INSIDE GERMANY

Southland Times, Issue 24153, 15 June 1940, Page 11

INSIDE GERMANY

Complaints Of Soldiers’ Wives And Mothers

HERR Hitler laid down the principle at the beginning of the war that the care of the home front was as important as the conduct of military operations. The first step taken to fortify the home was the decision that the separation-allowance paid to the wives and families of soldiers should be roughly the same as the money they would have brought home if they had been still working in civilian life. This decision, it has been calculated, costs the German Treasury £80,000,000 a month for soldiers’ pay and separa-tion-allowances, estimating the German army at three million men. The basis of the decision was Herr Hitler s belief that the last war was lost because German wives wrote to their husbands at the front that their families were not getting enough to cat. Notwithstanding this provision there are clear signs that wives and mothers are sending complaints to their men at the front. These grumbles can be sensed in the unobtrusive, but yet perceptible counter-measures which are being taken to stop them. Articles appear in the papers, telling the people how they should write their letters to the troops. There must be nothing in them that might convey any information of importance to the enemy, since (who knows?) the letter might be captured. Hence nothing about troubles at home, however slight they may really be, since this might give encouragement to the enemy. The best plan (so the counsel runs) is to stick to plain news about members of the family. One such article might have been a coincidence, but three or four appear in different papers in the same week and so point to inspiration and direction.

Shortage of Doctors ONE of the war-time burdens of Germany which casts its shadow into the German newspapers is the shortage of doctors. There were barely enough for normal needs before the war broke out, owing to the exclusion of Jews from the medical profession. Mobilization claimed several thousands of civilian doctors and surgeons for the army. Since then several hundred more have been drafted into the recently annexed Polish provinces. The shortage for civilian needs has become acute. It is almost impossible for an uninsured person to obtain medical attention unless he goes to a hospital. The work of the hospitals and the care of insured patients fall on the shoulders of a dangerously reduced medical corps, who, adding to their work, have been given the onerous duty of deciding for or against appeals made for extra

rationing on account of special circumstances. Six hundred medical students have recently been released from the army, so that they may complete their studies, but this is hardly likely to relieve the crisis. A comparatively minor plague of which German urban householders are now complaining is a by-product of the frost. Owing to the difficulties of traffic in the streets the dustmen have been prevented from making their rounds regularly, and the tenants of large blocks of flats have consequently dumped their rubbish into the courtyard. Pictures of England

IN the midst of these troubles the German people are being heartened by the thought, handed out to them by their newspapers, that the English are faring far worse. The National Zeitung draws a dire picture of England at the moment. The Londoners can get no coal. The railway-service is completely disorganized. Hundreds of people have died of cold. Another newspaper dwells on the shortage of clothing materials, brought about, so it says, by the German counter-blockade. The women of England, it appears, are having to go about with bare legs because they can get no stockings, and men will before very long have only two or three standard fabrics to choose from for their clothes. An unnamed Norwegian, interviewed by a correspondent of the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, declares that many of the London streets are ; completely empty and give the impression of a dead city. It is difficult to do any business because so many firms have closed down. In some parts of London, he says, the food supply is fairly good, but in others you can get | little or nothing to eat. i The Reich Minister of Economics has i ordained that special soap cards may be issued to the clergy for the washing of altar linen. This concession, however, does not extend to the washing of surplices, which have to be included in the family wash of the priest or pastor. As for the churches themselves, the Reich Minister is of the opinion that their I cleansing requires no proper soap. He decrees that “exclusively fatless cleansing materials” must be used for the purpose. The famous Berlin zoo has not been spared by the war. The lions and tigers get only five horses a day slaughtered for them instead of six. The monkeys have to be content with dried instead of fresh bananas. But not all the animals have had their rations cut. The zoo maintains its own supply of rabbits and mice for the reptiles, and in other departments, as for instance that of the sea-lions and other fish-eating creatures, it is self-sufficient. The other carnivorous animals have had to do with an Ersatz food, artfully compounded of slaughter-house offal mixed with a mysterious something else, but it seems they like it. Naturally the zoo, like the rest of Berlin, has to be plunged in darkness after dusk; but a large number of tropical birds could not endure the long hours of the blackout, so they enjoy artificial light in carefully shrouded cages.

THIS is the second of a series of articles describing happenings and conditions within Germany. The articles were provided from Rotterdam by a highly-qualified journalist with an intimate knowledge of Germany and access to German newspapers available in Holland. They therefore give an accurate picture of conditions in Germany today, so far as that is provided by the German Press. The article below was written while Germany was still suffering the privations of winter.