ATMOSPHERE IN GERMANY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19880, 6 March 1939, Page 7

ATMOSPHERE IN GERMANY

VISITOR TERRIFIED

ILLUSIONS SHATTERED

NATION BEHIND HITLER

(Klec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) SYDNEY, Feb. 21. Mr. W. Macmahon Ball, lecturer in charge of the School of Political Science at Melbourne University—the first of its kind in Australia—stated on his arrival in Sydney yesterday in the Monterey that when he had left Australia last May he was a convinced pacifist, but his ideals had been shattered during a tour of Germany and the Sudetenland last October. "I still believe that nothing constructive can be gained by war," he stated, "but I realise now that there comes a point at which it is essential to light against something that is foreign to our way of life. I found that individual Germans whom I met were charming and hospitable, but I also found that collectively Germany is terrifying." Mr. Macmahon Ball said that he spent a day in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp—a rare privilege for foreigners. "Shrinking- Prisoners." "In this camp were people mostly from Berlin," he added. "Until the end of last May there were never more than 3,000 prisoners in this camp. In June and July this number wartrebled. I went there in October. I found that the material appointments were excellent. The buildings were new. But to a British subject, the relations between guards and prisoners came as a shock. Men who had or.ee been powerful in Germany were cowed and shrinking before the guards. Their spirit had been crushed utterly." Mr. Macmahon Ball said that all over Europe there was a strong feeling that there would be a major crisis in the coming spring. His own impression was that there would not be a large-scale war for some years. One reason was that Herr Hitler had gained so much by threats, and he had now much more to lose by war than had been the case a year ago. Britain's Determination. Moreover, he had apparently been impressed by Britain's determination to arm to the limit of her resources, and by the change in the attitude of the United States. "I went to Germany prejudiced in Germany's favour, if anything," he added. "I think I appreciated her difficulties and thought I understood her outlook. But I was disillusioned. The plain fact is that the German Government regards not only every Jew and Socialist, but every Liberal —every human being favouring the values of civilisation as we know them—as an enemy of Germany.

"I found that the German nation, as a nation, is right behind Herr Hitler. I met Germans who opposed his policy. There are possibly thousands of Germans who oppose Herr Hitler, but they have no chance of joining hands. Politically, they do not count." Mr. Macmahon Ball said that he had found no general food shortage in Germany. There might be, for some weeks, a shortage of, say, eggs, in Berlin, but food supplies generally appeared to be good.