INSIDE GERMANY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25303, 13 August 1943, Page 5

INSIDE GERMANY

ATTITUDE OF PEOPLE TURNING AGAINST LEADERS (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent) LONDON, Aug. 11. The internal position of Germany has been the subject of considerable discussions and speculation recently. It is difficult to sift reality from rumours and to decide what may be inspired propaganda to infuse false optimism among the Allies. There is an outcrop of speculation following the announcement of important military and political discussions at Hitler’s headquarters. Some people are of the opinion that the German generals have taken supreme command over other matters in addition to the army; others that Reichsmarshal Goering is to act as a connecting link between the generals and the Nazis. Others, again, believe that Goering is not the most Dopular man in Germany in view of his once proud boast that the Ruhr and Berlin would never be bombed.

■ The European correspondent of the Daily Telegraph suggests that internal conditions are so bad in Germany that it is considered throughout the Reich that a military dictatorship will be established within one or two months, and that the Nazis will be forced to give way. He reports: “A certain measure of free speech has again become possible among Germans at the Russian front.” Criticism is heard not only among front-line troops, whose morale is beginning to be affected by reports of the bombing of their homes, but also in Germany itself. Fear of Air Raids In another report the same correspondent says that an atmosphere something akin to panic in both Berlin and Budapest has been caused by fear of air raids, and that reliable witnesses of recent raids report having heard little or no hatred expressed of the British or thie R.A.F., but curses “for those who began this and for those who let us in for this.” The correspondent quotes a remarkably outspoken report on conditions in Germany published in the Neue Zuercher Zeitung, one of the most reliable newspapers in Switzerland. It describes the people as bewildered by the fall of Mussolini, shocked and staggered by the Allied air raids, and rapidly losing all faith in Hitler, and seeking a way of escape from National Socialism. The article states: “The German people are faced with a terrible dilemma. Either they must fall with the Government, which no more thinks with the people, or they must bear the consequences of total defeat. This dilemma explains the indecision of the German people. Rumours about a possible cnange of Government are smiled, at. Nobody believes in such a miracle. In spite of this, the belief that the war will end this year cannot be shaken.” Fuhrer’s Shop-worn Figure

The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Express reports the Germans as saying l “Our tragedy is that we have neither King nor Pope,” meaning that they have no central personality to rally round except the Fuhrer’s shop-worn figure. The News Chronicle says that there is something approaching a mass revolt of the German people against the matter of Goebbels's output, and that many are tired of official propaganda. While these reports are encouraging for the Allies, it is felt that they should not encourage easy optimism. Nevertheless, they are interesting, and reveal a decidedly different Germany from last year, or even six months ago.