GERMAN PEOPLE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25052, 16 November 1944, Page 3

GERMAN PEOPLE

EE-EDUCATION BEGUN

DEMOCRACY IN AACHEN

ALLIED MILITARY GOVERNMENT

(From a Special Correspondent inside Germany) Within the range of gunfire a new democracy which has as its object the cure and political re-education of the people has begun to function inside Germany.

Under the control of officers of the Allied Military Government, Aachen is being reborn to conform with the standards of a decent, civilised world. The people aro being taught to govern themselves in a, way which will ensure equality without tyranny for all. There is one outstanding .rule —there will be no Nazism. The rebirth of Aachen is coincidental to the control by the Allies of the first largo occupied German city. It became a matter of humane necessity to cater for the welfare of the people, and the opportunity has been taken to instil in them the principles of democratic selfgovernment. However, one of the chief points impressed upon the people is that any assistance given by the Allies in the administration of Aachen must be a secondary consideration to the successful prosecution of the war. Not even the very lives of the civilian population will ho allowed to interfere with the Allied war effort. Transformation

During the past few days 1 have had an opportunity to observe closely the progress made toward the restoration of Aachen, and discovered that among the services the city has 01- will have within a few days are its own provisional government of German citizens, a banking system complete with a public works loan, a civilian police force, schools in which English will bo taught, shops, and a labour bureau.

Some days had passed since I had visited the city, and I was able to notice a great change. Then, roads were blocked by the ruins of destroyed buildings and there was an odour of death everywhere. Today I found that the roads had been cleared to allow movement; of military traffic, dangerous walls had beon knocked down to prevent accidents, and burial squads had disposed of many of the corpses from the ruins.

The city was still rather grim, but at least it had taken, on a somblance of order.

Already 6000 German civilians have returned to Aachen, and are living in a few isolated buildings, which escaped destruction. , Naturally, no glass remained in any windows, but pieces of board and brown paper have been used to provide some protection against the weather. Stores of glass were discovered in underground shelters, and they will be used eventually to keep out the wind and snow. Dutiful Mayor 1 called on the senior Military Government officer, Major William Hurlbert, of Florida, and found him busily engaged in dealing with numerous requests from civilians. Snow was falling heavily in the streets,, and long queues had assembled under covering waiting their turn for an interview.

Major Hurlbert told me that the recently appointed Mayor was doing "a good job." "So far we have nothing to complain about," said Major Hurlbert. "He has set about his work well, and the only mistakes he has made have been through ignorance. We have set him right on those points." The Mayor is in process of appointing a "Cabinet" to assist him in his work. Eight portfolios are to be created, and they provide for a normal distribution of governmental duties in addition to the responsibilities brought about "by the need for equitable food distribution and building repairs. The only restriction placed on the Mayor in the selection of his assistants is that they must have jmssed an interrogation test proving them not to be Nazi supporters.

Soon these Germans will have the responsibility of organising a fairly extensive public works programme. First priority will go to projecte required by the American Army, but as more labour becomes available it will be possible to undertake a limited building reconstruction. Already all males between the ages of 14 and 60 years have been compulsorily registered for work, and they will be called upon as required. Self-help

The essentially basic structure of the restored civil life of Aachen will be finance. The Allies have made it abundantly clear to the Germans that they wilfnot give any form of material assistance to the people of destroyed cities, but will merely create organisations to help civilians to help themselves.

Accordingly, the Allied Military Government has approved of the opening of a banlcin Aachen, but its funds will remain entirely a matter foT the Germans. It has been found that there aro large sums of money hidden in the town, and it is probnble that the provisional Government will impose a levy on the people. In the event of those funds being insufficient, the Allies will probably make an advance, but it will be strictly on an early repayment basis. VALUE IN PEACE-TIME AIRCRAFT STANDARDISATION The unique degree of standardisation achieved by British aircraft industry during the war will prove a major asset in the peace-time production of civil aircraft, reports a British technical journal engineer. During the war standardisation committees have been sot up through the close collaboration of the aircraft industry electrical equipment manufacturers and the Ministry of Aircraft Production, and have established no fewer than 3000 standards covering every variety of component from the smallest item to an entire electrical system. The result has been the saving > of thousands of man hours and a high increase in the efficiency of operation. For example, standardised designs have kept in the air numbers of aircraft which would havo grounded had they required a spare part of special non-standardised design. The continuation of this British standardisation system after the war will considerably benefit the aircraft users overseas since it will mean that a constant supply of spare parts is immediately available for every aeroplane shipped from England. Before the war the supply of spares was the chief difficulty of the aircraft operator in foreign countries. CHURCHILL'S SPEECHES METHOD OF PREPARATION f "A friend of mine once told me astory of how he once called on Winston Churchill when he was preparing an important speech, and found him striding majestically up and down the room declaiming certain passages of it in sonorous and rhetorical phrases, while all about —on window curtains, chair cushions and pieces of furniture — were pinned small tags of paper on which were written various headings and slogans. "At intervals he would stride up to one of them, scratch out a phrase he did not like and scribble something else in its place. He explained he had found this the best way of memorising his speeches, as the sentences thus written down and distributed in a certain order about the room stamped themselves on his brain." —From "This is My Case," by Sir Gervais Rentoul. (Hutchinson.)