FROM HERO TO DESTROYER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 44, 1 December 1939, Page 4

FROM HERO TO DESTROYER.

It lias got to bo remembered that to a German Hitler was, and to many still is, a hero, writes a correspondent of the “Times.” Undoubtedly he recreated Germany, put it back on the map, restored to its citizens hope and self-respect, and marched through what some people may think were the short-sighted injustices of the Versailles Treaty. And so, one and all, whether they approve of the present Hitler or not, the Germans feel their judgment warped (I think that is the right word) by loyalty to the man. But it is not the first time in history that success has so turned the head of a hero that he has become not only a danger to the world, but ultimately the destroyer of the very country he had served. Patriotism in a leader can so easily merge into personal ambition — in other words into disaster. Germany has got to realise that if there is to he peace in the world, with a prosperous and expanding Germany, they have got to have a totally different Government, and place at the head of it a man—and there are some serving Germany in the present war—-who can be respected instead of feared and despised by the whole of Europe.