IN GERMANY TO-DAY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3220, 19 May 1924, Page 8

IN GERMANY TO-DAY.

(By H, J. Greenwall.) “Smash, the Treaty of Versailles. Drive the French out of the Ruhr. To hell with the Berlin Government.”

You must see the background where this statement was made. It is a little cafe, a weinstube, as the Germans call it. A small place not far from the Central Station at Municu. Its name is “Die Fledermaus,” in English, The Bat. And it is at the Sign of The Bat that they drink strange toasts to the coming of the Second Day, where they utter vague threats against .the French, where, iu fact, the abortive revolutions are born.

Munich, despite its theatrical atmosphere, is the kernel of the German Nationalist movement. Numerous secret and semi-secret societies, or “fighting leagues,” as they call themselves, meet and plot and counter-plot against the French and against each other. The headquarters of the leaders of these leagues is “Die Fledermaus,” with a sort of branch office in one of the cabarets.’

Munich is living in the spirit of the past. Students corps thrive; they drink their foaming beer, and they have their fights. The policemen—the Blue Police, to distinguish them from the numerous other forces in Bavaria —wear spiked helmets and spiked moustaches, just as they did in the years that have gone. There must be at least twenty-five “fighting leagues” flourishing up and down Bavaria; they consist of legions of ex-flying men, exofficers, ex-non-commissioned officers, ex-prisoners of war, and so forth, and they meet and talk and drink tankards of beer and make brave speeches and shake fists, and their mouths as well as the mugs of beer foam mightily.

The outcome of these many meetings was the November Putsch, the revolution begotten in a brewery, in which both Adolph Hitler and Eric Ladendorff lost their reputations.

Hitler, the tub-thumping patriot, may be heard from again some day. It is not generally known that this man, who is an Austrian by birth and a sign painter by profession, was badly gassed on the British front. Previously he had been badly wounded, but after he recovered from the gas attack he stated that he had seen a vision and had received a message. He had been summoned as the saviour of Germany.

Here I should say that mostly all Bavarians believe that they and they alone can save Germany, The Central Government is regarded as a poor thing, corrupt and futile. Berlin, they say, is the modern Sodom and Gomorrah ; Ludendorff came among them as a stranger. In my journalistic life I have heard nothing more pathetic than the speech the ex-general made before the People’s Court the other day. “My heart is young,” he said, but his body tottered as he spoke. Despite everything, both Hitler and Ludendorif, and the other small fry now before the court are popular heroes. All day long crowds stand before the shops which exhibit their photographs. The saviours of Germany! We have little need to be pessimistic about the future, but I must say that we cannot, as a people any more than the Council of Ambassadors can as a body, do anything constructive to prevent the natural evolution of the German nation. The}' desire to have* a responsible Government, and they will obtain it. I believe that the signposts point towards the establishment of a limited monarchy. The November ‘ ‘revolution” failed. Despite the inquiry now proceeding in this city it is more than probable that we shall never know the real reasons for the failure. In my despatches reporting the first days of the Hitler-Luden-dorff trial 1 endeavored to show that although the leaders of the putsch are being proceeded against for high treason the inquiry is really directed against von Lossow, who “ratted.” Who made them “rat”?

Was it Prince Rupprecht, who, at the Sign of the Bat, is toasted as the “King” of Bavaria? Did he, like a certain famous English King, remark—or rather paraphrase him : “Will nobody rid me of this turbulent general?” I think he did.

Rupprecht will put forward his claim to be President of the State of Bavaria, lie will not lack supporters ; later lie will merely have to stretch out his hand to grasp (lie throne. Bloodshed will be avoided, despite . the hotheads here, who meet at the Sign of the Bat and drink toasts to the Second Dav.

Charlotte Schroeder. who at the age of 2o has earned the reputation of being the most export hotel swindler in Germany, is at last in the hands of the police, and hotel-keepers throughout the country are breathing easier again, though still bemoaning their huge losses as the result of the girl’s cleverness. Last summer Charlotte nosed as a victim of French cruelty in the 'Ruhr, and under an assumed title obtained large .sums. Later she visited resorts where she posed as a close friend of the former Crown Prince, and on several occasions hotel-keeners put out good paying guests from thenstate chambers to make ready for his "Royal Highness, whom the girl said she was expecting momenarily.