"NERVOUSNESS."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 102, 2 May 1935, Page 15

"NERVOUSNESS."

IN GERMANY TO-DAY.

CHURCHMEN "SADLY

OPPRESSED."

| LUTHERAN'S COMMENTS i

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

I PALMERSTON NORTH, this day,

Observations relating to conditions in Germany, and the schism in the church in that country were made by Pastor J. P. C. Legaard, of the Lutheran Church in Brisbane, who is now on his way to Australia after a long visit to Europe.

"I felt I could not breathe freely in Germany, and I was greatly relieved when I went over the border* into Denmark or France," he said. "After three visits, each of a week's duration, my personal opinion, though it may be wrong, is that there is an atmosphere of nervousness, a cloud of depression— Pot financial—hanging over everything."

Regarding the Lutheran Church, Pastor Legaard said Heir Hitler had sought to use the church for his own ends. His followers broke awaj to establish the Reich Church. Those who resisted Hitler and refused to throw in their lot had remained staunch adherents to the Confessional or true Lutheran Church, bht they were being sadly oppressed. Propaganda work was proceeding on an extensive scale. Hitlerites came to the doors to sell tickets for certain objects. Refusal meant that one/s name and address were taken by what was really n spy organisation, and the householder was reported to the authorities and placed on the black list. War Danger Not Immediate. German national policy was carried to extremes in the border districts, the need for propaganda being far greater there than in Berlin itself. The cost of living was very high. Militarism was to be seen everywhere.

The opinion was expressed by Pastor Legaard that, despite Germany's military spirit, there was not an immediate danger of conflict, but her policy was causing a lot of worry on the borders. Though there was little danger of war at present, he would not be surprised if the situation changed greatly within two years. The Polish Corridor question was a constant source of irritation. Hitler's palace was heavily guarded.