THE NEW GERMANY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17453, 30 December 1930, Page 10

THE NEW GERMANY

HITLER MANA WANING YOUTH’S FLAIR FOR POLITICS IIA1M) 'J'IMF.S AND NEW WAY'S "Hiller! oh, you don't waul 1,0 lake, him too seriously. He is the product of reaction in Germany, plus Die example of Mussolini. Ifut I hey have found him out already. He promised the people everything, just liki; Mr. Lang in New South Wales, and when they found lie could not keep his promises he lost ground. Hiller is an Austrian—somewhat of an outsider lo most true hluc Hermans, and he is not to he, regarded as a danger. He is a product of somewhat unsettled times and very grave conditions economically.” Tin's is an expression of opinion of Hr. Greta Short, i’h.l)., who has just returned from a. visit to her parents in Merlin, and who from hen associations there and her training as head of the English seminary in the Berlin University must be accounted competent to draw conclusions in regard to contemporary happenings. She says that Hitler*, if tie stands for anything, desires a German system of Fascism under a. dictatorship—with himself as dictator, of course—hat it had to ho remembered that there were seven or eight parties of consequence in Germany, and it was a most difficult matter to get the elements from each to mix and. consolidate into one stable Government, Mussolinism she considered a form of megalomania, which was endured only for a time, but the form of Fascism which a Latin people like the Italians would suffer was scarcely likely to find favor with a strong Nordic race like the Germans. the; new yquth

"Like most other countries throughout the world. Germany is suffering from unemployment and its attendant troubles,” said Dr. Short. "It affects everyone—no one can escape. There is the rationing of work, and reductions of salaries and wages all round, and a big reduction in the price of clothes and food was being promised for the new year when T left. It is a hard time for youth. They serve their time at a trade or qualify for a profession, only to find that there is no work for them. They are quite serious. They want work; they want lo shape out careers, but owing to the conditions they are not wanted, nor was there any prospect of things being better. “Under such circumstances not all of the young people could afford to marry, and as depicted in that clever American book, ‘The Revolt of Youth,’ they formed companionate affairs. It is not that the German girls want that sort of thing; they want to marry, and have families; hut they know that it is impossible under the circumstances, so they simply live together. I would not call it immoral —it is something that lias arisen out of‘ conditions of which there lias been no previous experience, i "Such is the. change that has conic ; about in German girlhood, that I am inclined to say there are no German flappers. They are, as a rule, Seriousminded; they Study and work hard 'whenever they can get it; they are keen *>n athletics and open-air sports; eulti- . vale physical health with a vigour and I thoroughness.that were unknown when I was a girl in Berlin. Hut when they arrive, at marriageable age there is no prospect of development in the natural order owing to the. parlous conditions prevalent, arid so these friendships are formed between young men and women. Under the eifcumstaiices.it is difficult t.o know how it could he otherwise. Yet 1 Hie girls of Germany never were so frank. unrestrained and altogether charming. With the young men they ure. immensely interested in politics—unlike the older folk. Germans have not been politically-minded in the past; but the youth of to-day is very keen on politics- and youths of 16 arid 17 know more than their parents did at 40. CRAVING FOR! ATHLETICS AND HEALTH "I recently read in an English paper that in Germany were to be round girls with fjiir hair thjjt was not jieroxided, and checks and lips that were unpainted,” said Dr. Short. "That is so. The Whole of the people scorned to bo vitally | and personally concerned in a great health movement. When 1 was at college ws used to do Swedish drill, but | nowadays the girls go in for everything —running, hurdling, jumping, swim-. ■ ming, and hiking. They live for their ! health, and as the result von see won-, . rierfnl complexions and bright eyes, ; ■ allied lo a high decree of intellectuality. One Baptist minister whom 1 chanced !lo meet on my travels expressed the • view that lie had never experienced such 1 a delightful combination of health and intellect gs <was to he found in the Ger- ' nian girls of to-day. This craving for. ' athletic and outdoor sports is, I believe, ! Hie reaction from the time when as j babies and children their bodies were j ill-nourished and underfed. A NEW AiRCTIITECtuRiE "Allied to the health movement is the < craving for athletics —English athletics, preferably. It is almost fashionable because it is English, bid they are making great stridos in that direction, and only a few weeks ago a great team of German girl Athletes paid a visit to England and did very well indeed against their opponents. Then the ultra-modern style of houses, the brightly-painted places, with their trim-kept common lawn and recreation ground for the inhabitants of the neighboring houses was also a further indication of the health movement. In that way the Seimons-Schu-kert model town, 10 miles from Berlin, was a marvel' of what can he done in this direction. The windows were of vita-glass, each house was painted in gay blues, pinks, and greens, the windows overlooked lawns and trees, and ' everything was perfectly charming. It i was indeed very hard fo grasp that j these were the houses of ordinary workj men. It all meant a new standard of ; hygiene, and a new contentment. The new architecture has to he seen to be | believed. I was observing some new i houses of extraordinary design when a young architect who was with nie told ine they were traditionally historical, and that lie would show me some that 1 were really up-to-date. I was shown some plans of dwellings and flats that 1 certainly struck a new note, to say Die least in domestic architecture.” WHERE GERMANY IS BACKWARD "There are not nearly so many motor cars in Germany to tlie as there are here,” said Hr. Short. ‘ there are still plenty of people who believe that to have a ear one must have a chauileur, and individual owners are quite proud when they can drive themselves. In Germany, as in New Zealand, the American cars predominate. So far 1 the Germans have, not been able to produce a car to compete in their own market with Die American article, but I was pleased to see that in England that is not the case. English c'nrs arb much more plentiful on English roads tliap 1 American cars, and 1 think the English ear ip iu the ascendancy. "Do you know that we in New Zealand are far ahead of Berlin in the mat - i ter of the, talkies?” J>r. Short concluded. “They had no! v<jt got, over Die thrill of talking pictures when I arrived there, and we had been through that stage in Wellington over a year ago. They were still a topic of Hie liveliest conversation, and it all seemed so funny after having gone through the whole business hero. This is perhaps

because primarily the Hollywood product is made in English, and may be only made in any other language as an afterthought, while the talkie development in Germany had not been so rapid as it had been in America.”—Dominion.