The Topic of the Week Who Rules in Germany To-Days?

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19632, 28 October 1933, Page 12

The Topic of the Week Who Rules in Germany To-Days?

“ Inspiration of the Unconquerable Spirit of Triumphant Youth”

(By Lord Rothermere in “The Daily Mail.”)

“I write from a new country on the map of Europe. Its name is Naziland,” declared Lord Rothermere in a review of conditions in Germany as he saw them.

Cabinet brings together twenty greyhaired old gentlemen whose average age is 63. Muddled Affairs of Europe. “The indulgence, or indifference, which the British public allows wornout party leaders to cling to political power is one of the main causes of the muddle in which our national affairs have so long remained. Until the younger generation asserts itself in Britain, as the youth of Germany and Italy has done, the self-satisfied soothsayers now in office, who propose to wreck the Empire by surrendering our authority in India, will continue to exercise their disastrous sway. “I urge all British young men and women to study closely the progress of this Nazi regime in Germany. They must not be misled by the misrepresentations of its opponents. The plain, blunt patriotism of Hitler and his followers is highly alarming to our par-lour-Bolsheviks and cultured Communists. The most spiteful detractors of the Nazis are to be found in precisely the same sections of the British public and Press as are most vehement in their praises of the Soviet regime in Russia. These ranters, who can see nothing in the Bolshevist system of slave-labour camps but an admirable example of civic organisation, shut their eyes to the practical achieve-

“Of all 'the historic changes in our time, the transformation of Germany under Hitler has been the swiftest, most complete, and most momentous. This nation of sixty-five millions stands behind him united as it never was before. Since the Nazis came to power, Germany’s political structure has been revolutionised, her Constitution remodelled, and her people inspired with the courage of a crusade. Something far more significant than a new Government has arisen among the Germans. There has been a sudden expansion of their national spirit like that which took place in England under Queen Elizabeth. Youth has taken command. “A stream of young blood is revitalising the country. It flows as strongly in the remotest channels of the nation’s life as it its heart. Germany’s New Rulers. “On a visit which I am paying to Northern Germany I find the signs of the new Hitler spirit as manifest in the most out-of-the-way villages as in the largest cities. Across the heavy laden fields of corn one sees the Nazi flag flying from the roofs of lonely farmhouses. Almost every bicycle met on the long, straight roads bears its swastika pennant, and through the picturesque streets of the little country towns stride the sturdy, brown-shirted young men—and their brown-frocked girl-helpers—who have taken over the rulership of Germany from their ineffective elders.

“For several years past I have been watching the development of this movement very closely. In September 1930 I wrote from Munich to “The Daily Mall” that the new generation of young Germans was “determined to have its hand upon the control of national affairs." I foretold, with an accuracy which is now being proved, that this would lead to “the rebirth of of Germany as a nation.”

ments of the Nazi movement and shudder at the sight of the enthus- i iasm it has aroused in every walk of life In Germany.

Misplaced Horror. “They have started a clamorous campaign of denunciation against what they call “Nazi atrocities,” which, as anyone who visits Germany quickly discovers for himself, consist merely of a few isolated acts of violence such as are inevitable among a nation half as big again as ours, but which have been generalised, multiplied, and exaggerated to give the impression that Nazi rule is a bloodthirsty tyranny. “If one turns to the English newspapers of the years 1921 and 1922 one finds that the old women of both sexes hi our country were Just as hysterical then about alleged Fascist “outrages” in Italy. The administration of a few doses of castor-oil to Communist adversaries was denounced in terms of horror which must have made every nursery-governess who had done the same thing feel like a female Borgia. Now that Italy has been for ten years not only peaceful and progressive but, by comparison with other lands, even prosperous, the Incidental extravagances of the early days of Fascism are forgotten. In the same way the minor misdeeds of individual Nazis will be submerged by the immense benefits that the new regime is already bestowing upon Germany. “Foremost of these has been the liberation of that country from the rule of the frowsy, down-at-heel Oerman Republic, which was totally lacking in prestige, self-confidence, and even self-respect. Revelations which the fall of the Republican Ministers has brought about prove their administration to have been no more

“As a sexagenarian myself I welcome the example that has thus been set to the world. I maintain that youth has a right to rule. Mussolini succeeded to supreme authority in Italy at the age of 39. His collaborators were even youpger. Together they have made their country the bestgoverned State in Europe. I confidently expect to see similar results achieved for Germany by Hitler, who has come to power at the age of 43. "When Britain was defending her existence against the liberties of Europe against Napoleon our national leaders were also young. Pitt, Wellington. and Nelson had all reached the full measure of their responsibilities by 40. To-day, while the German or Italian Government consists of ten or a dozen vigorous and alert men in the prime of life, a meeting of the British

than a screen behind which gangs of unscrupulous politicians professing Republican principles were able to plunder the public systematically. For the first time in the whole history of Germany fraud and corruption had begun to spread on a large scale throughout the services of State. Eviction of Alien Elements. “The German nation, moreover, was rapidly failing under the control of its alien elements. In the last days of the pre-Hitler regime there were twenty times as many Jewish Government officials in Germany as had existed before the war. Israelites of international attachments were insinuating themselves into key positions in the German administrative machine. Three German Ministers only had direct relations with the Press, but in each case the official responsible for conveying news and interpreting policy to the public was a Jew. “It is from such abuses that Hitler has freed Germany. By mobilising the youth bf the country In support of a vigorous national policy he has already converted a despondent and embittered nation into one radiant with hope and optimism. The first consequence of the new spirit with which he has inspired Germany is a conspicuous revival of her internal trade. “In England the suggestion has been widely circulated that the Nazis are scowling young bullies who reign by terror over a cowed and resentful population. This is a direct inversion of the facts. lam convinced by the testimony of my own eyes and ears that the sympathies of the overwhelming mass of the German population are strongly with this organisation of stalwart young patriots. They are the vanguard of a national effort which, under the practical, purposeful leadership of Hitler and his handful of associates, is rapidly restoring to Germany that confidence in her own powers and destiny which had been shattered by defeat in war. Germany of To-day. “It would be both futile and unfair to resent this revival of German spirit. Each nation has the right to make the most of Its own resources. It is Germany's good fortune to have found a leader who can combine for the public good all the most vigorous elements in the country. President von Hindenburg and the Crown Prince form, with Herr Hitler, the keystone of tbe national structure. These three men will stand out in history as the founders of a new Germany. World's Greatest Need. “The world's greatest need to-day is realism. Hitler is a realist. He has saved his country from the ineffectual leadership of hesitating, half-hearted politicians. He has Infused into its national life the unconquerable spirit of triumphant youth.