The priest then showed the officer the
notices on the walls, signed by the Burgomaster, warning the inhabitants
not to intervene in hostilities.
It appears that they accused the priest of having fired at the Germans
from the tower of the church. This is important because it is one of the
not infrequent cases in which the Germans ascribed firing from a church
to priests, whereas in fact this firing came from Belgian soldiers, and
also because it seems to show that the Germans from the moment of their
arrival in Aerschot were seeking to pick a quarrel with the inhabitants,
and this goes far to explain their subsequent conduct. Hostages were
collected until 200 men, some of whom were invalids, were gathered
together.
M. Tielmans, the Burgomaster, was then ordered by some German officers
to address the crowd and to tell them to hand in any weapons which they
might have in their possession at the Town Hall, and to warn them that
any one who was found with weapons would be killed. As a matter of fact,
the arms in the possession of civilians had already been collected at
the beginning of the war. The Burgomaster's speech resulted in the
delivery of one gun, which had been used for pigeon shooting.
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