ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22661, 16 March 1939, Page 3

ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS

TO TKE BSITOB OP THE mu Sir, —May I have a little space for a final word in this discussion? Constant repetition, I know, is boring, so I will not repeat anything I have already written except to point out to Messrs Johnson and Williams that I have emphasised the fact that Germany, officially (thereby meaning the Government and not any individual Germans), believed in force as the only argument worth worrying about, and that it was Mr Duff Cooper’s display of force by mobilising the Fleet that convinced Messrs Hitler, Goebels, Goering, and Company that a little soft pedal wouldn’t do them any harm. If these correspondents want any proof that Nazi rule and influence are a menace, may I ask them to consider the millions of American citizens, born in the United States, of German parentage, who are, in spite of the fact that the United States provides them with a living and that by becoming naturalised they have undertaken certain obligations, still German in every respect. These people are a distinct liability so far as America is concerned, and they are so sure that Deutschland will eventually run the earth that they hold Nazi demonstrations occasionally. Compare the insistence of the German Government on the maintenance of German citizenship, no matter what part of the world the German may

reside in, with the American law which prohibits an American woman from entering her native land because she has married an alien. I am not going to trv to convert either of these gentlemen to my viewpoint. During tne last year or so we have seen what Hiller has done and every move he has made to extend his dominion has been preceded by a show of armed might, plus intimidation of the people who might use the ballot box against him. by the secret police and other Nazi organisations, and if these instances do not convince them that Germany, officially, believes in force, spelt in capital letters, nothing short of actual experience under the German flag will make any impression. I thank you for affording me space to state one Briton’s views.—Yours, etc., RAGLAN. P.S. —Regarding the colonies. Some people are anxious to hand Germany big chunks of Africa and even Australia. I wonder how they would react to a suggestion from South Africa that Britain should give New Zealand to Germany.

March 13, 1939. [Subject to the right of reply of J. Johnson, this correspondence is now closed.—Ed. “The Press.”]