GERMANY OF TO-DAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21716, 3 February 1934, Page 13

GERMANY OF TO-DAY

THE NAZI MOVEMENT CRUELTY TO THE JEWS A PROFESSOR'S IMPRESSIONS "I could not understand it," said Professor P. W. Burbidge, of Auckland University College, yesterday, when discussing the present attitude of the German nation to the Jews, as he had seen it on a recent visit to Germany. He concluded that the German mentality differed no much from our own that there was a great deal in it that an outsider could not hope fully to understand. Professor Burbidge, who speaks German, spent two months in central and southern Germany, and discussed present-day probloms with a wide variety of people. "The mentality of Germany as represented by thp Nazi movement, is that of national emotionalism," he said. "The nearest parallel, although an inadequate one, that I could find in English lands would be the state of mind of the nation during the Great War, when individual activities were voluntarily subjected to the State ' for the good of the State, That is the position in Germany to-dav, and tliey seem cheerfully to submit to the most rigorous control over every form of expression of public opinion; in fact, there is almost no public opinion, except Nazi opinion. The press, the cinema, the stage, the radio, the pulpit, the university, all are under some form of control. The astonishing thing is that it does not appear as an autocracy to the Germans, because they have these nationalistic feelings. The Hitler Regime

"The permanence of the Hitler regime would spem to rest on the maintenance of this emotion," said Professor Burbidge, "and Hitler is attempting to give it permanence by means of speeches, elections and by his treatment or the Jews. If Hitler can keep up this emotion until an industrial revival occurs sufficient to overcome the unofficial boycott of surrounding nations, it would seem to an outside observer that he will probably remain in power for a considerable time, like Mussolini." Professor Burbidge said he had found no evidence of a militaristic spirit in Germany. Thinking Germans knew that their disarmament had been very complete and that Germany was at present helpless. But Germans naturally felt restless, surrounded by such fullyarmed neighbours as the Poles, Czechoslovaks and the French. Personally, he felt that either the surrounding nations should disarm as they promised or that Germany should be allowed sufficient armament consonant with her national dignity—in other words, sufficient to keep the Poles in check. 'As for the Jewish question, it would seem practically impossible for an English observer to understand the German mentality," said Professor Burbidge. "The official policy of the Government seems to be the expulsion of as many Jews as possible from the country, or alternatively to make the conditions of living for them as difficult as possible. There are the difficulties, for instance, of their children's education, and of obtaining a means of living. Campaign ol Hatred "The newspapers are all either specifically party or Nazi papers, or general papers controlled by the Nazis. The Nazi papers conduct a racial campaign of hatred against the Jews. It is not so much a. matter of violent outrages. It is the persistent boycotting and persecution, which hits children and mothers and fathers alike. Germans advance five reasons to justify this cruel policy, but none of these seems to afford justification to an outsider. "The main reasons given are that the deflation of the mark was due to Jewish financiers; that the Jews are Jews first and not Germans first; that when Jews are appointed to prominent positions they appoint other Jews to subordinate positions; that they have gained a control of th« professions, which must be ended; and that large numbers of poorer class Jews entered Germany from Poland and Russia after the war. This seems to the German sufficient reason for taking ruthless action against them without delay. We would not do it in that way, even if we agreed with their conclusions."