LIE AFTER LIE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 118, 21 May 1941, Page 8

LIE AFTER LIE

THE WORD OF HITLER

NO ROOM FOR TRUST

MR. NASH QUOTES NAZI PROMISES

"A regime of the Nazi type could never be trusted, nor could its existence be tolerated in a civilised world," said the Hon. W. Nash at the State luncheon tendered yesterday to the two Netherlands Ministers who are visiting NewZealand.

From their earliest days, Mr. Nash said, the Nazi leaders were ready to* give promises in order to win toleration or support, and went back on them the moment their fulfilment ceased to be in their own interest. He quoted examples. EARLY EXAMPLES. "I give you my word of honour that I will never in my life make a putsch,", said Hitler to the Bavarian Minister of the Interior in November, 1922. A year later he tried the Beer Hall putsch, which failed. "How thankful I am to Providence that I may describe such a man as my friend," wrote Hitler of his trusted lieutenant. Captain Rohm, on January 30,1934. Five months later Hitler drove to Rohm's villa in the early morning, awakened him, and bhad him shot then and there. "The German Government is prepared to accept not only the letter but the spirit of.Locarno," said Hitler on January 30, 1934; and "The German Government will uphold and fulfil all obligations arising out of the Treaty of Locarno," he said on May 21, 1935. Within a year those obligations were repudiated- and violated by the reoccupation and fortification of the Rhineland. AUSTRIA. "The assertion that the German Reich intends to violate the Austrian State is absurd and cannot be substantiated," said Hitler, also on January 30, 1934; and on May 21, 1935, he said, "Germany neither intends nor wishes to interfere in the internal affairs of Austria, to annex Austria, or to conclude an Anschluss." This promise was repeated in an agreement concluded by the German Government with Austria on July 11, 1936, and reaffirmed by the German Government on February 15, 1938. Within a month German troops had crossed the Austrian frontier and Austria was annexed to Germany. "I assured the British Premier, and I emphasise it now, that when the problem of the Sudetenland is solved Germany has no more territorial problems in Europe. We do not want any Czechs," said Hitler on September 26, 1938. On March 15, 1939, Czechoslovakia was occupied by German troops and the Czech territories were annexed to the German Reich as a protectorate. POLAND. On January 30; 1934, Hitler said, "Whatever may be the differences between the two countries, an attempt to remove them by warlike actions would have disastrous effects which would bear no relation to any possible gain." On March 12, 1936, he declared: "Germany has no intention di attacking bFrance, Czecho-Slovakia, or Poland." Three years later Ribbentrdp, his Foreign Minister, said: "A firm understanding with Poland is an essential element in the <- Fuhrer's policy. Both Germany 'and Poland can look into the future with complete confidence." . Yet on April 28, 1939, Hitler denounced the Pact, and in September committed a deliberate act of aggression which was the signal for the present war. "In all cases the story was the same," salid Mr. Nash. "He seems to have relied on the reluctance of the average man to think any Leader could be so shamefully false as Hitler has proved to be again and again. His every word has been falsified by his deeds. He has never departed from his technique and we have no reason to think that he will not continue to follow it." DENMARK AND NORWAY. Hitler .followed the same deceitful course with Norway and Denmark, Mr. Nash went on. Early on April 9, 1940, his ambassadors informed both Governments that Hitler was about to take measures for their protection to forestall invasion by Britain and France; and at that moment German troops were pouring into Norway and Denmark. HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. In the case of Holland and Belgium, Hitler's promises were very precise. Before the war he agreed to respect the neutrality of both countries, and on May 9, 1940, he authorised a memorandum which stated: "The Reich Government declares that Germany has no intention of touching the sovereignty and kingdom of the Netherlands or Belgium, either with regard to their European or colonial possessions, now or in the future." The sequel,- the invasion, from May 9 onward, had been described by their guest, Mr. Van Kleffens, in a fine book which many New Zealanders had read. THE SLAVE DOCTRINE. There was no need, he continued, to refer to the Nazi course in southeastern Europe or the shameless way the French armistice had been violated, nor the remorseless way the workers of Nazi-occupied lands were being forced into slavery. To the Nazis there were two races — rulers and slaves. They themselves were the rulers^ and of the rest Dr.! Ley had-written: "A lower race needs less living space, less clothing, less food, and less culture than a higher race."

It was with sorrow and anger, said Mr. Nash, that we read in Germany's leading economic paper, "Der Deutsche Volkswirt," that "the standard of living of the Dutch people must be lowered if the conquered country is to supply Germany with food"; that the Dutch trade unions had been disbanded and their funds stolen, that the Dutch Labour Party, representing a quarter of the people, had been dissolved, and its possessions transferred to the Dutch Nazi Party, which polled only 4 per cent, at the last elections.

"Such is the lot under Hitler's heel of a people who, by honest toil had placed themselves beyond the reach of real want, and those are the • people whom we are pledged to free."