GERMANY'S RULERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 150, 21 December 1940, Page 21

GERMANY'S RULERS

"CAESARS IN GOOSE STEP"

The world in general now knows /drly well the characters of those who fere, and have been during the last few years, planning to substitute Nazism for civilisation. In the minds of most people there can be but little doubt that Hitler is a "Messiah^ of Darkness," but he is more than that. Goering is ! more than the "paladin," Hess more than the "shadow," Goebbels more than the "loud-speaker," Ribbentrop : more than the "salesman." These are truthless men, and they r are out to destroy, our kind of civilisation. But they have only been able to go as far ' as they have on the road of destruction because of their understanding of the German people, their knowledge of ■'■ the •unpreparedness,' physical and spiritual, of the Western World, which opposes them, their organising ability, their sense of timing, and the ruthlessness with which they work towards their goal. Above all, the way in which millions of Germans, particularly the youth of the country, many of them intensely idealistic, have been "Willing to follow their leader is an outstanding example of the successful , manipulation for wrong ends of mob' psychology and also, it must be said, one of the most terrifying facts of * our' time's, remarks a writer in the "New York Times" Book Review," when reviewing "Caesars in Goose Step," by William D. Bayles. His book, says the reviewer, is a well of information about the men who run Germany. Here are stories, anecdotes, personal observations of the leading Naiis and a survey of their place in the German constellation. Hitler, Goering, Hess, Goebbels, Ribbentrop, Himmler, Ley, Rosenberg—Mr. Bayles paints a. lively portrait of these "men and then shoots poison arrows into each canr

vas. Enough of his stories and interpretations are fresh to compel the reader to stay with him deep into the night.

Hitler, the Messiah of Darkness, according to Mr. Bayles, is the most important man in the ..world today. In appearance he is; "insignificant." His

health" is mediocre and he is a con-

firmed hypochondriac. He suffers from almost constant indigestion and fears that cancer, which has appeared in his family, may remove him from the picture before his work is finished. Hitler has no real friends, keeping even his closest aides at a distance. He likes pretty women, but his relationship with them isplatonic. According to Mr. Bayles there have been a few attempts to assassinate Hitler. ,One was 'in. Munich in 1934 •when a revolver.was found in a-news-reel camera' set up ostensibly to take pictures of the Fuhrer. Another that almost succeeded took place on the road from Munich1 to Berchtesgaden when a wire cable'rwas strung across

the highway in such a manner that

■ any car hitting it would have been j thrown over a precipice. An auto that ; : preceded the one Hitler was riding in struck the cable and was smashed. There was a third attempt when the daughter of General Streicher, who with his wife had been murdered in the Nazi "blood purge" of June 30, :i934 ? -trie*toShtlf»t;^lMer.' s»^ j In matters of policy, says Mr. Bayles, Hitler will break-today a pledge made j yesterday if it will help him achieve j Jiis goal. And Mr. Bayles reports— ■what authority he has for this he does ] not say—that recently when Hitler posed in' Paris before the Eiffel Tower he said to his official photographer; Take this, Hoffmann; then the next one in Buckingham Palace and the next in front of the skyscrapers." SEEKING REVENGE. j

Goering suffers more than -Hitler at She hands of Mr. Bayles. Under the surface of his "blustering joviality,"

Goering conceals the. qualities that

make a Nazi leader—"brutality, ruthlessness, dishonesty., greed, and

vanity." Since the end of the World War Goer ing has been a man seeking revenge, revenge rfor the defeat of Imperial Germany. Now he is on top, but he is prepared for whatever may come. At his.'- underground aerodrome at his country estate, Mr. Bayles alleges, Goeriiig has two of Germany's fastest planes tuned up constantly, ready for flight. .. ;

Mr^ Bayles gives Hess, Hitler's deputy, for being an idealist. He ii is, he says, who took! the halfairticula|e outpourings of Hitler, titled "FouV; and One-half Years' Struggle Against Lies, Stupidity, and: Cowardice"

and reduced it into the latter-day Bible

of Germany, "Mem Kampf." Next comes Goebbels, who likes to ask foreign correspondents. in Berlin,

"Does anybody believe the German Government would lie?" Mr. Bayles seems to know Dr. Goebbels well. He repeats the stories about the Propaganda Minister's private life, which are part of the unpublished gossip of Berlin. Goebbels, Himmler, Ribbentrop, Rosenberg, and Ley are the extremists, he says. Should Hitler's star fall, and should the German army be involved in trying to extricate itself from conquered countries, Himmler, head of the police, Gestapo, and SS, would probably seek to control the nation. And as for Robert Ley, leader of the Labour Front, Mr. Bayles has-some choice stories about that chieftain's ability to consume beer and to get drunk. All in all, "Caesars in Goose Step" gives the impression that a group of gangsters are running Germany. THE NAZI AIM. What is the goal of these men? The words "Deutschland über Alles" are the best clue, Mr. Bayles declares. The Nazis are convinced that Germans have a divine right to rule. After the war is over and Germany is supreme—this is the Nazi version—Hitler will establish a great National Socialist Feudal Society. Youngsters are already being trained to be the leaders of this brave new world. And, says Mr. Bayles, through these trained leaders, "Nazi doctrines will be carried down through the centuries as faithfully as are those of the similarly organised Catholic Church,' and the future rulers, like [priests, will be picked from all groups !of the nation" to lead the people towards the dazzling goal.

The world will be organised to serve for the greater glory of the Nazi Reich. And, lest Americans think that the Nazi leaders have forgotten them, Mr. Bayles quotes "Der Auslandsdeutsche," official organ of the Nazi Foreign Organisation, that "may the day not be far distant when a man of our race will preside at the conference table in Washington," also Goering's statement, "Ja, the Americans! Their turn will come, too!"