Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

Chapter 3 -
Api Api: The Mobilisation,
July - August 1914
The whole town gathered in the burning sun, in front of the
white pillars of the town hall. The mayor stepped to the front
onto the high steps, and started to read out the mobilisation
declaration. Such a deadly silence hung around the packedtogether
crowd, that one could hear the birds chirping in the
gardens behind the houses. When it was announced that fifteen
military intakes would be called up, a breath of dismay, like a
sudden wind surge, spread through the crowd. One woman fell
unconscious. Other women started to cry silently, and buzzing
and stumbling the crowd parted into the small streets, where
their dull footsteps echoed from the walls of the houses, which
absorbed an unrest never known before.
P. H. Ritter!
On 28 June 1914, while making an official visit to the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia,
the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian
militant. Rumours of war breaking out between Austria-Hungary and Serbia were rife after
the assassination, plunging the already unstable Balkan region into tunnoil. However, on
the other side of Europe, in the Netherlands, the death of Franz Ferdinand caused little
dismay. After all, the Balkans had survived crises of similar magnitude before without
serious repercussions elsewhere. In what could be seen as a reflection of its lack of concern,
the Dutch government gave Snijders three weeks' leave in July to holiday in Demnark and
Norway.2 The Queen Mother, Emma, was also able to visit her family in Gennany as she
usually did each summer. But all was not well in Europe. On 23 July, Austria-Hungary,
I "[H]eel de stad verzameld stond in de brandende zon voor de witte pilaren van het raadhuis. De burgemeester trad
naar voren op de hooge stoep, en begon te lezen het besluit der mobilisatie. Er heerschte zulk een doodsche stilte
onder de opeengepakte menigte, dat men de vogels kon hOOl'en tjilpen in tuinen achter de huizen. Toen er bekend
gemaakt werd, dat er vijftien lichtingen zouden worden opgeroepen, ging er een adem van ontzetting als een
plotselinge windvlaag door de massa. Een vrouw viel in zwijm. Andere vrouwen stonden stil te snikken, en zoemend
en struikelend ging men uiteen, de kleine straten in, waar de doffe stappen weerklonken tegen de wanden der huizen,
welke een onrust opnamen, die ze nimmer hadden gekend." (Ritter, De Donkere Poort Volume 1, p. 81).
2 C. J. Snijders, "Mobilisatie-Herinneringen 1914 - 1918 no. 16" [Mobilisation memories 1914 - 1918 no. 16] 6 May
1931, in SMG/DC, "Mobilisatieverslag" 91A/3. Note: Snijders wrote several drafts, numbered individually.