COURAGEOUS JOURNALISTS

Hawera Star, Volume LII, 12 October 1932, Page 6

COURAGEOUS JOURNALISTS

ISSUE, OF SECRET NEWSPAPER

EVADING GERMAN ESPIONAGE.

Sidelights on the publication .of a secret Belgian newspaper during the German occupation of Belgium were given yesterday 7 by T the Rev. E. S. Etnmitt, of Hawera, in an address at the Eltham businessmen’s community luncheon.

The newspaper, “La Libre Belgique,” was published during the war to keep up tne morale oi the sorely-liarassed Belgian people, said Mr. Emmitt. On August 20, 1914, the Germans had given orders to the Belgian newspaper proprietors to close down or to publish such news as the German officials should permit. Most of the newspapers had closed down, but through one or two publications the Germans disseminated defeatist propaganda and slowly sapped the courage of the Belgian race. But in Belgium there were not only merchants of news; there were soldiers of the pen. At the head of these stood Victor Jourdain, doyen of Belgian journalists, and this man and a band of loyal colleagues, conceived the idea of publishing a secret newspaper to cheer and encourage the Belgians in their hour of adversity. So was born “La Libre Belgique.” The patriots managed to publish their paper, but the distribution of it was a most difficult and precarious task. They contrived, however; manuscripts were rolled in a cane with a screw ferrule; they were hidden in radiators; the most ingenious devices for seorecy were adopted and proved successful. The publication was quite humorous in tone —its publishing address those responsible for it stated to be the German headquarters; their price, they said, would vary from zero to infinity; advertisers were advised to hold over their copy for better times. The paper met with tragedy as well as with comedy. An editor was executed—the first martyr for the freedom of the Press in the war. Other members of the staff of the paper who were caught all received the most severe sentences. So strict was the German surveillance, so widespread the ramifications of espionage, that it seemed the paper must perish. But the indomitable courage of its publishers kept it going, as they said, “regularly 7 irregular.” There was much more of the history of this gallant enterprise than could be told, did time allow. In proposing a very hearty 7 vote of thanks to the speaker for a most interesting address, Mr. C. H. Courtney said that the talk had emphasised the necessity for a free and independent Press.