GOEBBELS--GERMANY’S AVENGING ANGEL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 254, 26 October 1937, Page 3

GOEBBELS--GERMANY’S AVENGING ANGEL

He Has the Soul of an Inquisitor, who will Leave his Mark on the History of the German People because of his Virulent Hate of the Bourgeois

m a cumbre cuum.y wh-ciu men arc harsh, icpiea&ed and laconic, wnles ~v ciax,’' in a xiciicii newspaper; at Uic same tune lhej uiu pumanjcul auu exceptionally iigid in Liie-r nioiul coue. 'Luu almost, brutal xiii.tnuuss v.uiuii unuracLenses their nature is uisguised hi the case uf Dr. Guebbeis by a liguli.uss ol wit, by a rhetorical elegance, oy a veneer ui artificial grace. Goeobei’s uiamtiu-Uiui g blacksmith. In the country ol \» uglier, one uo&sn't have a blacksmith m one’s family without the promise ot a gioiions destiny, bo here was the young Goebbels, already greedy lor glory fluttering himself that he carried in his blood the mark of the predestined hero. His childish dream won no sympathy from his family, who had destined him for an ecclesiastical career. As a Catholic, he entered the Jesuit college where he soon distinguished himself by his insubordination and his spiritual indifference. Perhaps the cause of his first revolt against the faith was his native infirmity. He had a club toot which made him limp painfully throughout his ♦hildhood and which set its mark upon the course of his entire life. But, after all, perhaps this infirmity was necessary lo make him wiiui lie is to-day. For what would Goebbels be without his club footi Perhaps a professor, a philosopher, a poet. Il required just that physical imperfection to spur him cr the desire to prove lo the world that he could be a crippie and yet a man of action at the same time . . .

He completed his studies at the University of Heidelburg in the midst of this combative youth which measured the intellectual quality of a student by the scars which adorned his visage. What bitterness must have filled the heart of the cripple before this bloodthirsty sport in which it was forbidden him to engage in order to prove his courage before the whole world!

Gradually, the young poet found less and less pleasure in reveries concerning the fail of leaves in autumn, the birds flying across the skies, the smoke mounting in the trees —His infirmity ate like a cancer into him, and gave linn an inferiority complex which daily rendered life more intolerable. To compensate himself, he began to seek the society of women, and succeeded in harming them by fiis rather naive cynicism and puny grace, which his dnfirmity only accentuated. A brilliant conversationalist, he startled them by his oratory or seduced them with his soft poetical utterances. In 1922 Goebbels met Adolph Hitler for the first time at Berlin, in a modest beerhouse, where the future leader of Germany was haranguing his first followers. Dr. Goebbels was enchanted by this doctrine, which appeared to him rich in hate against France and the Jews. Conquered in a trice by the Orator of the Beerhouse, and by his ideas, Goebbels became on the spot an adherent of the National-Socialist movement.

Then commenced his active career. In spite of the Allied military occupation, he founded the first national socialist groups in the Rhineland and in the Ruhr. An efficacious, obstinate and

intelligent pio&elyle, he suun won the cuiifidciicc ul Hiner, lie .& eloquent, and possesses a caustjc, withering longue. no orator iu Germany uiiu can match the violence ui Ins rneiunu. lie uugmalises at pieosure, uiten without the slightest care of ridicule. Hu is antisemitic, anu-cominunist and anti-cler.ual; on occasion, he is also anti-French, because he is antidemocratic; and he makes war against the.foreign lemon because he thinks that the German rhubarb purdies the body and soul! Most men who are cripples irom birth hate war because they are incapable of participating in it, and because it cuts them oil" from the national community. Dr. Goebbels adores it for the same reasons. He writes: “1 know what it ; -s a sacrifice for us not to have a new war. War is the most simple affirmation of life. To try to suppress war would be to suppress the phenomena of nature .... In politics, ideacs never become dominant if one cannot put material force nt their service. An idea without force,

no matter how just, will always remain theoretical .... Those who advocate it ought, therefore, by every means possible, to acquire force in order to put their idea into clTect.” However, under all this violence is concealed the most profound and cunning calculation, a sure instinct for eelf-prcservation. In the murderous rivalries which became more manifest in Hitler’s entourage in proportion as liis movement approached success. Goebels acted as an incomparable diplomat. He could find the exact word which would please his leader without flattering him, the gesture which suited, but did not lower him; the delicate attention which singled him out for his originality and refinement. He administered his career with a cunning understanding of German mentality. Tn 1924, Goebbelw was expelled from the Rhineland by French authorities. He went to live at Elberfield, where he became editor-in-chief of the Volkische Freiheit. It was then that be met. Strasser. The two men possessed

the same tendencies, if nut the same gills. From this resulted a hale which cuiilmavu unl.l the uualh ui birassur. Together they worked out the new social guspel which did nut shrink irom any audacity. \vhen iiilier was imprisoned iu 1923, Guebbei.: maruiiud un uhuad, culling irom himself une u} cue traditional superstitions, in his overweening pride as innovator and freethinker, he ran ed al all the old traditions and placed in the discard the idols of the war. His attacks against Hindenburg did not cease until after the accession of Hitler to power. In 1925 Hitler was freed. He realised the advantages of a collaboration with Guebbeis. The latter, now secretary uf the party, had obvious gifts for propaganda. The two gut to gether and drew up a plan of campaign. This period was decisive for the nationalsocialist party. At the time, the communists were in possession of the outskirts of Berlin z ln order to crush them, Goebbels employed the most violent and pitiless methods. His gifts of caustic oratory soon made him the most redoubtable orator in Berlin. Ho possesses facility and fire, a full, harmonious voice, and a rapidity of diction which holds his audience breathless under his avenging words. Many caricatures have been published by those whom Goebbels’ policies have antagonise 1 in which the purity of his Aryan descent is rcmleied 'Suspect. In order to detract public attention iioni such inquirers, Goebbels has had to render to the party services such as were not. expected from any other member, not even Goering or Rosen burg. His popularity with women was one uf the causes of his success. At Berlin he hatl many female admirers, one of whom is called Mme. Goebbels to-day. Pretty, distinguished and cultured, her salon was the gathering place of many promirent Nazis, among whom was Adolf Hitier. Once he had become chancellor, Hitler entrusted to Mme. Goebbels the direction of" the “Deutsche Modcn Amt,” a sort of state secretariat which fixed the rules for Aryan styles (h ebbels loves pomp and brilliant speelac’cs frit* the public. He has admirably sensed th'.weakness of the German soul for processions, colossal meetings, and display of banners. fSince If.-t’J he has acted :ls official propagandist for the Nazi J»»irty, and became in lb.lb deputy to the Reichstag. However, his u.’j.ie did not ligu:“ tn the Fuhrcr’s first ministeria’ lie is the great master of the press, of the radi'"., of ollicial ceremonies. He is the author of the amazing press law which excludes Jews from editoria ofuces and transforms journalists into functional ies ot Hitlerian thought. He imagines that the role of the writer is never .-o efficacious as v.l-.en he searches in collaboration with the state the expression of German evolution. With a stroke of his pen he limited drastically the rights of editors and publishers AVhat does he retain of his origin? A virulent hale of the bourgeosie and a marked taste for worldly society.