GERMAN PLANS FOR EUROPE

Southland Times, Issue 24184, 22 July 1940, Page 6

GERMAN PLANS FOR EUROPE

Other States To Be Exploited ENSLAVEMENT BY DEGREES (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, July 19. Forecasts of the Nazi conception of a new Europe which are receiving much attention in the German Press and broadcasts are the subject of further comment in the British Press.

The Financial News says:— “Germany’s victims are cast for the role of hewers of wood and drawers of water. They will be ruthlessly and scientifically exploited for Germany’s benefit. The measures already taken to compel the surrender of gold and foreign exchange provide a characteristic example of the methods of confiscating the wealth of the conquered nations.

“Tire chances are, however, that in the long run more subtle means will be adopted.. The conquered countries may even be allowed to retain a certain degree of economic independence so long as the conqueror acquires an adequate amount of their currencies with which to acquire their goods for export to Germany. This has already happened and is happening on a very large scale in Czechoslovakia, Poland, France and elsewhere. The method applied varies from country to country, but the result is substantially the same everywhere. The Germans buy up all they can of the merchandise of the countries concerned and pay the sellers with their own money. INFLATION NECESSARY “In order to provide the necessary currency the conquered countries will be compelled to inflate their currencies. Their internal price levels will then rise, partly because of the creation of artificial purchasing power and partly because of the depletion of stocks of goods available for home consumption. The rise in the price level will enforce a reduction in the standard of living but will not inconvenience the conquerors, who can readily obtain all the native currency they desire and adjust the exchange rate in accordance with their requirements. The entire process will amount to export without the exporter obtaining value for value. “Even if it is found expedient for Germany to export a certain amount of her own manufactures to those countries it will only be done to maintain their productive capacity. Goods will be sold at an artificial high rate by an arrangement of perpetual over-valuation of the reichsmark in terms of the currencies concerned.

“The advantage of this system from Germany’s viewpoint is that, for the time being, it disguises the true character of the process of exploitation. French peasants and shopkeepers, for example, will not only receive payment in francs but will obtain prices which to them may not appear to be wholly unsatisfactory. After a time, however, the recipients of the generous payments in francs will discover that the goods they in turn need are altogether unobtainable or can only be bought at extremely high prices. Even then the source of responsibility may not be obvious to the man in the street, who will merely be aware in a general way that he has somehow to work a great deal more in order to buy the same goods as before. “In the long-term the plans of the conquerors, however, will go much farther. Industrial undertakings will ultimately be either dismantled or taken over. The tributary countries will be reduced to supplying agricultural and mining products for Germany or to selling the services of their workers to German-owned industries for uneconomically low wages. As the process, however, will be gradual and will largely be concealed it will arouse less resentment and resistance than would open confiscation.” The German News Agency says that a preliminary survey shows that the harvest, especially from autumn sowings, will not reach last year’s level, “but Germany has enough supplies to prevent a shortage and disappoint starvation strategists.”