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

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postcards with anti-German or anti-British points of view, and "leaking" damaging news
items. 3o
Within the Netherlands, the government and military controlled the content of
newspapers. Censorship restrictions, however, operated on a different basis from those of
belligerent states. 31 Unlike the belligerents, who tried to keep strategic details, casualty rates
and infonnation on military campaigns out of their press, the Dutch censors looked almost
entirely for what they considered bias in reports. Any news item considered too extravagant
was rejected as "unneutral" and deemed inappropriate. Censorship in the Netherlands had
as its sole aim the maintenance of neutrality, because any suggestion of partisanship could
jeopardise relationships between the Dutch government and its neighbours. 32 Undoubtedly,
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Loudon, spent a substantial amount of time answering
complaints from foreign diplomats about "unneutral" newspaper items. 33 But, as we shall
see in Chapter 8, censoring in terms of neutrality was a difficult and sometimes impossible
task and was not implemented as satisfactorily as some authorities or belligerents may have
liked.
30 Sir Walter Townley to British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, 6 July 1917; Minute by W. H. S., 9
November 1917, both in FO 37112973 1917 (war), Public Records Office, London; Mandere, "Nederland en de
Nederlanders" p.134; Charles Albert Watson, "Britain's Dutch Policy, 1914 - 1918, the View from the British
Archives" PhD. diss., Boston University Graduate School, 1969, pp. 75 -76. Niall Ferguson, The Pity of War.
London: Allen Lane, 1998, pp. 215, 223. German propaganda items can be found in the folder, "Documenten uit den
Iste Wereldoorlog" [Documents from the First World War], reference no. Q194-40, Legermuseum, Delft, including
the German-propaganda magazine entitled Oorlogslo·olliek. Postcards with a distinct anti-German slant, printed in
England, with Dutch captions, and painted by an Italian artist, can be found in NIOD, "WOI Diversen o.a. 'Telegram
aan de Nieuwe Koerier" [WWI diverse amongst others 'Telegram to the Niellwe Koerier'], archive 618, box 3. For
other postcards see: G. H. Kriiger (ed.), Dejaren 1914 -1918 in ollde ansichten. [The years 1914 - 1918 in old
postcards] Zaltbommel: Europese Bibliotheek, 1967; Ritter, De Donkere Poort Volume 1, p. 282.
31 For more, see: Chapter 8, pp. 283 - 290.
32 Commander ofField Army, Lieutenant-General G. A. Buhlman, to Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,
Lieutenant-General C. J. Snijders, 5 November 1914, in ARA, "Archieven van de Generale Staf, mede als onderdeel
van het Algemeen Hoofdkwartier, 1914 - 1940" [Archives of the General Staff, also part of General Headquarters,
1914 - 1940], entry no. 2.13.70, inventory no. 90.
33 Dutch Minister in Berlin, W. A. Gevers, to Minister of Foreign Affairs, 21 April 1915, in Smit (ed.), Bescheiden
betreffende de bllitenlandsche politiek van Nederland 1848 - 1919. Derde Periode 1899 - 1919. Vierde Dee11914 -
1917 pp. 352 - 353; Watson, "Britain's Dutch Policy, 1914 - 1918" pp. 87 - 88; C. Smit, Nederland in de Eerste
Wereldoorlog (1899 -1919). Tweede deel: 1914 - 1917. [Netherlands in the First World War (1899 - 1919). Second
volume: 1914 -1917] Groningen: Wolters Noordhoff, 1972, pp. 41 - 42.