NAZI DISTORTION
TEDIOUS TECHNIQUE LITTLE BRITISH INTEREST COMMENT IN LONDON (Elec. Tci. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 9 a.m. RUGBY, Jan. 20. There was practically no comment in the London morning newspapers on the speech in which the Nazi Propaganda Minister, Dr. Goebbcls yesterday—standing on the very ground, the invasion of which by German armies set Europe alight with the flames of war—quaintly described the Allies as being reluctant in taking up arms in the defence of the liberties of small and great nations alike iri the following terms: “They went into this war with loud trumpet blasts and threw a declaration of war at our feet with the pride of a Spaniard.’
The cool, calculated impudence with which the Nazi speakers pervert fact and distort purposes did, in the early days, call forth an unwilling tribute of amazement and amusement from observers here. But, by repetition, the* technique has lost its power to evoke either surprise or argument. It is felt to have become merely tedious.
The only parts of his speech at Poznan which aroused a modicum of interest are the passages which betray that the chief Nazi propagandist is taking serious notice of the possibility of the German public being divided as a result of their realisation, of where the Nazi leadership ,has taken them, and of the fact thatthp Allies ihave declared thatii is Hitlerism and not the German people which is the enemy.'
Dr. Goebbels obviously thinks it necessary to. counter that danger, but it occurs to. some commentators here that his method of doing so may not have been well chosen. The effect of the period of quiet reflection by the German people under war-time conditions in Germany on the Propaganda Minister’s remark that: “Germany to-day has political and military leadership of such excellence as she nevef i possessed before” is thought to be less predictable than Dr. Goebbels, in the enthusiasm of his oratory, may have realised.
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20151, 22 January 1940, Page 5
Word Count
326NAZI DISTORTION Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20151, 22 January 1940, Page 5
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