Evening Post. THURSDAY,. MAY 4, 1933.

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 103, 4 May 1933, Page 10

Evening Post. THURSDAY,. MAY 4, 1933.

GERMANY'S ARROGANCE

What was properly described as "one of the strangest broadcasts in history" was reported from Warsaw on Monday. Actors and actresses representing British members of tho Of Commons reproduced the historic debate of April 13, in which Major Attlee/Sir Austen Chamberlain, Major Nathan, Commander Wedgwood, and Mr. Churchill sharply criticised and condemned Nazi treatment of German Jews. The announcer described tho appearance of the Chamber and the debate was begun and punctuated with cheers. The experiment was, we were told, "a remarkable piece of successful propaganda, as it was transmitted both in Polish and in German."-For once at any ' rate! the Polish Government has overcome that animus against the German language of which it has often been accused, and its undiscriminating impartiality has had its reward. At the same time the people of Poland may be congratulated upon getting not only a much more vivid but a much fuller report of the debate than was sent to this country., Those of the five speakers-who figured in the Polish broadcast were not even mentioned in our report, and one of the others, Mr. Churchill, was only awarded a single sentence.. Not the least satisfactory thing about the experiment from the standpoint of Polish patriotism must have been the belief that "it is likely to "arouse indignation in Germany." Hatred of Germany probably plays an even mpre, important part in Polish politics than is played by the,hatred of Poland on the other side of the frontier, and, here was ,a' golden opportunity for "rubbing it in." As the debate, itself had provoked the German Government to lodge "an energetic protest" at the British Foreign' Office, it is safe to assume that Poland's amiable expectation that Germany would be very much annoyed by the. broadcast was not disappointed. ♦The severity' of Sir Austen Chamberlain's rebuke of the arrogance and violence of Germany carried special weight with those who are more familiar with his character and status than the people of Poland can be expected .to be. Even at the beginning of his career he Hacked the sharp tongue and the eager pugnacity of his father/ Today his place is among the elder statesmen who are contemplating retirement, and his phlegmatic temperament is further restrained by the weight of years. No front-rank man in British politics is better qualified to represent the stolidity and the justice and* the patience of John Bull .than Sir Austen. Yet it was he who roused the cheers of ,the House of Commons by his denunciation of the new spirit of German nationalism as "the worst of the old Prussian Imperialism with the added savagery of pride and exclusiveness." The, House was moved to still greater enthusiasm when he proceeded as follows: Are you going to ctiseuss revision with a Government like that? Will you dare to put another Pole undor the wheel .of such a Government? As-long as Germany is affected by this narrow exclusive spirit which says it is a crime to be in favourof peace and a crime to be a Jew, that is not tho Germany to which we can afford to make concessions. . Before you can disarm ox urge others to disarm you must see a Germany whose mind is turned to peace, and. who will use equality of status not to menace tho safety of others. The reference to th'c Jews was, as the Warsaw mossage above quoted shows, a point, that made a special appeal to Poland. She has herself a Jewish population of about 3,soojooo—the result in very large measure of an overflow from Russia during the terrible pogroms in that country. The number would have been greater still if there had not recently been a further migration of these Jews into Germany. It is the Polish nationality previously acquired by a large number of the migrants that has given the Polish Government the right to enter a protest at Berlin against tlicir; brutal

treatment by t}ie Nazis, and full .use has been taken of this right, as our cabled reports have from time to time shown. As the Poles have often treated their own Jews "with revolting barbarity, , these. protests are not without an element of bitter irony, but, as Polish citizens, the migrants are entitled to the protection of the Polish Government, even though its protection might not have been a very sure defence If they had remained at home, and fortunately for them and for the Government this aspect of Jewish persecution is one on which Polish opinion must be substantially unanimous. But though for the reason, given the 'intervention of the Polish Government on behalf of the Jewish victims of Nazi persecution leaves it open to an easy retort, the sincerity of its' zeal for another of Sir Austen Chamberlain's points is certainly beyond question. His declaration that what has happened in Germany renders this "a singularly inopportune moment to talk about the revision of treaties" must have received a • rapturous welcome from the whole Polish nation. To Poland as to Germany treaty revision means but one thing—the readjustment of their mutual frontiers, and that this was the dominant issue in Sir Austen Chamberlain's mind is shown by his question: "Will you dare to put another Pole under the wheel of such a Government?" Though the Nazis' persecution of the Jews is the only subject mentioned in our report of the Polish broadcast, we may be sure that the actor to whom this part of Sir Austen's speech was assigned was considered to, have the plum of the performance, and that the question was greeted by every audience throughout Poland with tumultuous enthusiasm far exceeding that of the House of Commons. British opinion has long inclined strongly to the conclusion that a revision of Germany's eastern frontier is an essential condition of European peace, but a task which would have been delicate and dangerous even with a Stresemann or a Bruening in charge of Germany is seen to be a sheer impossibility under present conditions. By a neat coincidence the same day which brought us the report of Sir Austen Chamberlain's protest against Germany's methods provided also a typical specimen. A crowd of 15,000, including, of course, a large military element, had attended the' unveiling of a monument at Koenigsblick, on the German-Polish frontier. . Tho inscriptions on fhe monument recorded the names of former German cities "awaiting liberation." Tho local Governor,'in his unveiling speech, said ho hoped the moment would strengthen the German determination- "that what we lost must' not remain lost." What a happy prelude to a peace conference on one of the most complicated and perilous issues that ever puzzled the wit of man! An equally promising omen for the western frontier of Germany was the inclusion in the programme of the great military demonstration at, Berlin reported yesterday of the song "The Cry for Vengeance' Against France." Sir Austen Chamberlain's grave diagnosis has since been approved by Sir Edward Grey, and today it receives official confirmation from Sir John Simon and Lord Hailsham.. Europe must postpone' treaty revision till Germany has recovered her senses.