INSIDE STORY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20137, 5 January 1940, Page 5

INSIDE STORY

THE REAL GERMANY BRUTAL N.C.O.S WORKSHOP SPIES PROBLEM OF FOOD PARIS, Dec. 1. Important and reliable evidence of the true state of mind of Germany is furnished by the publication in Paris of the first wartime edition of the “Deutschlandberichte.” or "Reports from Germany." These reports are compiled by the banned German Social Democratic party, which has for years maintained underground connections inside Germany with correspondents in various social strata, though mainly among the working population. The trained observers, who pursue no propagandist purpose, unless the reconstruction of their own democratic party may be so described, give a sober and balanced picture, untinged by any sensationalism. They repeatedly warn their readers against accepting the accounts in certain newspapers suggesting that Germany is already at the end of her tether. They point to the unbroken •strength of the political and police machinery.

As one of them expresses it: "Unless there is bloodshed on the Western Front the masses are hardly likely to think things out for ‘hemselves. There is no immediate prospect tbni the strength of the regime will be shaken.” There is. however, a good deal of “grousing.”

Though the soldiers say that their food is a good deal better than any working family can manage to obtain. they complain about brutal treatment by N.C.O.’s. Officers show somewhat more consideration to the men.

Listening-in Despite Ban

Despite the efforts of the poke?, the broadcasts in German from foreign stations arc widely received. As might be expected. Nazi party members profess great confidence, but even they share the tendency to consider the main problem of life at the moment to be that of obtaining sufficient nourishment for themselves and their families.

Scenes which had become common in Germany towards the end of the Great War already are being enacted now. In particular, the trains leaving larger centres on Sundays for tee country are overcrowded with people carrying rucksacks who go out to the villages' in the hope of being able to buy what they can no longer ootain in the towns. Amongst these are many in the uniforms of the Nazi organisations. So far as can.be seen, there Las been little industrial sabotage, though a few cases are reported. What are described rs militarism and terrorism in ihe workshop p '>'• regarded as having been pushed so far ru to make any great increase oi sabotage unlikely.