Sir:
The attention of women in the United States who are members of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom has been called to a statement in our American papers sent out from London by the Associated Press on February 27, to the effect that the Allies are preparing to invade Germany to compel her to meet what are considered her obligations, and that the premiers of Great Britain and France and the two military chiefs of those countries have just had a [weekend] consultation looking forward to ↑toward↓ that end. The statement says:
"The general plan considered ... is understood to provide for a northward movement by Belgian troops which would occupy [Dortmund], while the French would reoccupy Frankfurt and penetrate the country beyond to a considerable depth, possibly as far as Munich, while a fleet would blockade the port of Hamburg. The declared objects of these movements would be to enforce the military clauses of the treaty and secure the disarmament of the Bavarian einwohnerwehr."
Not a word is said in this article, nor in any other [page 2] that we have seen in the daily papers this winter, of the reasons why the Germans are slow to accept the military clauses of the treaty, although that reason is well known in Europe.
German women are eagerly joining our Women's International League in large numbers. The German nation would gladly go to work to pay its debts and discharge its obligations were it not for one paralyzing circumstance. The soul of the nation is on fire with resentment at the fact that "Germany as a great land of culture, existing for almost 1500 years, has been placed under the military despotism of colored men of the lowest standard of culture for the duration of fifteen years, and this only because the French Government alone among the 'Entente' Government has so willed it."
The above quotation is taken from an appeal to the League of Nations Assembly at Geneva, which was signed by 71 German, Austrian, Dutch and Swedish associations of women in the name of 480 German towns and 375 rural counties which comprise a German national association called "Hettet die Ehre" (Save our Honor!) They ask for the withdrawal of the colored troops.
The cry of these women fell on deaf ears. No action was taken at Geneva on their appeal. No attention was paid [page 3] it by the international press. The result is that German men will not disarm while the agonized cry of German women goes thus unheeded. This is the black spot on the European horizon at present -- the so called "black shame" of the Rhine, the storm center that has been no bigger than a man's hand but that is gathering force each day. If that storm is allowed to break, it undoubtedly means an alliance of Germany with Russia or any other power that will help to resist France or England, and that mean the precipitation of another world war.
German resentment is not especially because 45,000 of the men whom France contributes to the army of occupation are black men, but because they are negroes hardly emerged from barbarism, natives of Madagascar, Algeria, Tunis, and Morocco. The statement of the German, Austrian, Dutch, and Swedish women to the League of Nations Assembly said; "What the presence of such an armed force of people of lowest culture means to the unarmed and defenseless white inhabitants will be shown by the following true facts already published by the 'Rheinish Women's League,' and also confirmed to us officially by the German authorities." There follow detailed lists of the crimes of rape and attempted rape against German women perpetrated by colored French soldiers and a list of immoral crimes against boys by colored Frenchmen.
Special complaint is also made that the French authorities [page 4] have forced certain municipal officials to provide brothels of German women for the colored troops and that the proprietors of German papers who have protested against such horrors have been heavily punished.
It is these conditions that now threaten the peace of Europe. It seems to us members of the United States Section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom our duty to call the attention of our Government to the fact that the womanhood of the 26 nations represented in our League is outraged by such official imposition on the innocent women of any nation. We, therefore, respectfully request, indeed we demand, that our Government make official protest immediately to the French and English Governments against the continuance of colored troops in the occupied area of Germany and insist on their immediate withdrawal. We ask this in the full confidence that, in so doing, we shall have not only the hearty support of the splendid French and English women who belong to our Women's International League but of the many fine colored women of our own nation who desire "peace and freedom" for all people of the world. The appeal of the women's associations sent to the League of Nations Assembly stated that "even the league of French women's associations has pronounced against this measure of the French government." [page 5]
We quote in detail the closing paragraph of that appeal:
"To this demand (for protection) Germany is not only entitled in her own interest, but in the interest of the self-respect of the entire white race and also in justice to the colored people. For all white peoples have worked many years to educate the colored people to conquer their low instincts and to lift them up to higher culture; France, however, legalizes these abominable instincts and even makes the bearers of such instincts armed masters over her cultured neighbors. This is mockery and defiance to the missionary work of all peoples and of all times.
We are certain that the appeal to the League of Nations Assembly will not be in vain for the quick and complete removal of this shame, and speaking in that Faith we have the Honor to express our profound reverence."
But that appeal was, alas, in vain. Following it, reports were spread in the press that the colored troops had been withdrawn from the occupied German territory, but inquiry showed that the reports were unfounded. Some of the troops were withdrawn to southern winter quarters, but the chairman of the association "Hettet die Ehre" cabled that seventeen African regiments are expected on the Rhine in the early spring. And so, it happens that Germany resists disarmament and that, for lack of justice, generosity, patience, and most of all common sense, the world is once more brought to the brink of ruin. Inasmuch as the French Government is in our debt and somewhat dependent on us for favors, and inasmuch as large numbers of British people will endorse any demand we [page 6] may make to their Government or to the French Government for the remedy of these evils, we feel that the American Government is in a position to make a strong protest against the continuance of conditions in the occupied territory of Germany which menace the peace of the world.
Very respectfully,
President of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
Chairman of the U.S. Section of the Women's International League For Peace and Freedom.
Comments