der Nordstern. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1874-1931, 1922-11-30
Travelling In The Old.
World Across The
Atlantic
By Rev. Joseph Kreuter, Q. S. B. /
(Continued)
In the Occupied Territory.


(C%ontinued)
In the Occupied Territory.
We arrived at Brussels, the capital
of Belgium, late in the afternoon and
spent the night there. A stroll through
this beautiful city brings US to some
Of the famous public buildings, the
ToWn-hall, ETC., colossal monuments Of
a great past, which every traveller
Through Belgium must visit. Many Off
GERS and soldiers in uniform are every
where in evidence. AS it was raining
heavily on the following morning--the,
last rain we were to see for the next
three months,-we left Brussels and
proceeded by fast train through Malig-
mes, Louvain, Tirelemont, Liege, YER
viers, Herbestal-places of early war.
Belgian soldiers at every station and
more soldiers, singly and in groups,
with and without full equipment! One
is tempted to think war is still going
on somewhere in the eastern part of
this country three years after the con-
clusion of Peace" How strange these
troops appear in their WORKOUT uni
forms, their tropical helmets over their
young, boyish faces, now in the time
Of the League of Nations" No traces
of the cruel world. war destruction
could be detected in these regions,
save a number of new buildings in
many towns and of some restored
farm houses along the railroad. The
Germans had built up Belgium, even
before the war had come to an end.
However, in the south of Belgium and
in northern France the devastation is
even now appalling, creating the im-
preston that the respective countries
lack either the talent or the good will
to restore their own territory.
At Herbestal we reach the Belgium
German frontier. With an anxious
heart we looked forward to our en-
trance into Germany, wondering how
life had changed since we had been
there eleven years ago. Our train
makes a long stop, giving the German
railway officials an opportunity to get
on and examine the tickets.
On we roll into the occupied terri
tory in the direction of Aachen, Duren
and Cologne. Four years since the
Allies have made a ~so-called peace
with their former foes and established
the League of Nations; and yet this
fair strip of German land stretching
to the east into the heart of the Ruhr
district and to the south along the
beautiful Rhine, towards Cologne, Co.
blenz, Bonn, Mainz, Speyer, as far as
the border of Switzerland, is to this
day a veritable camping ground of
white and dark soldiery of the %victors,
a blow in the face of those statesmen
who dare boast of world-peace they
would establish, of hate they would
Danish, of mutual cooperation they
would introduce. F..
The faces of the German officials
who board our train and politely an
swer the many questions put to them
by travellers, bespeak the struggles
these men have gone through during
years of weary war, followed by three
of+defeat and establishment and semi
starvation and oye%rshadowed by a vi
sion of a gloomy future. 1t is indeed
no easy matter for them to keep heads
cool in their arduous and trying work
among these arrogant, strange occu-
pants of the best part of their land,
who delight in posing as victors and
in taking undue advantage. of their ac-
cidental military superiority. 1t not
frequently happens, therefore, that one
of them loses his temper and gives
vent to his feelings in unmistakable
language.
Aachen, the old imperial city, the
resting place of the Emperor Charlie
magne, is next. The passports are
looked over by Belgian or English Of
ficers, the Belgian station-guard is try
ing to keep in check a crowd of pas
sengers anxious to rush towards the
incoming train. The old order and dis
cipline of former years has relaxed in
all European countries since the war.
and a new spirit has come over the
nations, a new life is stirring that will
not easily be fettered by rules and
regulations. Signs. of occupation
jaunty Belgian officers smoking cigar
cites, strolling up and down the plat
form with their hands In their breech
pockets, acarelesss-leooking lot,-arrest
our brief attention:
Once IN the Territory Of Occupation,
we find it impossible to note down the