INSIDE GERMANY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 263, 6 October 1942, Page 5

INSIDE GERMANY

EVIDENCE OF CONDITIONS REVEALED In SPEECHES (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Special Correspondent.) (Rec. 10.35 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 5. Considerable interest was taken in Goering’s speech, which was the fourth delivered by German leaders recently, the others being by Hitler, von Ribbentrop, and Goebbels It is interesting to observe what both Hitler and Goering did and did not say about America.

Hitler made contemptuous reference while Goering talked sheer nonsense ; for example; “The facade of America is glittering, but if you look behind it you see it is on the verge of breaking down. This Roosevelt himself knows.” Also, “The Americans are probably quite gallant soldiers but thus far their ambitions have been in other fields.” Thus both Hitler and Goering be! ray the extent to which their fears about American armament capacity is instilled in the minds of the German people. For men who are telling their country that things will be better it is an interesting insight into their minds that they should make such puerile reference to one of their strongest enemies. It amounts to the fact that the Germans do n,ot like to hear the truth about thef United Nations’ mounting power. Another interesting point was Gooring’s naked pride in the plunder of Russia and the gains to be derived from there—oil for a fat ration “from the vast areas of the Kuban and the Don with their miles and miles of sunflower fields which give an even better yield of oil than our homegrown rapeseed.” Also, iron and coal: “It so happens that both food and raw materials are lying together in the territory we have taken from the Bolsheviks, thus Germany, with all Europe under her heel, must even so draw on her Russian conquests.'’ One inference drawn from the speecli is that Germany’s food reserves are running low. There is untold potential suffering for Europe in the phrase, “I do not want to see the populations of the occupied territories suffer hunger and privation, but if through enemy measures privation is unavoidable it will in no circumstances affect the German workers, and the German agricultural labourer will he fed better than any of the others.” Having previously declared that Germany could not be blockaded it is a matter of speculation what he regards as enemy measures and the inference is that the people in occupied countries will go short of food anyway.