A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 128, 23 February 1939, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Captain Wiedemann Captain Wiedemann has left Berlin for the United States, where he will take up his post of Consul-General in San Francisco. “I must have a true and real friend at my side. Come and join my staff and choose the position that you want to occupy.” With these words Herr Hitler implored Captain Fritz Wiedemann to help him in his .political drive for European domination. Last month he was given his present appointment, which was described in certain quarters a s “exile.” In official quarters it. was asserted that the appointment had no political significance, that Captain Wiedemann was "going to California on his own wish” and that Herr Hitler desired to reward his adjutant for past services. Captain Wiedemann had been in command of the company in which Herr 'Hitler served during the Great War. He retired to his little farm in the mountains of Bavaria when the war was over, and had no wish to take part in politics. When he heard that his former corporal had gathered a party round him he was naturally interested and sent his congratulations. The two men sometimes met when Herr Hitler was climbing to power, and people who had seen them together said that Herr Hitler had a respect for-the captain that was not unlike the respect of the pupil for the master. In 1033 Captain Wiedemann at last agreed to put himself at Herr Hitier’s dispo-'til. But he declined all outward signs of power. He could have joined the Cabinet. Herr Hitler would willingly have made him a general, even War .Minister. But Captain Wiedemann wanted only the substance of power. He chose to be always the voice at Herr Hitler's elbow, the confidential friend. “Export Or Die”

Mr. Oliver Stanley, President of the Board of Trade, has declared that the British Government will not stand. idly by and see markets lost. There were already too many one-way streets in international commercial traffic, he said. No individual exporter could fight for markets against a whole nation if other countries said they must export or die. This phrase, “export or die,” was used by Herr Hitler in an anxiouslyawaited speech delivered on January 30. the sixth anniversary of his assumption of power in Germany.

He said: “It is true that we are engaged in a tremendous struggle with our whole strength. We shall win. Indeed, we have won already, pur economic troubles are due to over-population. We have been exploited and plundered for 15 years, yet without aid from colonies and without help from abroad we have saved ourselves. . . . "If others complain that our economic methods damage them, they must blame themselves for forcing us to adopt such methods. The denial of our colonies forces us to seek national self-suffici-ency. and as far as that cannot lie realized. to stimulate our exports. We must export goods for food or die, but the German people, will live. We can promise a desperate struggle if we are laced with counter-measures.-I - - Miss Dorothy Thompson

Miss Dorothy Thompson, "New York Herald-Tribune” columnist, and wife of Sinclair Lewis, the .novelist, was removed from Madison Square Garden, New York, for persistently laughing when the German-American Bund held an Americanization rally. She explained she laughed to prove that free speech was not tolerated in the hall. Miss Thompson is one of the highestpaid newspaper writers in the United States. Last month she was acclaimed by a distinguished gathering in New York for her work on behalf of refugees from Germany. Tributes were teceived from Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. former president Herbert C. Hoover, Professor Albert Einstein, Govenor Lehman, Mr. La Guardia, mayor of New York, and Pearl Buck, Nobel Prize winner for literature. Mrs. Roosevelt said : ‘‘.Miss Thompson lias shown great courage and zeal, and those who like and admire her gift of expression are deeply grateful to her for having raised it in this cause.” Back io Normal "Le ieinps" .-ays that because Englanu ano France desire peace they are prepared, while watching their own interests,. to facilitate Germany’s ttuusiiiou from a regime of armaments to one 01 normal economy. •The present international situation i s a tragic contrast to the high hopes in 1011) of an era of peace,” wrote .\i.tjot-General A. C. Temperley, a wane ago. "ft had been, in the minds oi countless soldiers who fought and u>ed, a 'war to end war’. . . . For a m-iei period it seemed as if the desire would be realized. "The aimed forces of the Central Powers were limited by treaty and there was a general trend towaid the ii unction of conscript armibs to a militia basis, while the Washington 'I ready bad definitely prevented any i.ompelltion in navai aimamenls. The League of Nations bad growl) in authority and prestige and, after the admission of Germany, had begun to prepare for a great International Disarmament Conference. But the preliminary discussion proved long and inconclusive. It could never be decided whether disarmament should follow security or security should be achieved through disarmament. . . "In view of the immense rearmament in Germany today it is only right that itic true story of the successive offers, of Herr Hiller to France should be told. The responsibility at the bar of history for the rejection of them by M.ißariliou is a heavy one. When the Coiilerence opened the Germans let it he Known privately that they would lie content with an army of 150.001) men. No immediate aueinpt was made to grasp lids offer. . Later Herr Hitler accepted a French proposal for 200.000 effectives for home service on a short-service basis. In October. 11)33. the Great Powers decided that Herr Hitler could not be trusted am) there-must be a trial period for Germany. This caused her to walk out of ihe Conference. When negotiations were resumed she raised her bid ami demanded 300.000 men with short range aeroplanes, tanks, and guns. She expressed readiness to accept conditions that would have actually placed her in a position of military inferiority to France. Ou April 17, M. Barthoii brusquely broke off negotiations. The consequences were immeasurable, as it was from that date itint wertnauy turned to rearmament, at flrst secretly and then openly.