Propaganda Claims Read Against Nazis

Northern Advocate, 26 December 1940, Page 3

Propaganda Claims Read Against Nazis

Germany’s propaganda campaign in the last month has taken new daring lines, but has been exploded by their own acts.

All the whirling words to herald the capture of Britain were disproved -by the awkward fact that the invasion did not make an appearance and the Goebbels machine had to ‘'pipe down” on the blitzkrieg. The danger of propaganda retreats has been made clear by no less an expert than Adolf Hitler, who in “Mein Kampf” said that “you should never encourage your own side to underestimate the enemy, since a resulting disillusion may endanger its morale.”

Ruler. Forgotten

In the last war Hitler declared German propaganda was guilty of this error to such an extent that “in the end Germans turned down everything they were told by their own side as “swindle” and “rot.” “Thus,” he proceeded, “German propaganda afforded us the incomparable example of how T the work of ‘enlightenment’ should not be done.” Both Hitler and the artful Dr. Goebbels appear to have forgotten this passage from “Mein Kampf.” If they have not, the efforts of the Nazi propaganda machine to escape from the toils of its own “enlightenment” must provide a painful spectacle. On June 20, two days prior to the French armistice, the Deutschlander announced that “in a few weeks England will lie on the ground as broken as France is now.”

Assertions Disproved

Cn June 24, the Transocean News Cable proclaimed that exists for England in that the fleet remains blocked in its ports, and that naval war will not develop owing to the rapidity of the German action. Nine days later there was powerful proof at Oran that the British fleet was still abroad.

On July 10, Bremen radio announced that “the British Government of 1801 took the matter more seriously than the British Government appears to do now, although the menace at that time (Napoleon) could not in any way bear comparison with the menace of today.” Five days later Zeesen informed the German people that “although the exact minute of the attack is known only to the Fuehrer, it is generally felt that there are only a few moments to go.” Goering also warned the the world that the Fuehrer had only to “press the button” and England was done.

Last Appeal

On July 19, Hitler made his last appeal to reason” and gave the British a last chance to save themselves. Nine days after an article in the official Stuttgart organ of the Nazi party dealing with the New Order contained these opening words: “The peoples of the earth are still holding their breath and awaiting the annihilating blow which Germany will launch against the British Isles now that the moneybag tyrants, in their hypocrisy and criminal obstinacy kave rejected the Fuehrer’s magnanimous peace offer. After the new Reich’s demonstration of its armed might, England will not get another chance.”

No doubt can exist that the heavy air attacks started on August 11 marked the prelude to the “invasion.” But the German air force was defeated and there was no tangible evidence of a German crossing of “the ditch.” Invasion Soft Pedal Early in November, the Zeesen radio station asserted with reference to the invasion, “the period may be short or long, for, although the whole world associates Germany with the blitzkrieg, she is not anxious to break war speed records.” In other statements, too, the Goebbels propaganda machine began to “play down" the invasion talk. ■ The danger of contradictions, of disillusionising retreats, Hitler has said, is that they will cause German people to “turn down everything they are told by their own. side as ‘swindle’ and ‘rot.’ ” All Germans may .not listen to British or . other foreign broadcasts, but there has been enough in the Nazis’ own propaganda to “endanger their morale.” Even the blindest Nazi patriot must notice that despite all the announcements of the crushing of the obstinate but suicidal British, no German, communiques are yet dated from British soil, and the British Government still exists because the German radio platoons still fulminate against-it.

“Ridiculcus Remarks”

Evidence of this is found in the “Schwarze Korpsthe organ of Hitler’s Blackshirt Guards—and one of the most truculent of all Nazi newspapers. It says: “There are many people in Germany who have the audacity question the results of the war so far achieved;

“One can often hear the question: ‘What was the good of our victory in France when there was no endeavour to attack England?’ “Moreover, it is often said about the war in France that precious time was wasted in marching to Lyons and Southern France, while there was no attempt to cross the Channel.” The article concludes by warning Germans to “refrain from making such ridiculous remarks.”

Rule by Force

Major Martin, in the German army publication “Die Wehrmacht” writes: “Women at home show a lack of understanding by saying' that our army does nothing, and by asking why men who are sorely needed at home, cannot be allowed to return. “The same question is often asked by soldiers who seem to think that war can be carried on by the navy and the air force. “We won the war in Poland, Norway, Holland and France, but it is not sufficient to have reached this aim, as England is not willing to recognise our victories. “The conquered territories need ruling by vast contingents of German troops so that the war can be carried on by the navy and the air force.” Nemesis As Well As Nimbus These and other German statements suggest that Nazi propaganda has committed the sin for which the Fuehrer condemned the German propagandists of 1914-18, and as the Nazis are superhumanly thorough they have made a complete job of exposing their own “swindle” and “rot.” v

Finally, Hitler himself has joined those who have helped to disillusion the Germans. In his recent speech to armament workers he made no reference to invasion. He spoke of repelling the British if they landed in any country occupied by the German army. The contrast between this latest utterance and those of Hitler of a few months ago, show that the invincibility legend has worn thin. As J. C. Johnstone has said, the legend of invincibility can have a nemesis as well as a nimbus.