14 
LAND & WATER 
May ji, itji; 
Germans and the Russians 
Bv John C. Van der Veer (London Editor of the Amsterdam Telegraaf) 
HAVING for fifteen years advocated the cause of 
i^ussian freedom in the Dutch press, I am firmly 
confident that the Russian ptxiple. regenerated by 
their gained freedom at home, will not run into 
any of the traps set by their arch-enemies, the remaining 
autocracies of Central . liurojx-. From that quarter the 
Russian jx-ople have never received any assistance, encourage- 
ment or hope. Tliey found these, in their direst needs, only 
among the democratic nations of Western Europe and the 
United States, with whom they are and will remain lighting 
lor the liberty of the world. While Russian reformers found 
among those democratic nations welcome Uospitahty and 
free scope to promote their cause in Russia, they were always 
thwarted and pursued by the Central Powers of Europe. 
Germany, in particular, has been always their enemy, as she 
was the chief active supporter of Russian autocracy. In 
obstructing the Russian people during their struggle for 
freedom, Germany even bullied and brought pressure to bear 
on small countries like Holland and Switzerland, to prevent 
them sheltering active Russian reformers. 
Wlien towards the end of August 1914 the Russian army, 
after beating back .the first German onslaughts, appeared in 
East Prussia, the whole German press heaped the wildest 
insults on the Russians. The llamburi^er Nadtrkhtcn of 
August ioth, 1914, called them " the beasts of the East," 
" coarsi; Tartars," and " Tartar hordes " ; and, forgetting 
the brutal atrocities already committed by the German 
army in Belgium, that German newspajxjr had the hardihood 
to sjxak of " the bloodthirsty rapacity of the infamous 
'lartar rabble." Professor Richard Meyer wrote in the 
Herlincr Tageblall of August 25th, 1914 : " Nobody was 
indeed suri)rised when from behind the mask of Euroixian 
culture appc>arcHl the semi-bestial savagery of Russia. Bel- 
gium surpris<'d (sic) us, for there wc thought to find civilisa- 
tion. In regard to Russia we always believed the old saying 
' ScrajX' a Russian, and the Tartar ajipears'. Such a mon- 
strous mass of i)eoplc cannot he civilised." 
Tlu; Local Amcigir, which is particularly favoured by Court 
circles in Berlin, stated in its issue of August 25th, 1914, that 
it would be necessary to " disinfect " the villages of ILast 
Prussia which I^ussian troops had occupied, and that those 
villages would be " rebuilt better at Russia's cost." 
I have taken at random but a few examples of the many 
insults which the German press threw at the army and 
people of Russia. The Gennan soldiers showed equal con- 
tempt ami hatrwl for the Russian tr<x>ps. whom they treated 
iji cajitivity, even when wounded, most barbarously. 
A Remarkable Book 
There lies at my side a remarkable German book, pub- 
lished in 1915 under the auspices of the Wagner Society, and 
spread in all neutral countries as a comjx>ndiuin of Ciilttir. 
Various German writers contributed to it. The title which is 
jirinted on the cover in big red type is The Dcalrvction of the 
hnf^li^h World- Power, with the addi4:it)n in small black tyjK' : 
And ol kitssian Czarism by [the Triple Alliance and Islam. 
According to that title, the destruction of Ru-ssian Czarism 
was for Germany but of secondary importance to the destruc- 
tion of the English World-Power, which, as a shield for the 
liberty of nations, always stood and will stand in the way of 
Germany's coveted world domination, (ircat Britain nuist, 
therefore, lie huml)le(l. With her the (iermans wanted no 
palched-u|) jHrdce. also knowing too well, that they c(»uld 
never win the free Britisli nation over t(j any such scheme. 
But with Russian C/^rism Germany was last autumn eager 
enough to conclude a separate jieace, in order to use Russian 
autocracy as a bulwark against European national freedom. 
The Vossischc Zeilun^ admitted November 13th, 191b, 
quite frankly, that it had never entered German minds 
"to liberate oppressed nationalities." Of course not. I3ut 
that paper found it " not conflicting with German interests 
to give the Russian part of Poland freedom, always, of 
course, " under Prussian control." The radical Vossische 
Zeitung of the date, pleaded warmly for an " understanding " 
between Germany and the still autocratic Russia. Had that 
object succeeded. Emperor William would have seen 
the chains were riveted afresh <jn the Russian people. 
