The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. ”Luceo Non Uro.” MONDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1933. HITLER’S BLUNDER

Southland Times, Issue 22159, 30 October 1933, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. ”Luceo Non Uro.” MONDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1933. HITLER’S BLUNDER

It is in connection with what may be called the minor affairs that the character of the Nazi regime is revealed. Mussolini, when the Fascists were still entrenching themselves, was sensitive to adverse criticism, but he displayed no nervousness about the presentation of facts, and foreign journalist in Italy had little ground for complaint about their treatment so long as they reported incidents. There were no arrests to cause international disturbances arising out of any reports of facts. Hitler’s action in putting Panter in prison will attract attention to the story he wrote about the review of the storm truppen, and intensify the suspicions that Germany has not been frank about the extent of her military armament. Panter’s offence is that he gave to the world a picture which showed that the Nazi storm troops are military in character, that they are not youths armed only with their fists. This was the declaration Hitler made a few days ago, and it was intended as an assurance that the Nazi battalions were entirely unarmed. France will now say that they are an adjunct to the German Army, and must be counted in the military forces existing in Germany, carrying her armed strength beyond the limits set by the Treaty of Versailles. As far as can be gathered, Panter’s article was not criticism. He did not attack the Nazi regime, and he made no comment on the German policy. But he revealed something which the German Government wished to keep secret, and his arrest is a colossal blunder, since it will give the Panter article confirmation that official explanations will not upset easily. If Hitler is able to show that Panter’s account of the review is a tissue of lies, he will still have to explain why it was considered necessary to arrest a foreign journalist and to refuse him access to the official representatives of his own country for so long. The British Government has not taken up the matter diplomatically yet, and as Panter has been able to speak to British officials, nothing will be done until the German Government shows how it proposes to proceed with its investigation. If the storm troops are not part of Germany’s military forces there can be no revelation of the secrets of Germany’s defensive measures, and the mere fact that the review was held in public is enough surely to answer any suggestion that Panter’s article could be regarded as treasonable in that it came under the heading of espionage. That it is damaging to the German Government cannot be doubted, because it will be looked on as a confirmation of the French fears concerning Germany’s secret military strength. Hitler’s public assurances of Germany’s peaceful aims do not harmonize with the picture Panter has painted, and the treatment of the journalist will suggest to the British public that the Nazi disclaimers of strong-arm methods are not reliable. Hitler seems to have blundered rather badly.