The Southland Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1939. Portrait of a Dictator

Southland Times, Issue 23953, 20 October 1939, Page 6

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1939. Portrait of a Dictator

THE White Paper completing the report of the former British Ambassador to Berlin, from which quotations were printed yesterday, is a document that will provide historians with the portrait <>f one of the most remarkable figures of modern times. Thumb-nail sketches of the Nazi dictator are to be found in books and articles that have poured in a rising flood from the printing presses; but the value and accuracy of such impressions are dwarfed by the words of the man who confronted him as the Ambassador of a great nation entrusted with a work of delicacy and supreme importance. His verdict is that Hitler has proved himself “an unprincipled menace to European peace and liberty.” The full account of the negotiations which preceded the outbreak of war is a crushing indictment against a single man; but it is also a commentary on the danger to world peace of a political system which allows the concentration of such vast powers in an individual. All through Sir Nevile Henderson’s report can be traced the effects of a limited outlook, combined with an intensity of purpose and a great driving force, on the shapihg of events that led to a catastrophe. Hitler fought his way to power, relying on methods that read like the strategy of gunmen in some ugly feud of the underworld. Many honest patriots supported the Nazis in the belief that when they had gained office these tactics would be abandoned while the spirit of a national revival asserted itself in political life. But the gangster mentality remained dominant, expressing itself in savage reprisals against political opponents, in the sadism of the concentration camps, in the persecution of Jews and minorities, and later in the tricks and betrayals through which the bloodless conquests were made possible. Sir Nevile Henderson explained that moderate advisers—including a number of military leaders —were thrust into the background until Hitler was “surrounded by mere yes-men whose flattery and counsels alone were endurable.” These were the same men who are alleged, on documentary evidence, to have built up private fortunes abroad against the day of eclipse.

Nazi Mentality

“One of Hitler’s greatest drawbacks,” said the former Ambassador, “is that he has never travelled, except for two visits to Italy.” (Triumphal entries of that kind do not induce a balanced view of the outside world.) “Consequently he has relied on Herr von Ribbentrop for his knowledge of the British mentality.” The result was that he received bad counsel and was encouraged to cling to his own valuation of the British mind. He was “disagreeably and literally astonished at the reaction in Britain and in the world generally, which was provoked by the occupation of Prague and his breach of faith with Mr Chamberlain.” There was still time for him to draw back. But a curious fatality can be found in the way his outlook and that of his advisers is expressing itself. A point has been reached at which the accumulated lies and treacheries of Nazism make it impossible either to retreat or to stage a convincing reformation. The Nazis are waging war in much the way that they conquered their own country. Their propaganda reveals the same mentality which was incapable of understanding Britain’s adherence to moral values. They assess mankind at their own valuation, believing that all men are realists at heart and that truth is a mere chimera.

The German People

The immediate task of the civilized world is to deprive Hitler and his accomplices of a power they are using destructively. Yet the future must contain many problems. What is to be said, after all, of a nation that allows itself to be dominated by such leaders? The fundamental situation was recently described by Sir Alfred Zimmern in a pamphlet issued by the Oxford University Press. “It is the problem of the political immaturity of the German people—an immaturity the causes of which lie deep in German history and the German character with its strange mixture of robustness and docility, of cloudy romanticism and industrious addiction to detail.” He adds that “until that chronic condition has yielded to treatment, the progress of international co-operation will be delayed.” The first stage of “treat-

ment” is now being carried out; but when the gangsters have been deposed it will be necessary to turn from force to other and mildei' methods. Just what the ultimate “treatment” will be is a question that must be exercising the wisest minds in Europe. For the German people are not isolated. Beyond them are the Russian despotism, the broken frontiers, the old fears and enmities and the forces that continue to work against the ideals of unity and brotherhood. History has seldom found harder tasks than those that will have to be faced by the peace-makers.