the Siege of Antwerp
from a German Weekly Magazine
right : Belgian soldiers escaping downriver by boat - German soldiers posing by the Quays
'Die Woche' was a rather uninspiring and old-fashioned German weekly magazine featuring general interest items along with cultural, litterary and fashion articles. During the Great War a substantial amount of pages was devoted to war news after a fashion, though on the whole that meant nothing more than publishing photos of officers decorated for bravery and of commanding officers for looking distinguished and authoritive. Scenes of actual warfare and death and destruction were not to be found in 'die Woche'. Instead the reader was treated to heart-warming photos of German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers at work behind the lines or engaging in some manner of constructive or cultural activity. Great victories were celebrated as well with suitable photographs and the fall of Antwerp to the besieging German army was heralded with a series of photos attesting to the German soldier's innate correctness and proper bearing. After the propaganda debacles in Belgium of the opening months of the war, it was apparently stressed that as long as the Antwerp population acted docilely and in accordance with militaryl decrees, German soldiers could be the most accomodating of occupiers. In Antwerp, by and large this was indeed so, in part however because the newsmedia from around the world devoted a substantial amount of interest in the situation in Antwerp during and after the siege.