The Wanganui Chronicle THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1930. THE GERMAN ELECTIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 380, 25 September 1930, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1930. THE GERMAN ELECTIONS

IF THE intellectual insularity of England has not broken down then one of the major lessons of the Great War has been taught but it has not been learned. There is no nation to-day that can live to itself alone. Therefore it is necessary for each country to take cognisance of current history in other countries.

The growth of a form of Fascism in Germany under the name of Hitlerism calls attention to that country, to the peculiar conditions which prevail there, and to their operation on a singular national physchology. It is now evident that the present situation is pregnant with danger. To comprehend the dangerous factor it is essential to understand Germany and the Germans. Lord Haldane, in his autobiography, remark?*! that we English never troubled to understand the Germans. That was true, and is possibly equally true to-day. But it should not be so. The Peace of Europe demands that consideration be given to Germany’s outlook and objectives.

Germany, to-day suffers from an inferiority complex. She has achieved great success in science, in art, in history, in literature and in social organisation. She felt that she was stepping forward before all the world when lo!—war came and her leadership was lost. The prestige of leadership had gone. The pomp of yesterday had departed.

The Treaty of Versailles imposed upon Germany the payment. of reparations to the Allies; the occupation of the Rhineland; the ceding ofcterritory to Poland; the granting of a strip of territory between Poland and the City of Dansig which had been made a free city; and a small portion of German territory was also ceded to Belgium. Schleswig-Holstein held plebiscides to decide whether they should be incorporated either in Denmark or in Germany, and in consequence of these plebiscides some territory was transferred to Denmark while a part remained with Germany. Germany also had to admit her responsibility for the causing of the war. This compulsory admission of war-guiltiness has rankled in the minds of Germany ever since and it has become an increasing irritation since independent historians have laid the blame definitely on Austrian shoulders.

From the abject position which Germany held after the Conference of Versailles, some progress has been made towards greater self-respect. At first, excluded from the membership of the League of Nations, she has now been accepted as a member at Geneva. Then the years of occupation of the Rhineland were reduced and now the territory occupied has been completely restored. This restoration was coincident with the holding of the German General Elections, and naturally restoration of the occupied territories caused an increased outbreak of national sentiment. This sentiment found food to feed on in the Polish corridor. The corridor gives to Poland territory along the west bank of the river Vistula right up to the border of the Free State of Danzig. Hence East Russia is completely cut off from the rest of Germany. Germans naturally resent the intrusion of the Polish corridor, which necessitates the vising of passports to cross between Germany and East Prussia. Further, East Prussia is now suffering from economic and industrial depression due, in no small measure, to the difficulties of transport across the corridor to Germany proper. Republican Germany, possessing no army has to depend upon negotiations to get these matters righted, but negotiations take time and the fruits thereof mature slowly, hence Germany’s 8,000,000 young voters who have grown up since the war are agitated by a deep-rooted impatience. The Republican politicians are not showy individuals; they are divided up into many parties which does not help the political machine to function well, and consequently there is nothing to catch the public eye. The way is, therefore, open to the war-drum beaters to thump aloud and point with accusing finger at the large standing army of France. The Germans, as the “Chronicle” has previously pointed out, are a people of political inexperience and therefore, to many of them Parliamentary Government, having failed to give the nation all it reckons on getting as speedily as their hopes would wing, is an institution to be lightly cast aside. To appreciate the public mentality of Germany to-day, therefore, it is essential to bear in mind the political inexperience of the mass of the people, their hurt pride, their grievances and their position of living unarmed alongside France; which country maintains a large military establishment without any potential danger threatening it.