The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1941. DISSENSIONS INSIDE GERMANY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 179, 1 August 1941, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1941. DISSENSIONS INSIDE GERMANY

QISSEXSIOXS inside Germany, vvliieli are reported by neutral observers, are no new development. Dissensions of a bitter and violent character were rife there during the Kaiser’s reign, and they have continued throughout the whole life of the Nazi regime. It has been claimed that a dictatorship is more efficient than a democracy, beeau.se a dictator lias no Parliament to consult, and no public from whom he must win approval. To a military dictator, like Napoleon, such advantages are very great, and the Duke of Wellington recognised them as such when asked his opinion of his illustrious opponent. To the dictator who takes upon himself the task of administering a realm in peace time, iiie advantages of immediate decision without consultation prove to lie illusory. The Emperor Francis Joseph of Ausiro-llungary was an indefatigable, worker to whom duty was a righteous passion, but he lound that the day was hot long enough- for him to accomplish Ids routine work. lie had to depend upon his secretaries to sort out. the business which must, of necessity, be dealt with by himself. These secretaries decided the order of preference lor business reaching the Emperor, and they also were required to marshall tin? data upon which lhe Emperor's decisions were based. The result was that the entourage decided, by the manner in which any matter was presented to the- Emperor, how it was to lie dispatched. Such a state of affairs was unhealthy because all the discussion took place in camera. Cliques were formed which, by intrigue, sought to dislodge each other from dose association with the Emperor. His probity was a stabilising influence, but it only partially check'd those subterranean forces. Hiller s posiiion differed from that of the Emperor Francis Joseph, in that the. former never has pursued a policy based on prineifiles, for he was a creature cl'opportunism. Opportunism raised him up from a police pimp Io a political lead'r. Opportunism provided him with friends of influence ami with funds. These he used until lie could kick down the ladders by which he had climbed. The terrible Flood Purge in which Roehm was murdered, was really due to the growing demand that economic stability should no longer be neglected. Dr. Schacht, onetime Governor of the Ilcichsbatik and Minister of Economics, was dropped because lie emphasised the necessity for realism in finance- and production and external trade. Dr. Brinkman, his successor, told the truth concerning mounting costs of production, and suffered a “nervous breakdown” in consequence. Goering openly opposed the policy of von Ribbentrop because it would lead to war. This, Goering was realist enough to appreciate, would ensure Germany’s ruin, but Ribbentrop won in the end.

Hitler had so often disregarded expert advice and succeeded, that it, is quite probable that he insisted upon the army attacking Russia against the views expressed by the High Command. Had he not succeeded against expert advice in respect, to the remilitarisation of the Rhineland, the seizure of Danzig, the invasion of Austria, of Czechoslovakia, of Poland, and of France? What was to stop him? Certainly not expert, opinion, for his own instinctive judgment had proved too often to be right. Instinctive judgment I How much of it was his own and how much the result of the whisperings of those who kept near to him by hiding the truth and telling him that which he wished to know: It was lhe impotence of Hess to counteract Ihe.se influences which sent him flying to Scotland. Goering evidently argued and was adamant, and hence lie seeipingly fell from grace: Success, however, was not achieved oil scheduled date, arid so General von Brauchistch was removed and General von Keitel was eclipsed. The flatterer is winning over the expert in Germany because if. is a dictatorship. The advantages of instant decision continue, and in some respects these are very real, even now. but beneath this apparent efficiency is a movement that is while-anting the efficiency of the w hole Nazi structure, and which in time will bring it down through infernal deca v.

Historians have a saying which seems to be always true. If. is that revolution always devours its own children. That process is to be expected to continue with gathering momentum inside Nazi Germane.