Alsace-Lorraine by Daniel Blumenthal — Read

It would take volumes to describe in detail the martyrdom of Alsace-Lorraine under the domination of Germany. I can enumerate only a few of the acts and methods that have characterized German rule. The impartial reader will easily conclude that Alsatians are not made to live with Germans and that the return of their province to the mother country of France is the only possible solution of the Alsatian question with justice and equity.

Alsace-Lorraine was given to the German Empire unconditionally. The new master could do with the country just as he pleased. If he has not divided it between the members of the Confederation it is because it was difficult to agree on the division of the spoils, and because also Bismarck wished to make a "glacis" which would cement the union of the Germans by continually showing them the danger that threatened in the west. The only thing the Germans did not think of in deciding the fate of Alsace-Lorraine was the interest of the Alsatians themselves. Bismarck did not hesitate to acknowledge this and stated in the Reichstag to the first deputies who protested: "It is not for your interest that we have conquered you, but for the interest of the Empire." And the official paper of Strasbourg, the "Strassburger Post", after forty years of German domination, also summarizes the attitude of the German Empire towards the Alsatians in this odious phrase: "Oderint dum metuant" (Let them hate, so long as they fear). The German Empire, which is composed of twenty-five confederated States, made of the annexed territory a "Reichsland," that is to say, an undivided joint property. This new political entity received the name of Elsass-Lothringen (Alsace-Lorraine). German scholars are still arguing today over the legal aspect of this decision. It is certain, as against the German states which possess equal rights, that Alsace-Lorraine is arbitrarily ruled by the Empire without any inherent right. Alsace-Lorraine was always treated as a State when it was a question of meeting certain obligations (contributions, military service, assessments for the expenses of the Empire). The honour was even paid of trusting them with the receipt of custom-house dues for the account of the Empire on their territory. This brought upon the province an unwarranted outlay of more than a million marks a year, representing the excess of the customs above the amount refunded to the Provinces. Alsace-Lorraine possessed only those "rights" which the Empire grudgingly conceded. Whereas Louis XV. accorded to the provinces united to France the enjoyment of their ancient privileges, the German Empire began by treating the Alsatians less liberally than its German subjects. In Germany each state has the constitution it wishes for itself, but Alsace-Lorraine has a constitution imposed upon it by the Empire, and this can be suspended or suppressed at the Imperial will.