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

- 290-
Inconsistencies in censorship and circulation within the Netherlands caused
concern within High Command. At one stage in 1915, Snijder suggested implementing
more universally applicable censorship standards to the government, but cabinet ministers
felt this unnecessary, at least until the country joined the war, since there was little chance
that the belligerents would interpret an "unneutral" newspaper article as truly threatening. 204
In fact, lack of control over the press provides one reason why the combatants were keen on
gleaning as much infonnation about their enemies as possible from Dutch newspapers. It
also reveals, as mentioned in the Introduction, the Dutch as one of the best-infonned
peoples about what was really happening in the war. In warring states, censorship was, so
restrictive at times that it was difficult for populations to understand the actual nature of the
conflict. 205 The contrast between access to infonnation for citizens of warring and neutral
countries is clearly evident from the fact that Dutch newspapers were heavily edited before
circulation in Britain, France and Gennany,z°6 In occupied Belgium, Germany carefully
censored all Dutch newspapers, including the generally pro-Gennan Vaderland
(Fatherland). When the Germans were doing badly in the war, they removed Dutch
newspapers entirely from sale. 207 Even before Germany had occupied most of Belgium, the
Belgian government explained to the Dutch government that it had to censor certain
newspapers, such as the Nieuw Rotterdamsche Courant, because a number of its articles
describing German victories caused anger among its citizens. The Belgians suggested that
Dutch newspapers remove objectionable articles from issues intended for sale abroad. 20s
both in ARA, "Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken 'A' dossiers. A 250. Europese Om'log 1914 - 1918" entry number
2.05.04, inventory number 751, document number 5649.
204 Commander-in-Chiefto Minister ofInternal Affairs, 25 May 1915, in ARA, "Archiefvan de Raad van Ministers
1823 -1977" entry no. 2.02.05.02, inventory no. 906.
205 Martin Kitchen, "Civil-Military Relations in Germany during the First World War" in R. J. Q. Adams, The Great
War, 1914 - 1918. Essays on the Militmy, Political and Social History of the First World War. Texas: 1990, p. 42.
206 Pictures of heavily-censored Dutch newspapers can be found in Ritter, De Donkere Poort Volume 1, p. 284.
207 Schaepdrijver, De Groote Oorlog p. 242.
208 Dutch Minister in Brussels to Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, 29 August 1914, in Smit (ed.), Bescheiden
betreffende de buitenlandsche politiek van Nederland 1848 - 1919. Derde Periode 1899 - 1919. Vierde Deel 1914 -
1917p.75.