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| Source 3a |
Count Brockdorff-Rantzau's Speech.
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(Translation.) |
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Gentlemen,
WE are deeply impressed with the lofty
character of the task which has brought
us together, namely, to give the world
a speedy and enduring peace. We
cherish no illusions as regards the extent of
our defeat, the degree of our impotence.
We know that the might of German arms is
broken. We know the force of the hatred
which confronts us here, and we have
heard the passionate demand that the
victors should both make us pay as
vanquished and punish us as guilty. …
We are required to admit that we alone
are war-guilty; such an admission from my
lips would be a lie. We are far from
seeking to exonerate Germany from all
responsibility for the fact that this world
war broke out and was waged as it was.
The attitude of the former German Government at The Hague Peace Conferences,
their actions and omissions in the tragic
twelve days of July, may have contributed
to the calamity, but we emphatically
combat the idea that Germany, whose
people were convinced that they were
waging a defensive war, bears the sole
guilt. …
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Source 3b |
Public opinion in all the countries of our
adversaries is echoing with the crimes which
Germany is alleged to have committed
during the war. Here, again, we are ready
to acknowledge wrong which has been done.
We have not come here to belittle the
responsibility of the men who controlled the
political and military conduct of the war,
and to disown breaches of international law
which have actually been committed. We
repeat the declaration which was made in
the German Reichstag at the beginning of
the war: wrong has been done to Belgium
and we wish to redress it.
But again, in regard to the method in
which the war was conducted, Germany
was not alone at fault. Every European
nation knows of deeds and persons on whose
memory its best citizens are reluctant to
dwell. I do not wish to answer reproaches
with reproaches, but if it is from us that
penance is demanded, then the armistice
must not be forgotten. Six weeks passed
before we obtained it, and six months
before we learnt your conditions of peace.
Crimes in war may not be excusable, but
they are committed in the struggle for
victory, in anxiety to preserve national
existence, in a heat of passion which blunts
the conscience of nations. The hundreds
of thousands of non-combatants who have
perished since the 11th November through
the blockade were killed with cold deliberation, after victory had been won and assured
to our adversaries. Think of that, when
you speak of guilt and atonement. …
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Source 3c |
The German nation is earnestly prepared
to accommodate itself to its hard lot,
provided the agreed principles of peace
remain unshaken. A peace which cannot
be defended in the name of justice before
the whole world would continually call
forth fresh resistance. No one could sign
it with a clear conscience, for it would
be impossible of fulfilment. No one could
undertake the guarantee of fulfilment which
its signature would imply.
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