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GERMAN PROPAGANDA
321
into a proverb; and every one still sincerely pitied "la
belle France " who had made such a false step in
allowing herself to be drawn into political combinations
directed against Germany.
Another article of faith was that Germany had been
attacked by the Entente, particularly by Russia, who,
however, had not acted spontaneously but had been
incited thereto by "la perfide Albion." Indeed, if
England had warned Germany in time that she would ally
herself to the enemies of the latter, Germany would not
have declared war and peace would have been secured ;
but the crafty English on the contrary had made Berlin
believe that they would remain neutral, and as soon as
Germany, taken in by this, had declared war, England at
once went over to the enemies’ side ! This rigmarole, of
which the second part completely contradicted the
first (for if Germany had been the party attacked she
would have had to defend herself, whatever Great
Britain’s attitude had been), this rigmarole, I say, which
the Germans themselves only pretended to believe, was
sincerely and religiously believed by the worthy Swedish
public; the entire Swedish Press agreed about it, even
that portion of it that was not particularly well-disposed
towards Germany. As to the German crimes against the
rights of men and of war and against the most elementary
principles of humanity, the Swedes simply did not believe
them; the thing was impossible; these were calumnies
invented by Germany’s foes who, unable to conquer her
by might, were slandering and abusing her in every
possible way!
This tone of the Swedish Press and this attitude of
Stockholm society deeply annoyed and irritated my
colleagues of the Entente and my Russian collaborators.
I was much less affected by it all. When, side by side
with these insanities, I saw the Stockholm public
rushing to the central station to receive the Russian refugees,
distributing money, milk, delicacies to the women and
children; when in my personal relations with Swedish
society I noticed that the people the most cordially
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