Part Five:
    On the fringes of the war

    © Coll. Historial de la Grande Guerre – Péronne(Somme). Photo Yazid Medmoun – Photographs of hostages. The taking of hostages had been used already in 1870, as a means of quelling any stirrings of resistance among the civilian population, and also to establish a stock of bargaining chips with which to negotiate with the enemy. Similar scenes occurred in all of the occupied French départements, for example at Hendecourt (Pas-de-Calais), Combres (Meuse) and Amiens (Somme), where 1,500 locals were taken captive in 1914. These photographs show that hostages were taken from all sections of the population. Captives were generally made to walk a certain distance, escorted by German soldiers on horseback, before being loaded into trains, usually cattle wagons, which carried them off to far-flung parts of France or Germany, where they were held in civilian prison camps such as Rastadt.
    © N° inv. : 35 AFF 50.2 et 31 AFF 1.2.Coll. Historial de la Grande Guerre – Péronne(Somme). Photo Yazid Medmoun – Two posters from the German occupation. Among the many taxes imposed upon the occupied territories, in mid-1915 the Germans introduced a new levy on dogs. The “Memorandum of the Imperial Commission on the war damages caused in France for which the German state shall make reparations,” drawn up in 1919 ahead of the peace negotiations in France, presented this as a simple policing matter. The prices charged varied depending on the importance of the location and the nature of the dog: pedigree pets were taxed more heavily than sheep dogs and guard dogs. Dogs used as working animals due to a lack of horses were also taxed differently, as demonstrated by this directive from the “Etappen-Kommandantur of Avesnes” dated 6 August 1915. All dogs were required to wear identity tags issued by the German authorities. This dog tax did not raise much money, with many French people preferring to sacrifice their animals rather than subsidise the German war effort. In Avesnes, the levy raised a total of 4020 Francs in the latter half of 1915. The second bilingual poster reproduces a decree issued on 1st January 1917 by the Etappen-Kommandantur relating to potato planting. Each general in the army had a counterpart in the form of the Etappen-Kommandantur, who also held the rank of general and was charged with maintaining the links between the troops at the front and the hinterland, housing, transporting and resupplying the troops and administering the occupied territories. The latter task was initially something of an afterthought, but it became increasingly important as the war dragged on. This text demonstrates the degree of care taken by the German military authorities to ensure that food production continued smoothly, at a time when food supplies were scarce, and also illustrates the intense scrutiny to which farmers were subject in the occupied parts of France. Article 3 highlights the importance of relations between the occupying forces and the French mayors. While the apparatus of the French state had either disappeared or been stripped of all power, it was the municipal authorities – often on an informal footing – who received orders from the Germans and were expected to execute them, and who no longer had any prefects or sub-prefects to answer to. Fines, of the sort listed in Article 4 of this document, were both a means of punishing offenders and a way of making money.
    © N° inv. : 1 VAD 63.2. Coll. Historial de la Grande Guerre – Péronne(Somme). Photo Yazid Medmoun – Rotes Kreuz plate, 1914. In the 1860s, initially under the leadership of Henri Dunant, the Red Cross movement had begun its mission of protecting prisoners and the wounded – neutralised, as it were, by their inability to fight. Working in horrific conditions, nurses working both on the front line and away from the front (blended into one in this image, where a nurse is shown symbolically intervening on the front line) attempted to implement the applicable international conventions. But the involvement of the various national Red Cross organisations (like the German branch, shown here) in the war was subject to the rules imposed by the different warring parties. Only the International Red Cross Committee, based in Geneva, sought to remain “above the fray.”
    © N° inv. : 24 ART 17.12. Coll. Historial de la Grande Guerre – Péronne(Somme). Photo Yazid Medmoun – Item crafted by a Turkish prisoner of war (1916). In the prisoner of war camps, inmates were at risk from boredom and depression blossoming into what the French medical establishment called “barbed-wire psychosis.” Many POWs killed the time with manual and intellectual work. Some of these projects could be extremely meticulous and time-consuming, which was precisely the point. It was certainly the case with this item, but why did the prisoner choose to make a bead-bedecked snake swallowing its prey? Is it a metaphor for the war?
