DANZIG ELECTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22100, 4 May 1935, Page 16

DANZIG ELECTION

A NAZI REYESSE : ||| INTENSE PROPAGANDA ] DISAPPOINTMENT IN BERLIN ' : 's|f|p' [moil OUR OWN" correspondent] By Air Mail . LONDON, April ; In the Danzig elections lie world 1 has had the first example of a morally defeated Nazi Party. It has vet to be seen whether democratic principles. c&5 prevail against undisciplined force. Danzig was created a fre<; city bp the Treaty of Versailles, and is under* : the protection of tho League of Nations;. : : Its Constitution enjoys the League's ! guarantee, and can only be caanged at the instance of a two-thirds majority '• of the Volkstag. At the last the Nazis won a bare majority—.'sß seats''' out of 72. After the Saar plebiscite'tho first opportunity of forcing at • dissolu- jv. tion was taken on the pretext that the intransigence of the Catholic 1; —largelyM'?; Poles —made it' impossible to settle oer. tain differences bv Me cb negotiation, i' as the Council of the League had <cl«; ; vised. The Catholics had complained!!? that the Nazis were, in effoet, denying them full equality in religious and political rights, as guaranteed by tlie L Constitution. The real re£iso::i for the : dissolution, however, was undoubtedly the belief that there was an opportu- \ nity for another resounding victory for Hitlerism. 4 Tho official "provisional" result of the polling was:— .National Socialists .. 139,043 (109,029) Social Democratu .. 38,015 ( 37,882) Coram unlets . . -. . 7*990 (1-1,566) Centre 31.525 ( 31.336) S:; Gera.an Nationalists . 9,091 (13,596) Ex-Sorvico Men. .. 3C2 Polei 8.310 (6,743) , The Nazis thus obtained 60. per cent of the total vote, but not tho two-thinhr which they confidently anticipated. The city and surrounding territory V' l —725 square miles in all—hins an estimated population of 400,000, and more than 95 per cent is German. It vill"}; thus be seen that Germans outside the , direct influence of Herr Hitliir and his -; lieutenants are still capable of oi>position. ■/'.'■ Nazi Propaganda m The election campaign of the Democratic Opposition vras subjected to ever/ possible form* of interference from the Nazi authorities,, Their papers have been confiscated day after diy, writes the Daily Telegraph correspondent, and no Opposition posters have bean allowed to apoear on the streets, apart from those of the Polish Party. (In a shop belonging to a prominent member of the Nationalist Party the word "traitDr" was painted up in enormous white letters. The Nazi Junius for propaganda had full scope in this pioturesque old town. The narrow streets, were spanned with Swastika banners, which splashed the cool grey of the houses with vivid colours, anil red and white streamers, adjuring tbe population not to vote for the. as the opposition parties ar<:i dubbed. Lorries dashed througii th<j town at high (speed filled with, Storn: Troopers and Hitler youths, shouting in chorus ''Our hearts and. voices for Hitler," and "Dan:;ig is German."V More slogans were broadcast from a xed vim with .a powerful amplifier, which tho Nasas claim can be heard two snd a-half miles • away. In one, village effigy ; of Heir Brill, one of the leaders of tie Social Democrats, dangled fro;m a telegraph post in front of the polling station. On its breast was pinned a piece of pa])er bearing in crude characters the words: "This will be the end of Brill and his comrades." It was an effective hint to all who saw it to do • their "duty" and vote Nazi;. One fact is beyond dispute. The Nazi chiefs in Germany sent their mcst powerful propagandists on t!ie eve of the poll. Genera] Goering wa:s received with military honours. Herr Buerckel, the Fuehrer's delegate for the iSaar, was there to inspire the party, land. Herr . Hess spoke at Zoppot. Dr. ij Goebbels preached the doctrine oi: "Might is Right." In spite of these ail,vantages, andi in spite of the fact that they had held 11 majority in the Fre«i City for two years, the Danzig Nazis have increased their percentage only , by eight, while the centre and Socialists have ,; | not only held their ground, but mad*' slight gains. The Poles made distinct progress, and only the Communists lest heSvil;7. Weariness of "Nazll Ta;:tlcs

In Danzig, writes the Times com* pondeut, it is felt that the vcte against the Nazis is the result of a wirtain feeling of ■weariness with Nazi tactics and propaganda, as well as disappointment with the Government's lack, of positive achievement. The intolerance shown lby the Nazi majority and Government to their opponents, the suppression of their newspaper's, and the Han imposed during tho last five or six weeks on their use of the wireless .have also had their effect. The extent to which the Nasris have monopolised propaganda is shown by the fact that the Opposition parties were able to hold only-15 election meetings, against 1300 held by jhe Nazis, who had engagfed every meeting place and hall for weeks ahead. S:>me effect on the religious community was created also by a letter front the Roman Catholic Bishop, Dr. O'Rourke, opposing the neopagan ideas of the Nazis, Danzig, writes the Times correspondent in Berlin, is one of the biggest disappointments that the Ns tionaljSocialist movement, has experienced since it obtained power in the Reich. The evidence lies not in. the comnient made, but in the tepidity or absence of it; in tho obvious embarrassment of the Ministry of Propaganda; and in the fact that semi-official views are difficult or impossible to obtain on account of an apparently very long-drawn-out conference of all responsible o:Bcials. la the newspaper? Danzig is banished to second place, or even the second page, with little comment.