After the violation of the bust of Kaiser Wilhelm in Victoria Park, the police finally arrested three young men, Fred Bolton, Allan Smith and John Ferguson. They confessed their deed and had to stand trial.
(“Die Denkmalschänder verhaftet” Berliner Journal, 02 September 1914)
On September 2, the Berliner Journal published an article about the difficult situation of German-Canadians. The editors encouraged their readership to stay calm and not provoke their fellow citizens. By emphasizing that their new homeland provided very good living conditions and that they were treated well by their Canadian neighbours, the editors made it clear that being loyal towards the country they lived in was important as loyalty and honesty were well-known German attributes. They stated that most of the German-Canadians were born in Canada and therefore did not have a strong connection to their German origins. Other immigrants who had just migrated to Canada should acknowledge the fact that they were treated well and therefore should be loyal too. The editors tried to be mediators: By encouraging the German-Canadians to stay neutral and explaining the situation they wanted to protect the German community.
(“Der Krieg und die eingewanderten Deutschen” Berliner Journal, 09 September 1914)
On September 16, the Berliner Journal printed a short notice from Berlin, Germany. German Crown Prince Wilhelm had sent a telegram to Waterloo, asking the German newspaper to print it. He wanted the German population to collect “large amounts of tobacco and cigars” for his army and have them sent to Germany.
(“Kronprinz Wilhelm” Berliner Journal, 16 September 1914)
On September 23, the editors of the Berliner Journal published a letter to their readership. They stated that the question of whether the war could have been prevented was irrelevant and encouraged their readership to donate to the patriotic fund. Everybody was also encouraged to contribute towards helping families on the home front. The paper also made it clear that the fund did not pay for weapons at the front but only helped the families of soldiers, so that those who donated would not have to worry that their donations were contributing to the carnage in Europe.
(“An den Leser” Berliner Journal, 23 September 1914)
Due to its German name, companies with factories in Berlin faced decreasing profits. This affected the employees and their income because 60% of the working population was employed in these factories. The editors of the Berliner Journal stated that blaming Berlin and its citizens for disloyalty was wrong as the city was “proud to be a Canadian city”. They encouraged their readership to donate to the patriotic fund. The well-known citizen Louis Breithaupt – of German origin himself – stated that although he was proud of his origins he and the other German-Canadians were “British to the core”.
(“Berlin und der patriotische Fond” Berliner Journal, 30 September 1914)
As anti-German sentiment grew, the German community in Canada had to face financial hardship. Due to their German origin, they were often denied jobs. The German Society in Toronto was collecting donations in order to help “needy Germans” in Toronto and established a committee to find jobs for unemployed Germans. Furthermore, several charity organizations told the government about the economic problems of the German-Canadians, hoping for help.
(“Deutsche Gesellschaft, Toronto” Berliner Journal, 30 September 1914; “Deutsche in Canada” Berliner Journal, 11 November 1914)
On October 7 1914 an advertisement in the Berliner Journal was published for the Canadian government encouraging donations to the Canadian Patriotic Fund which supported the families of soldiers. Since the city of Berlin had not provided many men to fight, its residents tried to raise large amounts of money for the Patriotic fund to show their loyalty to Canada (Löchte, Anne. Das Berliner Journal 1859-1918. Eine deutschsprachige Zeitung in Kanada. Göttingen: V&R unipress 2007. Print. P. 167). After Waterloo, Berlin collected the largest amount in Canada (Löchte, Anne. Das Berliner Journal 1859-1918. Eine deutschsprachige Zeitung in Kanada. Göttingen: V&R unipress 2007. Print. P. 171).
(„Sie sollen keine Noth leiden“, Berliner Journal, 7 October 1914; Löchte, Anne. Das Berliner Journal 1859-1918. Eine deutschsprachige Zeitung in Kanada. Göttingen: V&R unipress 2007. Print. P. 167/171; English, John and McLaughlin, Kenneth. Kitchener: An illustrated history. Toronto: Robin Brass, 1996. Print. P. 118)
Canadian citizen Anton Krähn was travelling in Europe when the war began, and had to flee to Alsace, France where he stayed with relatives. Luckily, he was able to return to Canada in October and wrote about his experiences in Europe in the Berliner Journal.
Anton Krähn and his brother George travelled to France at the end of June to visit their relatives near Straßbourg. They were surprised by the war and couldn’t travel back to Canada because all of the trains in Europe were being used for mobilization. Thirteen nephews of Anton Krähn were conscripted as well as all of the family’s horses so they had to use cattle to harvest the crop. Krähm and his brother were eventually able to reach the Netherlands, from where they could board a ship which brought them back to Canada.
(“Dr. Anton Krähn…”, Berliner Journal, 14 October 1914; “Reise-Erlebnisse eines Berliners”, Berliner Journal, 21 October 1914)
In this article in the Journal, a medical expert praised the effort that Germany had put into the subject of war surgery over the last few decades. They have developed not only new weapons to destroy lives, the expert said, but also explored how to heal the wounds their guns make. In German clinics and medical departments there were always doctors from all over the world seeking to learn about German war surgery. Germany had sent new weapons, but also proper dressings to other countries. Based on their training, German war surgeons would only lose 10% of their patients, whereas 90% had died in the Balkan war because they were not properly attended to by medics.
(„Kriegschirurgie“, Berliner Journal, 14 October 1914)
In October, 1914, another firsthand account of the situation in Germany was published by the Berliner Journal; this time the account was provided by a local woman who travelled to Germany with her American friend. Surprised by the outbreak of the war, the two made their way to Berlin, where they found many Americans at the embassy. While helping out at the embassy, these women made contact with the German government and many private persons and only had positive things to say about their behavior. According to this account, while North Americans were getting excited and afraid of increasing prices for groceries, the Germans kept calm. The two women were not able to note any increasing prices at all. The Germans supported and helped the Americans very much and at one point, the Canadian woman even helped catch a Servian spy.
This account differs immensely from much of what was printed in the local English papers about the situation in Germany, and again shows the unique perspective the Berliner Journal was trying to provide.
(“Eine ehemalige Berlinerin in Berlin, Deutschland”, Berliner Journal, 21 October 1914)