NAZI CUNNING

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25210, 24 May 1945, Page 3

NAZI CUNNING

"RE-EDUCATION" ATTEMPT YOUTH OF LUXEMBOURG An absorbing account of the unsuccessful attempts of the Nazis to re-educate the youth of Luxembourg is given in the Luxembourger Wort. It describes the aims of the Nazis when they undertook a programme of radical educational reform to "readjust" the young Luxembourgers to Nazi ideology, and goes on to explain that this programme was something entirely new for the young, who had hitherto been educated in a very different tradition.

"So," says the writer, "the invader went to work with great cunning and determination. He endeavoured to flatter all those natural desires and tendencies that might make the children take an interest in the new education. Hitler Youth groups were organised everywhere, even in the smallest places. The number of school hours was reduced to allow for extra sport and physical training along Nazi lines.

"The boys and girls were put in uniforms, and marched through the streets with drums beating and the flourish of trumpets; they were 'invited' to innumable meetings, political and otherwise, to theatre and cinema, to pantomimes and sing-songs, to lectures, concerts and art exhibitions, to hikes and holiday camps. Some of them were even sent to special schooling centres where they were trained as future Hitler Youth or political leaders. German Masters in Schools "The few who distinguished themselves by their zeal or submissiveness wore given decorajjons, badges, pins and daggers of honour; their deficiencies at school or at woj-k were made up for by their success in the youth movement. They were encouraged and assisted in every possible fashion. "The whole education system, primary and secondary, was reorganised on national socialist lines. New handbooks were introduced; the study of German and history was developed at the expense of Scripture and French, which were almost completely abolished. German masters were put in charge of the more important schools and forms to achieve what the Luxembourg masters refused to attempt. "By persuasion and reward, by constraint and brute force and by endless, varied and repeated propaganda, they endeavoured to instil into the minds of their pupils the spirit of submission and blind trust which would make them accept and obey the new doctrines. "The young wore, however, quick to feel the iron hand under the velvet glove. Pressure of every kind was brought to bear on them to make them enter the Children's Association or the Hitler Youth; membership was made compulsory for all pupils and apprentices, parents being made responsible for and*with their children Loyalty and Staying Power "Resistance set in immediately. From the beginning a considerable number refused to join. They prelerred to leave their homes, schools, and places of work, and be sent to factories and farms. .Many others were dismissed for refusing to take part in political work, to wear badges, to attend meetings regularly, while for those who dared to raise their voices in opposition there was the concentration camp at Staldeck. "Jsut except for a small minority the youth did not give in. They fought with an untiring obstinacy to withstand and frustrate the designs of the invader. Outwardly submissive, they helped in secret the fighters of the resistance movement, carried messages, collected and distributed illegal leaflets and assisted fugitives. "Decisive proof of the loyalty and I staving power oi the youth of Luxcmboiirg was furnished when the boys were called into the Wehrmacht. They disobeved bv tbo thousand. Many enlisted in 'the underground resistance movements or went to fight in the Allied armies. A number deliberately sacrificed themselves by obeying the German command in order to cover the tracks of their many deserter Inends. and enabling them to escape into safety." JAPAN'S "FIRST TEAM" BIG FORCES IN MANCHURIA Conceding that the Army, Navy and Marine Corps had made great strides in the Pacific, Mr William L. Batt, vicechairman of the United States YVar Production Board, has issucd a warning against under-estimating the fighting potential of the Japanese enemy, reports the New York Times. "There are three things about the Japanese that must not be overlooked," he asserted. "The Japanese land army is numerically today just about as large as the German Army was at its peak; the largest portion of that army and reallv their 'first team' is still up north in Manchuria; and thoy are an enemy with completely unknown powers of continued resistance." HE "TOOK IT ALL BACK" ST. LOUIS (Missouri), May 20 Staff-Sergeant John Coleman, who got into difficulties last January by saying Australian girls were more natural and less artificial than their American sisters, took back all today. He married an American girl. Coleman, after his statement, was bombarded with letters, telegrams and telephone calls from protesting American girls, Three days later he cabled for an armistice, saying: "1 have flown through flak barrages and lots of machine-gun bullets, but it was never like this."