GERMANY'S LEADERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 220, 18 September 1939, Page 6

GERMANY'S LEADERS.

WHO ARE THESE MEN? (By F.C.J.) Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Goering, Hess. Out of the confusion, bloodshed, terror, intrigue ami turmoil which seem to have been integral elements in the formation of Xazi Germany, these and other names have been repeatedly in the news. They have become familiar; but to the great majority of people they are little more than names. Insignificant in origin, these men have 'been cast into prominence. What manner of men are they wlu> to-day play so great a part in world affairs? They are, so to speak, the parvenus of power politics. Men of middle age, they seem to have had no previous experience in the art of government. Unheard of in international affairs .before the advent of Hitler, they to-day are perhaps the most discussed men in the world. A .great deal as 'been written about their leader, the Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, whose age i'i 50. Lnstable, emotional, friveil to bursts of crying, friendless, moody, incapable for long periods of making a decision, uneducated and hardly able to conduct a normal conversation, Hitler is one of the paradoxes of history. A man composed of frailties, he is yet a leader whose power over other men is almost unique in the story of dictators. Empty Early Years. When at the age of nineteen years lie lost his mother, he had learned nothing at school, and stood before a blank wall," without knowledge or training. Twice he applied for admission to the Academy of Arts at Vienna. The first time he failed. The second time, after showing his drawings, he was not even allowed to sit for the entrance examination. From 1909. orphaned and without means, lie lived in wretchedness and poverty in Vienna. For some time he existed in a casual ward with beggars and vagabonds. Xone the less, as far as is known, he never did a dishonourable act. No one would have dreamed that in this gauche, solitary person, a laughing-stock to his acquaintances, lay the capacity for leadership. The fact is that he is able completely to adapt himself to circumstances, and to a given r-ituMtion. Ho can Ik. 1 all things to all men. Ho has identified himself with the mass nf the German people. To a degree which hardly another figure in history has done, lie has been able to interpret the feeling* of the common folk. Hardly an Intimate. ' Yet this leader, this demi-god, has hardly an intinjate, even in his own party. The only man who can see him at any time is von Ribbentrop, his. adviser on foreign affairs. Hess, his deputy, may- see him daily, but Hess is not an intimate. Neither Goebbels nor Goeriiig, as a rule, see him without previous appointment. Hitler is a mystery. Joseph Goebbels, aged 41, Minister of Propaganda, is said to be the brains of the movement. Ho early saw the value of 'propaganda, and he has made it a science. Hitler 'rave the Xazis their emblem; it is. typical of Goebbels that he stamped it on paper and strewed it in millions about the streets. The machine he commands gives him enormous power, but he is almost universally disliked, t lie main reason being his unpleasant character. In a regime which places emphasis almost amounting to worship on physique, Goebbels has a club foot. Hermann Goering, now a field-marshal, was a successful pilot in the last war, and is now Marshal of the Air Fleet. Following the war he was unemployed, and was forced to emigrate. After being a commercial pilot in Denmark and Sweden, he returned to Germany, and became leader of the Storm Troops. Goering a Moderate. He represents the more moderate elements iu the Xazi regime, and is the only prominent member of the party who obviously enjoys a joke against himself. This human touch, together with his many and colourful uniforms and ribald humour, have won him wide support among the common people. Something of a gangster when the party was young, he has now become more of a statesman, and sees clearly the dangers to which Hitler's extreme policy is leading the country. Rudolf Hess, aged 44, now Reich Minister, was early associated with Hitler, becoming private secretary to him. He is absolutely loyal and honest, and has never 'been accused of personal ambitions in the party. Heinrich Himmler, aged 38, head of the German secret police and deputy head of the Reich Administration, is probably the most powerful man in Germany to-day, outside Hitler. Certainly lie is the most feared. He lias been called the "Robespierre" of the German revolution. Xever in the limelight, but always looming sinister and unseen in the background, he uses his Gestapo with ruthless efficiency. Career of von Ribbentrop. One of the most meteoric careers of the German revolution has been that of Joachim von Ribbentrop. aged 45, Foreign Minister. He learned English before the last war, while working on the construction of a bridge over the St. Lawrence River at Quebec. Later he became a champagne salesman for a French, firm. As Hitler's adviser in foreign affairs he has. considerable influence with the Fuehrer. More and more he -lias identified himself with aggressive revolutionary National Socialism, coupled with the same' aggressiveness in foreign affairs.