GERMAN PEOPLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 262, 6 November 1939, Page 6

GERMAN PEOPLE.

WILL THEY REBEL ?

ignorant of the facts.

FATAI.ISTIC ATTITUDE.

Is the German Reich, despite its show of military strength, heading for internal revolution at an early da,te? This question, says Robert Powell in an article in the "Spectator," was asked of nearly all the Berlin correspondents as soon as they crossed the frontier, and again when they reached England. In his article he sets out to give the facts as they appeared to the foreign observer in Germany just a few days before war was declared.

That great unrest exists throughout the whole territory ruled by the Nazis to-day is very true. It exists and has existed for a long time past. One had only to talk privately with representatives of all classes and opinions to hear complaints and condemnation of the present regime. It is unnecessary to add tha/t what can be said of conditions m Germany itself applies far more emphatically to Austria, especially Vienna, and to the "Protectorate" of BohemiaMoravia.

To the old complaints tHe Germans had against the Nazis must be added, during the f>ast fortnight, that Hitler has taken his country into a war, not simply with Poland, but also with Greet, Britain and France. One might talk much about the fact that the Fuehrer has broken yet another of his promises to his own people, and this time so openly ft hat oven tllic simplest must realise that he has been let down. The first results of the march of the triumphal armies have been now burdens, ration-cards, new faxes, less beer and thinner quality, dearer milk and an increasing danger of inflation. For no (ierman is so naive as to believe the excuses given by his Government for the printing of notes of such small denominations as two marks at a time when the monetary circulation is increasing ■by millions of marks every month. Facts Withheld. The facts of the discontent, shortage of foodstuffs and of raw materials, etc., are all true. Not all the boasting of Goering can disguise that. But what is more important than the facts is the question how the German people interpret them, and whether if this interpretation were along "democratic" lines, they could or would take any decisive and collective action. Right interpretation implies an adequate knowledge of the facts . . . But this has been impossible in Germany for six years. Not only have the facts been withheld, but deliberate misstatements have replaced them. The result is that the Gleichschaltung (co-ordination) which Goebbels initiated by terror and brutality in 1933 has produced a nation j which has become apathetic and even more fatalistic than before the Nazis came to power. In view of their ignorance of the facts and of the false interpretations so Jong supplied them, the German* are "... to accept suddenly the British-Preach explanation of events. I 6" burst over their positions or bombs blow up their battleships, is it conceivable that they are ff oii*r to behev-e that "encirclement" is simply a or ri n' Ve " Ctlon ° f the demo " rl+i, *1 u dro l > P ,n ? of pamphlets, rath ei than bombs, may have its value as an indication that we could do other \ '! we so desired. But it is very will l^ U f : , Wh ? ther pamphlet-dropping w ill in fact achieve much. This kind of kid-glove attack smacks too Vi of 'appeasement" to the younger erf tion of Germans, who understand only vet ° f brute force and have yet to be convinced that the British an.l French mean business.

Under Discipline. JBut even if the average German •becomes convinced of the Allies' menu, what are the chances that eff£ e action will follow? To-dav tW, are over 3,000,000 German, nn!l e \t th« ♦ t V": nians under arms. At the time of writing the majority of m aie not in German v. They are Slovakia 1 ®°hem'ia -Moravia or (• A . 1,1 other words, thev are far from their home. „„ d „ s „al j- ? he y soldiers liable to military WOIIW it be unnatural under such conand renieni't)erin<r a ii fi lf> quests" Which Hitler has" brought +£'" i" so short a time, that if thev ! " thought to the democracies thev "would maintain that Britain and France co t ne\er give them what their Fuehrer lias gi\en tlie new Germany? i Taiiy of the workers, upon whom the in f.ctorte, w,n auring the next few weeks (especially But a? 6 the a " MOraVia ,- and in Gestano mie the ruthless ss»" p .u^„ r f .nr ,cih " faii er to and inhum . an in time, words S«lm°. K«". "• " "•

f-I,l' J- S tempting to see much in the disillusionment which the si-ninrr of the German-Soviet pact must' have brought to the "Old Veterans" in the Nazi party to talk of the final revelation of the failure of the Fuehrers omniscience since tlie period of bloodless triumphs is over, but the speed of events s "' von Herman little time or opportunity to think; and even if he had it, his mind has. been so warped that he could not quickly react. You cannot surrender all personal responsibility under the Leadership Principle for yeais, and then expect suddenly to be a Die to act a. free man. Let us ,-ead the lesson of the last war aught, as far as the question of Germany s surrender is concerned. Tt was ""t of any implicit faith in Wilsons Fourteen Points that the Germans surrendered nor simply because T\ r s Another fundamental fact was that had the war continued fighting would have taken place on German soil. Such an idea is repugnant to the German. He still holds to the doctrine of Frederick the Great, Spread the cloth as far away from Germany as possible." And as a result, not all the pamphlets in the world will influence his action so much as the fact that the French are already across the German frontiers.

In conclusion, there is one fact which ■must also be mentioned. It is that Germany is a country in which anything is possible. The erratic "dvnainism" which produced the Nazi* may with equal swiftness turn and rend them. But. in view of all that has been said above that eventuality is hardlv likely to conic ahout until Germa-ny has experienced military defeat and'niuch greater economic hardship, or the Nazi leaders quarrel among themselves—a hope so; long deferred that "it maketh. the heart/ aids" indeed. '