This German book is remarkable, because it throws a flood 
of light on the real r.erman attitude towards the Russian 
jx-ople. Professors I^udolf Eucken and Ernest Haeckel 
state in a combined essay : " England fights in favour of a 
Slavic, semi- Asiatic power against the German worlu. She 
not only fights on the side of barbarism, but also on tin; side 
of moTid injustice, for it must not Ix' forgotten that Russia 
Ixgan the war, because she disfavoured a thorough at>we- 
inent for a miserable murder." Tlic iimocent Cicrmans have 
never been able to come to any agreement on whom to lay 
the blame for this war. They cast it alternately on " wicked 
f^ritain" and "barl>arous Itussia." Only "iioly (iermany" is 
free from blame ! But let the Russian people note, how they 
are judged in this German propaganda book. Dr. R. W. 
Drechsler of Berlin, sjxaks with Prussian disdain of " dull, 
semi- Asiatic Russia," wluch Dr. Richard Strahl, the jurist, 
called ' a .semi-barbaric State," in contrast with the Ger- 
manic ixx)ple, " whose disciplined rigidity and organised order 
always stood against the effeminate and sensitive Slavic 
character." I lor one share with the " effeminate and' 
sensitive" I^ussians an aversion from German " manUness," 
which stoops, to Prussian " disciplined rigidity " and an 
" organised order '• as manifested at Zabern I 
So particularly friendly are the Germans to the real 
Russians, that Dr. Konrad Alliricht would tolerate them no 
longef" on the European continent. He insists in this volume 
" on the 'necessity to confine the. uncultured mass of great 
I'iussians to their original abode." And he hails Gennany's 
war " as a struggle of pure Germanism against Slavs and 
latins, a struggle of geniality against half-rotten and sinking 
cultures, and against barbarians who too long have disturbed 
the I{uro]X'an ]x?ace." To that German " genialty." of which 
tlie sinking of hospital shijis is a typical sign, the Russian 
" barbarians " should bow their heads and show their heels. 
\es, show their heels. Eor Herr Axel Ripkc is anxious to 
drive them from the shore of the Baltic Sea. In his contri- 
bution to the Destrm/ion of tlic English World Power, wc find 
this promising prospect : .V friendly combined rule by Ger- 
mans and Russians over the Baltic is im[>ossible ; therefore, 
says Herr .^xel Ripkc, " we must extend. German dominion 
along the shores of that sea. Tlie German must become 
the ruler of the Baltic, and he will not rest until the Russian 
Tartar is finally cut off from the Baltic, and goes back to Asia, 
whence he came." And Herr Ripke can find no greater 
compliment for the Russian ])eoj)ie than comiwring them 
with pigs. .Speaking of the Baltic Germans, he recalls a 
saying : " A horse born in a jwg-sty remains a horse, and 
does not become a pig." 
That (Jermany was bent 6n conquest, at the cost of Russia 
too, apjxared frequent enough in the German press, and in 
numerous other German publications issued dming the war. 
Poland had, in the first place, to be torn'from Russia. Even 
Herr Schiedemann, the leader o^ the majority of the Gennan 
Socialist Party, said last autumn at their Conference : 
'■ Should wc insist that Poland remains Russian ? In the 
Balkans, in the Near East and in Africa, etc., must tevery- 
thing remain as before ? " According to the Vossische 
Zeitung of September 26th, 191b, Scheideniann's followers at 
that Socialist Conference, cheered that statement. And 
while the Germans were out " to grab," they had apparently 
last autunm intrigued with the then Russian rulers that they 
should leave Serbia in the lurch and further the territorial 
claims of Bulgaria.. The radical Vossiscltc Zcifiing said on 
November 13th, 191(1, commenting on Mr. Ascpiith's tiuild- 
hall speech of that month : " Mr. Asquith went in his cunning 
a step further, if that were possible. Among other things 
lu- raised the question, how the restoration of Serbia stands. 
He overlooked the fact, that the new orientation in the 
Balkans will in the near future also haVe a lively interest for 
Russia, and that I^ussia, drawn into the war so-called for 
Serbia, lias ])erha])s meanwhile formed an opinion for a totally 
different Balkan settlement. The question of Serbia's restora- 
tion will, therefore, be anything but pleasant for the Russian 
rulers." What a disappointment for the secretly conspiring 
Germans to find, that the question of Serbia's restoration 
cannot be otherwise than pleasant for the liberated 
noble-hearted Russian people ! 
That the German mind finds the full freedom which the 
Russian people now enjoy " anything but pleasant," can be 
illustrated by a final quotation from- the German propaganda 
book under review. Its editor, Herr Walter von der Bleek 
says : " Everywhere in Russia, in her north, south, and west, 
one finds residues of past and dying cultures. Their frag- 
ments circumscribe the whole Russian Empire, and nothing 
can be put in their place. Remains of Byzantine art and a 
varnish of borrowed Europ<'an culture form the threadbare 
clokc that covers the repulsi\e nakedness of the Colossus." 
