NAZIS OPPOSED

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 71, 25 March 1938, Page 19

NAZIS OPPOSED

RHINELAND POSITION

THE NEMESIS OF HITLER

A two-way metamorphosis is taking place in the Rhineland, writes Anne O'Hare McCormick from Cologne, Germany, to the. "New York Times." In Belgium business men travelling to Germany say that business is better than last year. ■■ In this region, superficial evidence bears out that report. Eveiything is humming with a steady rhythm in contrast with the nervous syncopation of French production, even of armaments. >At the same time criticism of Nazi policies, ideas, and pel sdnalities is more general and more open than ever before. This is the1 most striking new_ thing that the returning visitor observes. \ ,< When a skeleton ai'my marched into the Rhineland in March, 1936,' Chancellor Hitler not only femihtansed j but annexed a hitherto withdrawn and lukewarm province. The move was 100 per cent, popular among the inhabitants o£ the frontier zone occupied since the war by nearly every army but its own. By one stroke 14,000,000 people, the part of the population most exposed to outside influences, was brought into s the tight framework of the rapily re-arming Third Reich. THE NAZIS JLOSE; GROUND. Now the interesting consequences of the coup -begin, to appear. . Pre-war garnsons and many new.ones are t in full employment as military posts and training bariacks. Arms factories are going full blast. The demilitarised zone has beconie one of the most strongly militarised districts in the countiy. Pleasant towns along the iihine are more.lively and mjore prosperous, but even if they were not, the people like to see soldiers about as in the old days. The sight gives them a sense of security and completion. That change brings another, more significant. , As-the new army grows and strengthens it* becomes very independent; and as its influence increases, the influence of local Nazis seems to diminish. Nazi leaders here—mostly of the radical \fring of the party—were never a part of this solidly Catholic and conservative community. But no •one dared smile or frown at them. Now 'the attitude towards the party chiefs us more casual, and the main reason for the difference, one surmises, is the rise of the army. i It is clear that the army mind is not the National Socialist mind.' The army, ■for instance, seems to put' special emphasis on religious observance. Officers and their wives are^ almost ostentatious about going to church. "We must set an example," they say. .. The army is strong for the traditions of the service. THE TEST OP OFFICERS. "Would he meet the testy required in the old army?" is the question of ten asked when an officer is up for promotion. Recruits come from labour camps to make their military service, but the,, ideas most stressed in one camp are, slurred over in another. .< i-i-Industrialists, too, help to seethe ,tone ; in this industrial stronghold andr.tneyj. complain more loudly than any.dther, class about the restrictions,of.the.^sV tern which increasingly takes^busihess. put of, the owners' control. .They-com-plain in spite of the fact that; they; seem to be. mak"ing:.money out' ofOo^erhment orders:■;■ At 'least they are: .speeding, more lavishly:than ; they did, and while ■ it can be-variously.-interpreted, this spending: is also a,kind of self-asser-tiveness. Well-to-do Germans are forced to- spend- their : home because they cannot ' indulge'in imported ' luxuries or travel far for pleasure. But beyond that they are less hesitant than they were about gunning counter to National Socialist ideaSof equalitarianism and less fearful that a show of luxury will let them ml for extra levies. Social entertainment in 'Cologne and the big Rhenish towns'is said to'be on a scale unknown for years. Three years ago it was considered a.feat; towear a dinner coat, but this-season for the first time since: the reyolutiori, local society blossoms out, defiantly- in whiteties. '■ ■ . ■'.■'"• ■■■ ..■',■ i;C OFFICIALS AND REGIME^ ; This does not;necessarily.vniean ;that the revolution is«petering out:: Because if former enthusiasts- hsv.e:tuhied :.intp\ critics, the reversals, alsdntrue.; ';: Ip the' upper ranks, of- the State' services', th<; battleground' of.' thV'stubiporn, conflict between■ the Nazi■ n'ewcqmers'vand.'the old bureaucracy, permanent, •officials tend to'become:the strongest supporters of the regime..;•• : Th'e;same';is -trtle,df . .many..in. the, labour.: ranks.'..;,. Chalked up on factory walls in this ; districtyou' sometimes see legends-like' this:—.'-.. ; : "Hitler, • raise our.: wages '.or we' will: turn Communists,1' v <- ■--.■;-■-■ ■ ;';■ .'-■]:■■^::< — : But -workers on the- whole: complain, ■far -less ;:thafr emplq^ersv'^.;(";,';';' ;""■".''-;" ' Freer' criticism\may:'b_e/;a.•localL-inahi-•festation? Even -so;, it/is: aVsigiif,. that; powers like big; industry^andfthe arttiy feel ,pretty, sure, of,vthemselves, -~,All. surface, straws iridicatfef strong undercurrents are at; wdrk,;' although .their force .'arid'; direction:: cannot/ yet., be measured. '_..'"'. •;>; : '_.':<■ :;.:'; v>.: ■'.".' .

' It is' an illusion: to Irriagine; that Germany is not stronger than;;she was. last year or that the Hitler edifle'e, this extraordinary structure with the foundation at the'top, can be weakened from the outside^ What happens will be determined by inside pressures, and of these the first.to watch is the' army. Which will leave its lasting stamp on the young, the mind of National Socialism or. the traditional;.military '-. mind? Iv a way it is .nemesis-ttiat the 'Fuhrer of two great >coupS-r-recQnstitUtion;df the army and the remilitarisation. of the Rhine—called into,being .the orje power, that can change\the...course; of his'movement. ': V' ' V?''.' '■ >-.>'■