1914-08-07

On 7 August, the Berlin Daily Telegraph reprinted an article from the Toronto Globe on the presence of German-Canadians, including those in Berlin and Waterloo, during the crisis. The politically charged article stated that the war was not against Germany, or Germans, but against the Bismarckian system of government that reigned over Germany. The article stated that this government system threatened the freedom of the rest of the world and that Britain, and subsequently Canada as well, needed to stand against this threat. Britain was therefore fighting for freedom, not for glory or gain.

The article addressed the sentiment of the thousands of citizens in Berlin and Waterloo, and the smaller German communities across Ontario and Canada. Austrians and Germans with Canadian citizenship were willing to join in the fight against their ancestral countries. This did not mean that these citizens did not still love their ancestral lands. They would answer Great Britain’s call to arms because it was for freedom and because:

“They know better than an English-Canadian or French-Canadian among us, that the whole system of autocratic and militarist despotism, is doomed, damned and doomed.”

(“German-Canadians and the War,” Berlin Daily Telegraph, 6 August 1914.)

Almost immediately after Canada entered the war, the issue of German officers and reservists in Canada arose. As early as 7 August, the Canadian Militia Department and the Dominion Cabinet took steps to ensure that German officers and reservists were prevented from returning to Germany. German reservists were encouraged the report to authorities to state their intentions; a failure to do so would likely lead to arrest and confinement. Despite this hostility, reservists in the Waterloo region were assured that if they wanted to remain in Canada and proceed with their normal daily life, under parole, they would not be harassed. Any German reservist in Berlin and Waterloo was to report to Captain Osborne, Captain of the “C” Squadron of the 24^th Grey’s Horse Regiment, stationed in Waterloo Region.

(“Will arrest German Reservists if they seek to leave Canada,” Berlin Daily Telegraph, 8 August 1914; “Will arrest German Reservists if they seek to leave Canada,” Waterloo Chronicle-Telegraph, 13 August 1914; “German Reservists in Dominion must state intention at once,” Waterloo Chronicle-Telegraph, 13 August 1914; “Reservists Handed in Their Parole,” Berlin Daily Telegraph, 8 August 1914; “Reservists Handed in Their Parole,” Waterloo Chronicle Telegraph, 13 August 1914; “War News,” Elmira Signet, 13 August).