The story of how the civilian population has been treated will only be
known in its entirety later on. The government has, as a matter of
fact, forbidden the press to publish accounts of the war councils'
debates because the population, far from being terrified by them,
would find in them laughing matter.
It is estimated that the people of Alsace-Lorraine have served in
actual hours more than five thousand years in prison. Here are some
crimes committed by them:
M. Giessmann, an old man seventy years old, saluted French prisoners
in a Strassburg street: Sentence, six weeks in prison.
Guillaume Kohler, an infantry soldier from Saverne, during a journey
in Germany, censured the inhuman manner in which certain German
officers treated their men at the front. The council at Saarbruck
sentenced him to two years in prison.
Emilie Zimmerle, a cook at Kolmar, sang an anti-German song as she
washed out her pots. Thirty marks fine.
Mlle. Stern, the daughter of a pastor at Mulhouse, spoke against the
violation of Belgium. One month in prison.
Abbe Theophile Selier, cure at Levencourt, for the same offense, six
weeks in prison.
Even children and young girls have been punished for peccadillos that
were absolutely untrue.
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