GERMANY TO-DAY

Evening Star, Issue 22798, 5 November 1937, Page 16

GERMANY TO-DAY

THE WORK OF THE" FUHRER. HISREPHESENTATIOH ALLEGED Allegations that there ; was, a conspiracy of misrepresentation in many countries with regard to news concerning Germany, remarking that everything which could, be twisted to the discredit or disadvantage of that country was seized upon, while similar' things occurring in France and other countries were allowed to? pass unnoticed, were made by Dr \y. Benham ' last night,-.He and Mrs Jr A. Hanan were the guests of the League of Nations’ “ at home,”-and each made some interesting references to Germany of to‘dayl The two speakers seemed to be in agreement that under the Hitler regime the national and domestic ;life of Germany had. benefited considerably, ; whatever the Nazi foreign policy might be doing for Europe. • Mrs Hanan spoke bf Berlin as she saw it under, the guidance of the British Embassy and official hosts, while Dr Benham. discussed the country a? he found it travelling about among the common people, staying at the type of hotel frequented by - nationals, using their restaurants, and generally avoiding the customary haunts of .tourists. -Mrs Hanan presented, a picture of a Berlin that had been cleaned Up by Herr Hitler and shorn of many of its vices and faults. MANY CHANGES., She said she had been told by Englishwomen who had been long resident in Germany that until Herr Hitler commenced cleaning up the Augean stables many' people were ashamed to confess that they belonged to Berlin, Now all that was changed, and Germany realised that it was allthe work of the Fuhrer. Both Mrs Hanan and Dr Benham remarked a- generally happy and contented appearance in the people encountered, although the former said it was very noticeable that a great deal of unrest existed among the intelligentsia as a result of what they : regarded as the curtailment of their personal liberty. .Dr Benham drew some interesting analogies between his observations and the news ho; had read from time to time in newspapers about food shortages in Germany. - Everywhere he went the people looked well nourished, neatly dressed, "and; to all appearnaces perfectly happy. ■ Dr Benham agreed entirely with Mrs Hanan’s view that the German people as a whole had a great affection and respect for the English, and were anxious that friendly relations should be maintained with the British people. Mrs Hanan said that Germany’s great fear at the moment was Russia. The people lived in terror of the Russian menace, and Germany had been greatly depressed over the -negotiation of a trade agreement between Russia and Great ’Britain. LABOUR QAMPS. Referring to the general habit of presenting German conditions in the worst possible light. Dr Benham spoke of the labour and concentration camps of which so much was heard. The impression was given, he said, that thete were penal organisations of some kind which were not to the. credit of the country. The concentration camps j where Jews and other people who were , officially regarded as undesirables were j interned were no different from the i internment camps that .existed in Bri- j tain and even in New Zealand during i the war, and as for the labour camps, he thought that people should remem-1 her that they were to be found even j to-day all over New Zealand in connection with the construction of roads and railways Of course, they were j called public works camps- here, but actually they were just the same as the gamps in Germany.,

Dr Benham said that his visit to Germany, notwithstanding that it occupied hardly more than a week, had taught him to discount and discredit a great deal of what he read in the newspapers about the country. He had also learnt that Berlin was not Germany any mote than London was England, and he considered that too much notice should not be taken of the headlines of which Berlin was so often tho subject. Germany was something very much bigger and greater and better than too many newspaper articles were inclined to make it out to be.

The speakers were accorded a hearty vote of thanks.