A Spot of History: In this cellular age
of constant connectivity, it's hard to imagine being cut off from not only the
world at large but nearly everything beyond your own neighborhood. No mail, no
phones, no TV, no radio, no wifi, no cars or trains, and travel restricted to
within a few walking miles of home.
That's what basically
happened to Belgium in August 1914 when the Germans took total charge of seven million Belgians' lives, and cut the
country off from the rest of the world. Of course radio, TV and wifi weren't
around yet, but civilians were not allowed to use telephones, send telegrams (the original texting before cell phones), couldn't drive
cars, were forbidden to gather in crowds and had to get a pass to travel beyond
their local area. It's as if the Belgians were instantly transported back to
mediaeval times, complete with a feudal lord who controlled every aspect of
their lives.
"Hemmed
in on all sides by gun and bayonet," Rhodes scholar and CRB delegate,
Emile Holman, poetically put it.
Hugh Brown,
a lawyer and friend of Herbert Hoover's, explained to an audience at the University
of Nevada, "Belgium lay with an
iron wall erected around three-quarters of her border, British ships blockading
most of the remainder, and the little strip of Holland prevented by its
neutrality from sending anything in."
What made
this prison even worse, was the lack of credible newspapers -- a daily necessity/
addiction for many people before tablets, smart phones and the Internet. Who
was winning the war? What was happening on the battlefields? How many had died?
What were politicians saying? Where would Belgium get food for the winter? In Belgium's
news-deprived world, mounting war questions heightened fears to a fevered
pitch.
A few
newspapers were allowed to publish, but they were under firm German censorship so
readers could not rely on their reporting. And persons caught in possession of smuggled
foreign papers were tossed in jail.
Within this
world of doom and gloom came one small beacon of light -- La Libre Belgique, an underground Brussels newspaper.
While small
in size and reach -- around four to eight pages and 10,000-30,000 copies -- it
had a huge impact on the spirit of an entire nation. Self-proclaimed as "A
bulletin of Patriotic Propaganda, irregularly regular," it appeared nearly
once a week. Editorial offices were "in an automobile cellar" and
those wanting to buy ads were told: "Business being dead under the German
domination, we have suppressed the advertising page and we advise our clients
to save their money for better times." The price was "Elastic -- from
zero to infinity." The dateline always read "Kommandantur,
Brussels" -- the German civilian government's headquarters. Articles
covered everything from battlefront news to countrywide conditions,
restrictions and German abuses.
Nearly every element of the paper was like a weekly slap in the face to the Germans.
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| Napoleon In Hell, Wiertz Museum |
In another
pre-Photoshop photoshopping of an image, the paper ran an audacious cover photo
of German Governor-General Baron Moritz Ferdinand von Bissing reading a copy of
the outlawed paper. The caption read: "Our dear Governor, disheartened by
reading the lies of the censored newspapers, seeks for truth in La Libre Belgique."
Adding insult
to injury -- or better yet, salt to an open wound -- the paper somehow always
showed up on von Bissing's desk. One week it might be sent in a letter posted
from Germany. Another it was thrown through the window. Another it was
sandwiched between dispatches delivered by an orderly.
Here was
bold defiance in the face of harsh German rule. And the Germans seemed
powerless to stop it.
That wasn't
for lack of trying. The Germans placed a 50,000 franc reward on the head of the
editor or editors. Anyone caught with a copy faced three years in jail and a
3,000 mark fine. Countless homes were raided, businesses ransacked, and
numerous people were taken into custody, questioned, then either thrown in jail,
deported to Germany or executed. Numerous times the Germans got close...very
close....
The most
surprising part of the La Libre Belgique
story is that the paper was never silenced during four years of war. Presses
were destroyed, contributors were caught, lives were lost, but somehow the
paper continued to appear. And no one seemed to know who was making that
happen. Rumors abounded, though: Jesuits
wrote it. It was edited in a cave. Printing was done in a moving car around the
country. Etc. etc.
So who was
the editor and what was his story?
Even the
last issue, Nov. 12, 1918, when Belgium was finally free, did not reveal who
had edited, printed and circulated the paper. As humbly stated in that last issue: "What
can we reply to that oft-repeated question, 'Who is the Libre?' The Libre
Belgique is a lineage, a tradition."
And in the paper's
typical mocking style, the last words on the last page were ones that
Baron von Bissing loved repeating when speaking about the German occupation
of Belgium: "What we hold, we hold tight!"
I will, of course, be including the story of La Libre Belgique in my upcoming book (it's too good not to), but for now, I can tell you the editor during the first two years of the paper was an unassuming hero named Eugene van Doren (see below). The photo caption reads: "A less conventionally
Regardless of what he looked like, van Doren was a remarkable man who ran a newspaper that became so much more than paper and ink. It became a symbol of defiance and hope in a country that needed both desperately. A source of national pride in the face of German occupation.
If you want
to read more about La Libre Belgique
and van Doren, you should buy the book, UndergroundNews, The Complete Story of the Secret Newspaper That Made War History, by
Oscar E. Millard. It was published 20 years after the war in 1938 (only one year before the start of World War Two, when Belgium would once again be occupied by the Germans). Other sources for this piece include: Brand Whitlock's "Belgium, A Personal
Narrative" (2 vols), E.E. Hunt's "War
Bread," and Hugh Gibson's "A
Journal from Our Legation in Belgium."
My Post: I don't know about you, but
I'm exhausted from writing all of the above!
But I'm also
exhilarated because I've now completed the first two weeks in my read/assimilate/
index stage. The stories of the individual CRB men are nothing short of
remarkable. Fascinating for their details, descriptions, humor and passion. It's
incredibly exciting to get to know these mostly young, idealistic Americans and
glimpse key moments of their lives back in 1914-1917 German occupied Belgium.
It is, however,
somewhat daunting to look at all that I have to read before diving into the
writing portion. Happily, just when I was starting to obsess about it, I
received my daily inspiration from Seth Godin (who I've mentioned -- and
recommended -- before). For me, it was a particularly relevant missive. Here it is
in full (with a link to his site in the title):
Fearlessness is not the same as the absence of fear
The fearless person is well aware of the fear she faces. The fear, though, becomes a compass, not a barrier. It becomes a way to know what to do next, not an evil demon to be extinguished.
When we deny our fear, we make it stronger.
When we reassure the voice in our head by rationally reminding it of everything that will go right, we actually reinforce it.
Pushing back on fear doesn't make us brave and it doesn't make us fearless. Acknowledging fear and moving on is a very different approach, one that permits it to exist without strengthening it.
Life without fear doesn't last very long--you'll be run over by a bus (or a boss) before you know it. The fearless person, on the other hand, sees the world as it is (fear included) and then makes smart (and brave) decisions.
End of Seth Godin's thought.
I love the idea of using fear as a compass.
Great concept. I just hope I'm making "smart...decisions" right now,
because I sure have the fear part down!
On
another note, for those who are interested, the crowd-sourcing project of CRB
name/photo matching is coming along well. We're down to only 63 names
without photos. Please help if you can! Click here for the web page.
And,
finally, thanks once again to anyone who takes the time to read my blog. If
nothing else, I hope "A Spot of History" is at least mildly entertaining
and/or informative.
End of
Post.
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