A BIRTHDAY SPECTACLE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22400, 22 April 1936, Page 12

A BIRTHDAY SPECTACLE

Berlin was transformed into an armed camp in celebration of Herr Hitler's birthday, the parade of military power being greater than in the most spectacular day 3 of the Kaiser. There would be nothing remarkable in this were the fact of German rearmament not now so important in the international outlook. Elsewhere in the world there has been a practice of staging some spectacle of honour to the head of a nation on the occasion of his birthday, and what form is of easier or more striking effect than a military parade? But in the case of Germany, whose rearmament has been the cause of much foreign disquiet, such a fete cannot be regarded as without ulterior significance. In itself it is no incitement to alarm, and may be classed with other festal demonstrations, indulged by peoples having no bellicose purpose. Yet recent give this display an abnormal interest outside Germany. It cannot be dissociated from the particular policy the Nazi Government has adopted in the assertion of Germany's national rights, a policy that has placed military might central and supreme. Moreover, it accords ill with elaborate disclaimers, such as those of Herr Hitler himself and Herr von Ribbentrop at the London meeting of the League Council, of any belligerent motive in rearming. Some other form of celebration would have comported better with the Leader-Chancellor's assurances last month that he desired and sought absolute disarmament, friendship with other peoples, and peace throughout the world. It may be simply explained as a traditional German method of making merry, but this explanation, when deeply considered, offers little reason for regarding it as nothing more than a holiday enjoyment.