A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 111, 4 February 1941, Page 6

A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

“New Order” In Holland HOSTILITY TO NAZIS

- The Nazis’ “New Order” in Europe is damming up a deep reservoir of resentment and hatred in the occupied countries that some day will burst into a terrible Hood of violence against the German oppressors. Already there are many rumblings, and when the time comes, as come it will, for Great Britain to strike her great blow for the victory of democracy, the uprising of the enslaved peoples of Europe will be at hand.

In the Netherlands, after eight months of occupation, the Germans are farther than ever from their professed goal—to win the active collaboration of the Dutch people, in the building-up of the New Order. On the contrary, says an authoritative Dutch correspondent of the “Economist,” anti-German feeling grows in the sama proportion as the economic life of the country becomes Nazified. Nazi Control Complete

The Germans now control everything. Reichskommissar Seyss-Inquart declared some time ago that the Dutch were still ruled by their own ofiicials. In reality, these officials have the simple but bitter task of carrying out the various measures decided upon by their German masters. The Germans have occupied and created the necessary economic and administrative keypoints. The Reichskommissar has usurped the right to appoint and dismiss all higher officials, provincial governors, burgomasters,- police-commis-sioners, and others. The political parties of the Dutch still exist, with the exception of the strong Labour Party, which has been dissolved. Its “controller,” the prominent Dqtch Nazi, Rost van Tonningen, has set up a Socialist Committee, which has proved a conspicuous failure. Another Dutch Nazi, Woudenberg, has been appointed to the head of the Labour Trade Union Movement, which seems to be intended to function as Arbeitsfront. This is borne out by the fact that the Labour Trade Union Movement has been provided with an institution called “Joy and Labour. Up ’till now, however, Dutch Labour has almost -without exception refrained from active collaboration. Standard Of Living Lower These and similar steps at Nazification cannot, however, conceal the fact that the economic situation under German rule is quickly deteriorating. The damage of the five days’ war is estimated at £200,000,000, and reconstruction work is hampered bythe lack of raw materials. Every month new commodities are rationed. Cheese, soap, vegetables and meat (about 11b. a week, bones included) are among the latest additions. There is a striking lack of petrol, and in Amsterdam four of the municipal bus services use horses. Although there is plenty of good coal in the south of the country, the people are officially reassured that they will have enough coal this winter to heat at least one room properly. In the meantime, they have been allotted one-fifth of the coal they used last winter. This decline in the standard of living can hardly promote any confidence in the Nazi, economy. The same must be said of the various promises concerning the Netherlands’ place in Europe’s New Order. In anticipation ot an early British defeat, the Germans were quick to assign, for instance, the place of London to the port of Rotterdam, which was to become Europe’s shipping centre. Lately, however, the Germans have been compelled to stress the negative factors in the Netherlands’ incorporation within the New Order. Dutch industry is to be curtailed witli the exception of those factories which fit into the German war machine; the number of commercial concerns is to be restricted. Moreover, Dr. Fischboeck. the Nazi commissioner for finance and economy, has hinted at a doubling of the existing taxes. Currency Inflation

Dutch financial autonomy has already come to an end, for Berlin is made the central clearing station for the whole of Europe. A Dutchman who owes a certain amount to, say, a Belgian firm, pays his debt into the German account at the Dutch clearing institute. The Belgian eventually gets his money from the German authorities.

Inflation is an established fact, though, because of price fixing, it has not yet had its usual disastrous economic and social effects. Dr. Fischboeck acknowledged some time ago that there is a shortage of commodities, compared with an abundance of money. The shortage of commodities is partly a result of the blockade and partly of the gigantic “export” to Germany, the size of which is unknown —the Germans do not dare to publish exact figures of the German-Dutch Clearing. The Dutch farmers are immediately aid handsomely paid with guilders provided to the Germans by the Nederlandsche Bank in exchange for Reichsmarks and other dubious claims on Germany. Moreover, the cost of maintenance of the considerable German troops of occupation must be borne by the Dutch. It is not, therefore, surprising that in October compared with May the moneyin circulation had risen by about £30.000,000. Hatred Of Nazis

The Dutch Nazis are even more hated by their compatriots than the Germans are. TheN.S.B. (National Socialistische Beweging) is unable to win the sympathy of a people it helped to betray, but its practical influence is undoubtedly rising by the distribution of important posts among its members. The recent fusion between the N.S.B. and the Flemish National Socialists can be assumed to have had the consent of the Germans. It is, perhaps, an indication of a German plan for the settingup of a Dietsche satellite State, comprising the Netherlands and the Flemish parts of Belgium. Whatever decision the Germans take, it. cannot change the Dutch people's violent anti-German state of mind. The clever anti-British propaganda has no success. The Dutch strength-through-joy movement fails to arouse any interest. The Director-General of the Dutch Winter Relief, another German institution foisted on the Netherlands, has complained of the “suspicious attitude” of his compatriots. Cases of sabotage are on the increase. The Dean of the University of Rotterdam has been sentenced to IS months’ imprisonment because he openly quoted in one of his addresses a speech in the Dutch Government broadcast, Radio Orange. The Germans have been compelled to admit openly the failure of their campaign to win the favour of the Dutch people. More than 100 prominent politicians from all parties, among them many ex-Ministers, have been sent to German concentration camps. Thia flagrant violation of Dutch tradition has further embittered a people which consistently refuses to accept German leadership.