PETAIN: BULWARK OR GERMAN TOOL?

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23349, 7 June 1941, Page 8

PETAIN: BULWARK OR GERMAN TOOL?

MEN OF VICHY'

[By a FRENCH DIPLOMAT IN EklLE.]

The fact that France has its own Government in Vichy and has the outward • appearance of an independent will of its own has concealed the cunning methods by which the German conqueror contrives to exert his own will over the French nation through the instrumentality of the regime of Marshal Petain. The unexpected capitulation of ! France offered to Herr Hitler the uni dreamed-of opportunity to realise his plans. The new French Government repudiated z i the idealism of the French Republic; the Bill of Rights, the right ot free men to think ana speak freely, the Habeas Corpus, religious freedom and tolerance. The Government Was organised according ; to the totalitarian pattern. . Germany soon began to meddle in the internal affairs of France. No ; Secretary of State, no civil servant ; can be nominated without German as- . sent. The Havas Agency is practic- ; ally under German control. The press censor works under German orders. The wireless stations can broadcast : only what Germany allows. All French Ministries have German ’ controllers who have to approve every important act x>f the Vichy Government. At the same time armistice . commissions have poured into unoc- ; cupied France, ransacking what was left of France’s wealth. German infiltration in the French colonial Em- , pire began on a large scale. To-day French Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia are practically under German control. Fiction )Vas Valuable Marshal Petain and his colleagues renoerad Herr Hitler an inestimable service by remaining in France and taking the measures which Herr Hitler was obliged to take himself in other countries such as Belgium, Holland, and Norway. • The .fiction of an independent French ■ Government proved extremely useful to Herr Hitler. It not only prevented the French colonies from continuing 1 the fight, but gave an appearance of lawfulness to every act accomplished Ijy Herr Hitler in France through the ; help of the French Government. More- ' over, French diplomacy in foreign 1 countries was obliged to carry out ■ Herr Hitler’s orders. : France therefore has ceased to be a ' political or moral factor in Europe. ; Military defeat could have been repaired. But the moral surrender, the 1 acceptance of a foreign ideology by 1 France is a much more serious matter. 1 France will have to bring about great 1 accomplishments before she can re- ' establish her former moral position in foreign eyes. , Military and political conquest was : followed by economic organisation of the subdued natidn. As soon as Paris had fallen into German hands, German ! functionaries began to reorganise 1 French economy on German lines and in German interest.. Nazi Officers in Control Elimination of the Jewish influence was one of the first measures taken by the German military commander, soon followed by Vichy. Reorganisation of French economic life was entrusted to two German officers; The “WirtSchaftsstab” or General Staff for Economic Questions by. the German military commander in France and the Ministry of Armament and Ammunitions both housed in Paris, The General Staff for Economic Questions, said the “Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung” of‘March 29. is charged with the direction of French economic life, its functioning in the interest of the Reich. The complexity of the task is shown by the necessity of subdivid- ; ing it into a great many sections—for industry, commerce, agriculture, for- ■ estry, exportation, transport, labour, 1 currency, customs, and price regulations. Germany considers,, says ttiis paper, that this planned economy in France represents the first step towards the integration of the French ' economic system in .the new Europe. The French. Government in this ; affair is simply carrying out German

(Published by Arrangement with the “Christian Science Monitor.")

orders and issuing laws translated fro,. German into French. The ‘iHfa burger Premdenblatt" of > writes in this respect: “It been simpler for us to France by ourselves after the if T tice, but we preferred to French Government the task of ministration < t . . thanks to this gyg. tem the French have been able to reorganise by themselves the immense superiority of a planned economy* conceived and functioning in Q& many. , , .. . ■ “The French administration has now begun to accommodate itself to the : methods applied by German offices, A Ministry for Economic Affairs hhj been established in which the Sem. tary of State for Co-operation with Germany plays an important part/ German Commissioner Describing this new French Minis, try for Economic Affairs, the “Frank furter Zeitung” of March 23 states; ‘•lt was the General fataff ior mic Questions which inspired the la* concerning raw materials issued by the French Government on September 9 1940. A Central Office for Distriby. tlon of Industrial Products has been es. tablished in Vichy. This office has 1| sections. A special official called a dis> tributor is pieced at tn'e heaa or sections for raw materials. ... A German High Commissioner is delegated to the central office and German commissioners supervise the functioning ol every one of the eight sections. “A French law issued on August 16, 1940, organises the French industry according to German pattern. Every i plant of every industry must be under 1 an organising committee. ■;> ■ “By this organisation French'; production- can be integrated in the war economy of Europe, and the adaptation of the French productioh to Germany’s will t begin' to influent* the whole structure of French econ- : omy,”' ‘ According tb the “Frankfurter Zeitung’’ of March 8. a German technical exhibition has been opened at the Petit Palais, in Paris’s Champs Elydett. About 40,000 different items were shown to French industrialists and businessmen. The aim of this exhibition was not to sell German product! to the French, but to show what Franc* could produce in order to help Germany. The co-operation of French industry will allow Orman workmen to move from the civil sector to the armament industry. France, therefore, is actually helping the German war effort France is also sending her skilled ■ labour to Germany. The “Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung’’ of April 5 state* that up to now 36,000 French metallurdeal workmen have arrived In Get- j many. ■ The second important German office for economical affairs in France is the Ministry of Ammunitions, charged, according to the "Frankfurter Zeitung” olMarch 8, with the placing of German orders in and the employment’ of French technicians in Germany; it also supervises the functioning of French industry and its integration in central European economy. , It distributes raw materials necessary for the execution of German orders. Appears Lawful • According to the “Deutsche 'Allgemeine Zeitung” of March 29, the total turnover of German orders plac'd with French industry reached 1500 million marks, or 30,000 million franca §*l In all other occupied countries Ger- n many has taken similar, measures. Its I activity in France shows the thoroughness with which the system is carried'- • out. The main difference between France and other occupied countries is chat whereas in Holland. Belgium, and Norway,' German officials give the,-orders and make the laws, in France this German work is done by the Vichy Government; which gives them an appearance of lawfulness lacking in other countries.