GERMANS LULLED

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 April 1940, Page 11

GERMANS LULLED

TALES OF VICTORY. Neutral correspondents in Berlin report that Nazi propaganda in the Press and radio has attained such a grip of the German population that the most fantastic tales about England and France are willingly believed. This has reached such a pitch that the inevitable reaction may be expected during the Summer, when it will become clear that Nazi promises of a swift victory are merely wishful thinking. M. Helge Knudsen, Berlin correspondent of the Copenhagen paper Berlingske Aftenavis, writes that everybody in Germany believes that Hitler will bring peace before the end of Summer, or at the very latest by next Christmas. “This attitude among the people,” writes the Danish correspondent, “is not only inspired by the Nazi party organisation. It is also a product of a one-sided agitation by a one-sided Press, internally expressing not the slightest criticism and externally shaking its fist in the face of the world.

“Whatever kind of polemics are written about foreign countries are believed like gospel. This is the reason for the belief in England’s weakness and in the enormousness of her losses at sea. That is 1 why complete fantasies are accepted as truth.” Even quite reasonable elements, continues M. Knudsen, believe amazing stories about Hitler’s' “modern magic.” Some believe that German physicists have invented a method of freezing England into an ice block, while others speak of a new soporific gas which will send Britain to sleep for a fortnight while the German troops occupy the country. It is universally believed, states 1 the correspondent, that the German attack will come in the early Spring and perhaps in four or five weeks’ time. “The whole agitation in Germany, from Ribbentrop’s foreword to the White Book to the articles “about Frederick the Great as Hitler’s model,” he continues, “promise that Germany will take the initiative and bring about a decision of the war.” “While the greater part of the ration mentioned on German food cards can still be obtained,” continues M. Knudsen, “the promised ration of hon!ey has disappeared. The shortage of I potatoes during the present cold spell has been almost catastrophic.” The owner of a chain of food stores whom he knew was losing between 500 and 1,000 marks daily. Chocolate shops had been forced to close and the shelves of wine and cigar merchants were almost empty. Garage owners and petrol dealers were 'also * in an unenviable situation. It is clear from reports of M. Knudsen and other neutral observers that war weariness is rife in Germany. If confidence in victory is not yet shaken among -the mass of the population there will certainly be a strong reaction in the course of the next few months unless Hitler can produce some solid successes which hold out the hope of a more >01; less acceptablepeace.