ARE THERE TWO HITLERS?

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 3, 5 January 1939, Page 6

ARE THERE TWO HITLERS?

NEW ZEALANDER BELIEVES THERE ARE INCIDENT AT BRIDGE OPENING “It is quite common knowledge in Germany that there are two Hitlers,” said Mr. T. G. Barton, of Hawera, and formerly of Marton, interviewed on his return from a trip to Europe, which included both Germany and Czechoslovakia. “Hitler was to officially open a bridge at a certain time, and later in the day was to lay a foundation stone of some Nazi building, the two places being 150 miles apart,” he said. “Because of some slip in the time arrangements, the two ceremonies took place within four minutes of each other, it being thus impossible for the same man to have performed both.” The level-headed Germans were becoming tired of Hitler’s regime, and in Mr. Barton’s opinion it was only the manner in which Hitler fed the vanity of the young people that kept him in office. There was a popular opinion in Germany that when Hitler’s downfall arrived the next dictator would be Pastor Niemuller, now languishing in a concentration camp. Mr. Barton painted a graphic picture of what the country was like under the shadow of Hitler, and also gave some idea of what Germany was like under the actual domination of the dictator. The majority of the Czechs and Sudetens were averse to Hitler, he said, as under his rule they would have less freedom and less land and property. In Germany eggs sold at Is 4d each, while milk and butter were rationed severely. AH eggs unsold in two days were forfeited to the Government and pickled, presumably for sale during the winer. When he left Czechoslovakia, Mr. Barton fully expected that there would have been war, and was quite surprised to learn on the steamer that there was not. He intends to return to the country in about four years’ time, a trip he is eagerly looking forward to.