FIFTH COLUMN IN ACTION

Southland Times, Issue 24273, 2 November 1940, Page 4

FIFTH COLUMN IN ACTION

SOUTH AMERICAN STATES INSIDIOUS PENETRATION BY NAZIS (Special to The Times) AUCKLAND, November 1. The insidious penetration of the Nazi Fifth Column into many South American countries, where propaganda was openly spread and an effort made to gain public support for the German cause, was described yesterday by Mr W. J. Herron, a member of the staff of the Bolivian Indian Mission, who is visiting Auckland. Mr Herron, who is an Australian, has been on furlough Ln New Zealand and intends to leave next week for the United States to qualify as a pilot before returning to a remote station in northern Bolivia. Mr Herron said there was strong pro-German sentiment in Brazil, but in most other countries of South America feeling was pro-British or pro-Ameri-can. There were, however, many Nazis in South America propagating Nazi doctrines. “They have penetrated even into remote areas,” he said. “They work sometimes through German trade, but more often through literature. Speeches and propaganda are translated from German into Spanish, printed and distributed among the people, or among those who can read. This has been going on for the last six or seven years. “The Nazi propagandists try to arrange for a discussion after the material has been circulated and read. They are very keen and energetic in pushing German interests in every towm they have reached. The idea is to bring about pro-German sentiment and is really Fifth Column work.” REASON FOR FAILURE A possible reason for the failure of Nazi propagandists to find much support in the majority of the South American countries was suggested by Mr Herron. He said the abrupt manner and speech of the typical German compared unfavourably with the courtly Spanish style to which most of the South American peoples were accustomed, and they were inclined to resent the German arrogance as a result. Mr Herron, whose late wife was an Aucklander, Miss V. Dunn, hopes to purchase an amphibian aircraft in the United States before returning to his mission station. He said the area in which he was stationed, a province of 90,000 square miles on the headwaters of the Amazon, was inhabited by semicivilized Indians and a few completely savage and hostile tribes. Travel between capitals was by air, but for journeys through the district, which was almost entirely flat, it was necessary to use a canoe, an ox-cart, a horse or even a steer.