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restrictions of public relief.” Shortly prior thereto the Reich
Chancellery had declared in an expert opinion that “‘under the law of
nations, the intended deportation (Ausschiebung) of idle (arbeitsscheue)
Belgians to Germany for compulsory labor can be justified if (a) idle
persons became a charge of public relief; (b) work cannot be found in
Belgium; (c) forced labor is not carried on in connection with
operations of war. Hence, their employment in the actual production of
munitions should be avoided.’”
The obvious subterfuge lies in
the fact that the measure was ostensibly directed against vagrants to combat
unemployment in Belgium as an economic measure. But no one was deceived by this
pretense and it was soon abandoned in a manner which indicated an awareness of
the illegality of the procedure.
The protests were so wide spread and
vigorous that the Kaiser was forced to retreat. These protests were based upon
either the general principles of international law and humanity or specifically
upon the Hague Regulations. For instance, the United States Department of State
protests “against this action which is in contravention of all precedent
and of those humane principles of international practice which have long been
accepted and followed by civilized nations in their treatment of noncombatants
in conquered territory.”¹
The protest of the Netherlands
Government pointed out the incompatibility of the deportations with the precise
stipulations of Article 52 of the Hague Regulations. It was pointed out by
Professor James W. Garner, scholar and author of high repute, that if “a
belligerent were allowed to deport civilians from occupied territory, in order
to force them to work in his war industries and thereby to free his own workers
for military service, this would make illusory the prohibition to compel enemy
citizens to participate in operations of war against their own country.
‘The measure must be pronounced as an act of tyranny, contrary to all
notions of humanity, and one entirely without precedent in the history of
civilized warfare.’”²
Negotiations through diplomatic
and church channels to repatriate the deportees and stop the practice were
partially successful. From February 1917, Belgians were no longer deported from
the Belgian “Government General” and the Kaiser promised that by 1
June 1917, deportees who would not volunteer to remain in Germany would be
repatriated.
Nevertheless, long after the end of the First World War,
the unsuccessful effort of the Kaiser’s government was to an
extent |
__________
¹ Hackworth, G. H..
Digest of International Law (United States Government Printing Office,
Washington D. C., 1943), volume VI, page 399.
² American Journal of
International Law (January, 1917) volume XI, page 106.
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