Bucks Examiner 4th August 1916 " A Man Who Loves Germans"
William H Potter, 34 a potato merchant of Chesham claimed that as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ he could not kill and neither could he make munitions, but he was willing to do ambulance work. The At his Tribunal the Chairman asked:
You state that you believe in loving your enemies. If we dismiss your case will you still love us?
- Yes
Do you love Germans?
- Yes I do, just as much as I love an Englishman. God loves then so surely I may do so.
You have a wife. If a German attacked your wife would you kill him?
– I don’t know what I might do. I know that my duty to God is to pray to him to tell me what to do & he would tell me what to do to protect my wife.
Do you seriously suggest that with a German suffering blood lust attacking your wife you would not attack and kill him if needs be?
– I have never been placed in such a predicament, but I have a duty to God and I must do it.
You have a duty to protect a defenceless woman, wouldn’t you do it?
– I would try to part them. Killing the German is quite different.
What you say is that you do not think it is your duty to kill.
– I say I should not have a right to do so. What I should do I cannot say until the time comes.
Potter was given a non-combatant’s certificate.
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