Outbreak Britain declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914. As a
Dominion of the
British Empire, Canada automatically entered the war following Britain's declaration. On August 12, the
Berliner Journal, a local German-language weekly, implored Germans in Ontario: "Don't allow yourselves to be driven to demonstrations of any kind, avoid arguments ... Be silent, bear this difficult time with dignity, and show that you are true Germans grateful to the country that accommodated you." British policy allowed Germans across the Dominion four days to leave, while the German government encouraged the German
diaspora to return. The 1911 census counted 393,320 people of German origin living across Canada. Because the war was being fought in Europe, Berlin residents expected the fighting to have little direct impact on their lives. German social clubs continued to meet and found their proceedings unaffected. Ministers holding religious services in German declared their loyalty to the Canadian war effort. Three weeks after Canada's entry into the war, vandals toppled Victoria Park's bust of Kaiser Wilhelm and threw it into the park's lake. Residents retrieved the bust and apprehended the three youths responsible. In the months following the outbreak of the war, Berlin's Board of Education voted to end the use of German in schools. Respected Berlin citizens, including businessman and politician
Louis Jacob Breithaupt, held public meetings opposed to the decision. In his reply to the
speech from the throne on August 19, 1914,
Conservative MP
Donald Sutherland expressed sympathy to the German people for "the dangers brought upon them by their ruling classes, by their
oligarchic, insane, military government." The same day, Canadian Prime Minister
Robert Borden stated that people born in Germany and
Austria-Hungary and who came to Canada "as adopted citizens of this country, whether they are naturalized or not, are entitled to the protection of the law in Canada and shall receive it", adding that an exception would be made for those aiding and abetting the enemy. In early 1915,
Waterloo North MP
William George Weichel expressed in
Canada's House of Commons that German-speaking Canadians could be proud of their cultural heritage while remaining loyal to the Canadian war effort. The year before, Waterloo and Berlin, measured on a per capita basis, were first and second in Canada, respectively, in individual contributions to the
Canadian Patriotic Fund. Of the 60 members of Waterloo's German social club, the Acadian Club, half enlisted in Canada's armed forces. The club hosted events supporting the
Canadian Red Cross and the Patriotic Fund. Local Professor F. V. Riecthdorf proclaimed, "I am a native German and former soldier ... My loyalty is to the British flag ... let our response to the Empire be immediate and sufficient!" Trying to lessen signs of disloyalty, in May 1915 the
Berlin City Council asked for the appointment of a local
Registrar of
Enemy Aliens, though this request was denied after being deemed unnecessary.
Increasing anti-German sentiment The war led to condemnation of the German tradition in Canada and rising
anti-German sentiments. Actions by the German Empire contributed to anti-German feelings, including the
violation of Belgium's neutrality, their
use of poison gas, the execution of
Edith Cavell, the
sinking of the RMS Lusitania, and an apocryphal story of German troops
crucifying a Canadian soldier. In a March 1, 1916 letter to the
Berlin News Record, the chair of the North Waterloo recruiting committee stated: "The fact remains that Berlin was named after the capital of Prussia and is to-day the capital of the German Empire, whence have emanated the most diabolical crimes and atrocities that have marred the pages of history." A
fire at Parliament Hill in February 1916 was falsely assumed to have been set by German arsonists. Although many accounts of wartime atrocities were later shown to be fabrications and
British propaganda, most Canadian citizens took them to be true. The use of the German language or the display of German flags became seen as signs of Canadian disloyalty. Young men, many of them German, were harassed in the street if they had not signed up for military service. Newspapers in
Toronto like
The Globe and
Toronto News made frequent attacks on German-Canadians. A
Globe editorial warned that Berliners should be kept under observation, warning of
espionage. To guard against the perceived threat of sabotage and attacks by German-Canadians, 16,000 Canadian soldiers were stationed in Canada; between October 1915 and September 1916, 50,000
Canadian Expeditionary Force volunteers were kept home to protect against any eventualities. Beginning in 1914, those Germans deemed a threat to national security were
interned; the Canadian government held discretionary power to intern any civilian they considered either an "agent" or of potential service to an enemy power. In 1916, roughly 2,000 Germans were interned across Canada, totalling 2,009 by war's end. Though none were interned or jailed in Ontario, Germans across the province experienced a curtailing of their rights and freedoms. In a February 1916 diary entry, L. J. Breithaupt lamented, "Public sentiment in Canada is very anti-German & so to some extent against anything connected with or reminding one of Germany." Canadian military leaders also espoused anti-German sentiments. In an April 1916 letter to the
Berlin News Record, Sergeant-Major Granville Blood warned Berliners: "Be British. Do your duty or be despised ... Be British or be dead." In a printed address to Canada, Lieutenant Stanley Nelson Dacey wrote: gather around the 1897 Peace Memorial in Victoria Park with a banner bearing the phrase "Berlin will be Berlin No Longer", February 16, 1916. In January 1916, members of the local
118th Battalion campaigned for new recruits but – like most battalions in Canada – found little success. Recruiters resorted to harassing men in the streets who had not signed up for service and forcing them into the recruiting office. Berlin's local police force found it difficult to control the battalion. When Constable Blevins, a Berlin police officer, attempted to arrest soldier
Joseph Meinzinger for harassing citizens, Meinzinger broke Blevins' jaw. On February 15, a group of Canadian soldiers from the Battalion broke into the Concordia Club, stole memorabilia and destroyed the interior. An inquiry from
Camp Borden led to no charges and instead justified the raid. In early 1916, Canada's
Militia Minister,
Sam Hughes, made a speech in the House of Commons attacking
the Reverend C. R. Tappert, a Berlin
Lutheran minister. Tappert became a controversial figure locally for several actions, including his continued use of German in religious services, telling his children to avoid saluting the Union Jack and to not sing "God Save the King", his refusal to contribute to the Patriotic Fund and his public doubting of anti-German propaganda. In an early 1915 letter to the
Berlin News Record, he wrote that while he was loyal to Canada his heart remained German. Hughes accused Tappert of being a "[semi-apologist] for German atrocities and
Kaiserism." Tappert ignored threats to leave the country by March 1; on March 4 or 5 a group of 60 soldiers broke into Tappert's
parsonage and seized him. A witness recalled: "Within minutes, Tappert was being dragged behind horses through the streets, his face bloodied, his body twisting as he fell into unconsciousness while the pavement scraped off his flesh."
Magistrate John J. A. Weir warned the two soldiers responsible – Private Schaefer and Sergeant-Major Granville Blood – that he remembered Schaefer being connected to the throwing of the Kaiser Wilhelm bust in the Victoria Park lake in 1914 and he knew Blood had further plans to attack other citizens. Both received
suspended sentences of $100 fines () and/or six months in prison for the assault. Hughes blamed Tappert for instigating them with his anti-British sentiments. Tappert and his family left Berlin on March 8. ==Organization of the referendum==