    © N° inv. : 15 DEC 4.2. Coll. Historial de la Grande Guerre – Péronne(Somme). Photo Yazid Medmoun – A German prisoner’s Christmas tree. Beneath the address of the recipient, Colonel Sydow, the sender has specified “To be opened 24 December.” This miniature Christmas tree, its base fit snugly into an ingeniously-designed box, arrived at its destination in one piece and was then lovingly preserved. Since around the time of the war of 1870, Christmas in Germany had been an important moment of family life, symbolised by the tree around which parents and children would gather. This gift from a wife to her beloved husband – what else could it be? – represents an attempt to assuage the pain of separation and to maintain a small sanctuary of intimacy, protected from the endless violence of war, uniting the spouses in a communion of shared sentiment. The same spirit of ingenuity, attention to detail and enduring affection can be observed in the miniature candles which adorn the tree. They evoke the crucial moment in the German family Christmas ritual when the doors to the room are opened, revealing the tree which has been set up in secret. The father then lights the candles, and the family share a moment of emotional and spiritual union, singing lieder together. This fragile gift must have provided a moment of comfort and consolation during the war-torn Christmas of 1917, a festive season dominated by solitude, suffering and fear for men, women and children all over Europe.
    © N° inv. : 24 ART 11.1. Coll. Historial de la Grande Guerre – Péronne(Somme). Embroidery created by a French POW entitled “After the fight.” This cotton embroidery was created by French soldier G. Wéllèle at the Mumsdorf prisoner-of-war camp in Saxony. His vision, perhaps indicative of a personal experience of being wounded in combat (although depicted here in a very sanitised manner), suggests a representation of the war dating to the early days of the conflict, as indicated by the dates of his captivity shown at the bottom right (starting in 1914). The image features red trousers, observation planes and zeppelin balloons, as well as medical tents. By 1917, when this piece was probably made, the war had changed beyond recognition from what the artist had known in 1914. The artist appears to have spent four years in captivity: the elegance of his needlework is tribute to the oppressive sense of ennui and uselessness induced by enforced idleness in the POW camps. It also illustrates the importance of maintaining one’s personal, and perhaps even professional, identity.
    © N° inv. : 2 OBA 44.10.140 mm x 185 mm x 80 mm. Coll. Historial de la Grande Guerre – Péronne(Somme). Photo Yazid Medmoun – Bolshevik Statuette, 1919. This statuette, dated 1919, was made in the newly-established Soviet Russia. A woman of the people – probably a worker – is depicted embroidering a red standard with the slogan “Long Live Soviet Power.” The woman’s hunched posture is eminently modest, in keeping with the strict traditional norms of feminine depictions in art. Perhaps the most striking thing about this scene, however, is its serene atmosphere: a stark contrast with the widespread terror and generalised violence which characterised the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.
    © N° inv. : 18 DEC 16.13. Coll. Historial de la Grande Guerre – Péronne(Somme). Photo Yazid Medmoun – Embroidered American flour sack. This American-made flour sack is testament to the role played by the USA in supplying Belgium with food while maintaining its position of neutrality (the date at the bottom suggests that this sack was shipped in 1916). This humanitarian effort was overseen by the Commission for Relief in Belgium, led by Herbert Hoover, whose activities subsequently expanded to include food relief for all occupied peoples (e.g. the Northern France Food Committee). It was on the strength of this experience that Hoover was named head of the US Food Administration when the USA joined the war in April 1917. This simple canvas sack, bearing the ‘Sperry Mills’ brand, is a fine example of propaganda from a neutral country for the benefit of an occupied country on the Old Continent: the use of the symbolic image of the ‘American Indian’ evokes a certain form of American mythology. The crossed Belgian and American flags are an expression of solidarity between two neutral nations, ignoring the contrast between violated, impotent Belgium and the protective neutrality of America, the great power. Intriguingly, the Belgian recipient of this pragmatic object proved to be receptive to the American propaganda: the image which was originally printed onto the canvas has been hand-embroidered using coloured thread, gold thread and pearls. This item is testament to the profound sense of gratitude felt towards a country whose aid packages provided essential relief to the starving population.
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