THE SAAR FRONT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 252, 24 October 1934, Page 16

THE SAAR FRONT.

WILL HITLER WIN? A PROBLEM OF COMPLEXES. GRAVE POSSIBILITIES. (Tsy DOROTHY THOMPSON*.) (III.) The vote in the Saar will be a vote for or against Hitler. If the Saarlander votes to stay under League protection, ho votes faute do mieux. The League Council knows this. France knows it, and above all Hitler knows it. Every vote against union with Germany is a blow at his prestige. The failure of the putsch in Austria, followed by the election in Germany on August 19 which doubled the number of votes against Hitler polled in. the previous plebiseito in May, gave him a shock. If more than 10 per cent of the population vote against liim here next January it will be a reeling blow. If he loses the Saar he may loee his head. Xo preceding German Government would have lost the vote, and that all Germany knows. Mammoth Organising. Therefore the work of the National Socialists to win the Saar has reached prodigious proportions. The money being spent is enormous. In the last months a tax of ■ 10 cent#; a month has been levied exclusively for the Saar light on every member of the German workers' front—three and a half million members! It must be said, incidentally, that the expenditure of money has been enormous for years, and under all preceding Governments, but under the Nazis it has reached its zenith. There are 3S daily newspapers in the Saar —a territory with a, population the size of Boston. Not a single one of these papers exists for the dissemination of news. All are propaganda organs. Until Hitler came into power they were as numerous and, with a single exception, they were financed by the German Government, largely through the socalled Heimatdienss, which- has a centre in Cologne under a man named Watermann. This centre not only supported newspapers but it had control, through money, of the innumerable vereins for sport, singing, veterans, etc. It used to be said that not a billiard ball rolled in the Saar except as propelled by Watermann money. , The subsidised Press belonged to all parties—from the Communists to the Nazis, and they all worked f«r the return of the Saar to the Fatherland. Hitler simply swallowed this mechanism whole. Hitler has a valuable heritage from this propaganda, which in years gone by agitated against the French "exploitation" of the coal miners—in those days in the Socialist Press—and kept awake in all classes the horror of separatism and passionate affection for Gennanv.

A Sea of Doubts. To this form of influencing public opinion the Nazis have added their own, the staging of superb mass demonstrations across the border, the use ,of the radio day and night, and a special refinement of pressure which allows no one to escape. Ninety-seven per cent of the whole population of the Saar are enrolled in the German Front, which means they have promised to vote for German union. One must not underestimate the genuine elan of the Hitler movement, especially amongst tho youth, nor the desires of reunion with Germany which animates thousands who dislike the Nazi Government, but the Nazis leave nothing to chance and good will. Those who hesitated to enrol in the German front found their shops boycotted, their jobs endangered, and aid refused from the funds of the Workers' Front, which, incidentally, got its treasury from the confiscated coffers of the trades unions. The swastika unquestionably covers a multitude of rebellious breasts. How many status quo votes can cost Hitler the Saar? Nobody knows, and here lies the delicacy and danger of the whole situation. There is nothing in the Treaty of Versailles which says that if a majority vote for Germany the Saar must be delivered to Germany. The treaty leaves it to the League of Nations Council to determine by a majority vote what to do with the Saar after the plebiscite, only instructing them to take account of the expressed wishes of the population. If a large minority vote against Hitler, that minority will protest vigorously against being delivered over to Germany. The council may decide, therefore, to divide the Saar, or to attach all sorts of conditions to German administration. Will Swarm Across the Border. The Germans arc not in the League of Nations, and, despite the Treaty of Versailles, both Hitler and Goebbels have repeatedly given notice in public speeches, Goebbels most specifically in the address at Zwcibrucken, that they will not accept any compromise. If Germany gets a majority, however small, there is the possibility that on the day following the plebiscite thousands upon thousands of Germans will swarm across the border, armed or unarmed, to celebrate the victory, and perhaps confront the League of Nations Government with a very serious situation. It is even possible —and many students of the situation speculate seriously with this possibility—that Hitler will prefer a

demonstration put clown by violence— prefer, in other words, again to accept a dictate of force, rather than viekl ignoininiously to anything less than complete victory. The raids of the Government on the offices of the German front, which revealed documents proving that several thousands of Saarlanders between the ages of l(i and 23 have been sent into Germany for special training for the "Saar fight" in camps of the Voluntary Work Service—in other worlds, that something comparable to the Austrian Xazi Legion exists for the Saar —lends credence to these speculations. The danger of action which wouJd doubtless be termed—as it was in Austria —"spontaneous rising against tyranny," is the greater because this is a mining country, where vast stores of explosives are available and their whereabouts known to many miners, and there is not the. slightest question but that the Nazi movement has youths of such fantastic devotion to the cause that they are prepared for anything, including the certain sacrifice of their own lives. The French Attitude. It is for this reason that T know Frenchmen who pray to God every liiglit that Germany will get 00 per cent of the votes on January 13. "If the Xazi<s stage a rising, what Frenchman will want to filled his blood for the Germans of the Saar?" one Frenchman said tersely, add-

ing tliat if troops have to bo called in, they will certainly be French, because the French troops are nearest. I think it is safe to say, however, that this is not the prevailing opinion in the French Government, which, like every other French Government, is highly legalitarian and perfectly conscious of the dangers arising from allowing any breach in the precise conditions of the Treaty. Besides, it is the opinion of the League Government and the opinion of Barthou, as expressed in his memorandum to the Council, that the League has a definite responsibility to the voters for the status quo. "Because if we had not existed there would have been no status quo," one official said.

Some Cold Facts to Face. The danger to Hitler lies, however, only secondarily in the determination of the League of Nations to carry out the conditions of the plebiscite and retain the powers granted it by the Treaty. The first danger lies in the attitude of the German voters themselves. The enthusiasm for Hitler is countered by an equally intense hatred, and besides these there are other, cooler heads who are asking themselves just what the Saar people stand to win or lose by union with Germany. Hitler stands to win coal mines which he does not want and for which there is no gold to pay. He also stands to win, incorporated in the Reich, a very important heavy industry which can supply, among other things, munitions. But the Saar people are asking themselves quietly: Shall we exchange our good francs, covered to 80 per cent with gold, for marks which have no coverage at all? By what method of taxation can the Reich raise money to meet these gold debts, which President Knox does not intend to allow to be waived lightly aside, as the Reichsbank President, Dr. Schacht, has waived aside the debts of the Reich? These cold, economic facts, the intransigeant opposition of the lower clergy to what they term Nazi "heathendom," and tho Socialist opposition are the "•reatest menace to Hitler in the Saar. — N.A.N.A..