NAZI’S RE MAPPED WORLD

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 60, Issue 4231, 15 January 1940, Page 6

NAZI’S RE MAPPED WORLD

SUBTLE PROPAGANDA. If maps could conquer nations, the world is Germany’s already. It has been so largely, in fact, since the beginning of last year—if one could accept the world as the People’s Atlas, published in Germany at the beginning of 1939, sees it. The atlas, which is official, can leave no doubt cf the careful planning by Germany which has led to the rape of one nation after another, to extend her influence and her material resourcesNazi leaders are masters of propaganda. Unceasingly their shortwave stations are churning it out, but their most deadly propaganda does not come from the radio or the daily press: it is mingled with the daily life of the people. By repeating the same theme in a dozen subtly different ways, an idea is made acceptable.

To give an example, if the German radio suddenly announced that the Cameroons were again German territory, the mass of the people would certainly disbelieve the statement. The Nazis have more subtle means to mislead the people than that. W,hen I was in Berlin early last year I noticed a fruit shop van which used to deliver fruit to a shop opposite the flat where I was staying. Written on the side of the van in large letters were the words “ Kauft Deutsche Kameroon Bananen ” buy German Cameroon bananas. The idea would naturally be established in the people’s minds that the Cameroons really belonged to Germany, and perhaps when they were told that someone had taken the Cameroons from her they would be ready to fight to regain them. “NOWHERE TO GO.” In 1938 the Nazis were giving prominence to maps showing German minorities scattered throughout Europe, particularly in Czecho-slovakia and Poland. By the beginning of last year the propaganda for the return of the colonies was already in full swing. In all the main railway stations, for instance, one could see maps showing the distribution of colonies. A graph was plotted showing the population of the leading European Powers —< Britain, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium, and Germany. The graph portrayed the contrast between the * population of each country and the population of its colonial possessions. It showed Germany as a rapidly-expanding land with nowhere for its youth to go. It showed the amount of raw material that each country imported from its colonies. Under each map was a slogan, “ We demand the return of our colonies-’ or “We only demand our rights.” The effect of this propaganda is to show to the people that all the ills—.shortage of food, etc.—from which Germany suffers were directly attributable to the fact that Germany had been robbed of her colonies. This drew people’s attention from the fact that owing to Germany’s “ guns before butter ” policy their foreign exchange was used to buy raw materials rather than food.

Some German publications, intended for use only in Germany, make it clear that the Nazis have much more in mind than the mere re-acquisition (superficially understandable) of the former German colonies. Their ideas are clearly designed toward control of strategic points in all corners of the globe. Some interesting propaganda is contained .in the 1939 People’s Atlas, published after the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland. The aims of the atlas are set out in the introduction as follows: “ Its contents give the person using the atlas the most complete information regarding economics and politics, so that this atlas becomes a reliable guide for following important daily events.” In other words, they say, “ Study this atlas, and you will understand our policy for 1939.” “ POSSESSIONS.” After a brief reference to the part of the atlas dealing with “ the heroic struggle of the German people in the Great War, 1914-1918,” the introduction of the atlas continues:—! “ Two pages deal with our German colonial possessions in Africa and the South Seas—colonies which German industry through years of strenuous labour had brought under cultivation to the glory of the Fatherland, but which,.as a result of the dictation of Versailles, had to be given to other Powers to administer under mandate.”

The first map of the world on page three deals mainly with colonial possessions. Countries without colonies are shown in white, and countries with colonies in colour. The Baltic and Balkan countries, for instance, are shown in white, and Germany as a colonial country is shown in red. The following colonies are shown as belonging to Germany: Tanganyika, Togoland, the Cameroons, South-west Africa, New Guinea, the Marshall and Caroline Islands, and Samoa. These are all shown as actually belonging to Germany. Certainly, in the index showing the colonial territories is printed in very small letters beside the German territory “ mandated territory.” On page 70-71, under the headings

“ German Colonies in Africa ” and “ German Colonies in Africa and the Pacific Ocean,” the colonies are shown in greater detail. On page 70 one sees Tanganyika, the Cameroons, and Togoland; on page 71 is shown South west Africa, New Guinea, with its German name “ Kaiser Wjlhelmsland,” and Bismarck Archipelago. Finally, on page 71, Samoa is shown as owned by Germany, but now under mandate to New Zealand. On pages 72 and 73 there is a full-page map of Africa, and this time the colonies are shown straight out as belonging to Germany, there being no mention of mandates at all. The radio stations over the W’hole of Africa are shown, but it is also stated if they are above or below 20,000 k.w- strength.

The purpose of this' type of propaganda is obvious. The idea is to make the German people believe that these colonies actually belong to them, that the German people are the only ones who have a rightful claim to them, and that the Powers now in possession are robbers. A similar type of atlas is used in the schools, and the children are taught that these are German territories, and that they must work for a strong Germany todrive out these robbers who despoil the Fatherland. WHY YOUTH FOLLOW. The question is whether the people accept this propaganda. The youth in the schools certainly do. They arc not taught that Germany must be strong and ready to fight to build up an empire: they are taught that the German Empire is already in existence, but is in the possession of thieves. It is very important to see this difference, because it is a very clever distortion of the truth. They are educated in such a way that Hitler can say to them at the right momdnt, “ We fight for justice to rid our empire of thieves and robbers,” and that is why the youth follow him.

Not so many of the older people are taken in by this propaganda, although I remember a conversation with a Berlin taxi driver early last year. I asked him very innocently why it was that I could not get any butter, fruit, or eggs in Germany. I added that I had been impressed in reading all that the Fuehrer had done for Germany, and yet I could not buy enough food to eat. He became absolutely furious. “Wihy did you take our colonies away from us ? ’’ he demanded. “ If we only had colonies like England or France then we could have plenty to eat, too,” he added. I mentioned that, although England

and France had colonies, they had to pay for everything they bought, just as Germany would have to. I further mentioned that in the case of butter, a commodity of which Germany was particularly short, England obtained a large part of her supplies from Denmark, which was no colony of England, and which had even a common frontier with Germany. 1 tried to point cut to him that if Goering was not so intent upon using up all their foreign exchange to buy materials for munitions, the Germans could buy plenty of food. But my taxi driver was aggressively certain that the only cause of Germany’s sufferings was that she had been robbed of her colonies.

An interesting comparison can be made by comparing the maps of South America, pages 80 and 81, and North America, pages 78 and 79. The number of German consulates in North America, including Mexico, Canada, and the United States, is not more than 15, but in South America the number exceeds 100. There are no fewer than 18 German consulates in the countries adjoining Panama. An attempt is even made to claim colonies in South America by having those States where there are German colonists shown in different colour from the others, and underlining in red those towns occupied by Germans.

It is fairly certain that an exhaustive study of such books as these and text books used in German schools would give us a truer picture of the aims of the Nazis than we could ever get from speeches by Hitler or Goebbels, which are intended only to sway the people for the moment. Hitler is able to persuade his people to accept his decisions when the time comes because all his careful groundwork is done in advance, with the masses carefully educated in the “ justice ” of his policy, months, and sometimes years, in advance of his actual moves.