The Nazi Conquerors Show No Mercy

Camp News, Volume 3, Issue 115, 27 March 1942, Page 2

The Nazi Conquerors Show No Mercy

They try, in every way they the peoples whose countries they 1 But a spirit of defiance is still ' ened with death —the people still f Europe is crushed beneath the Nazi heel. But there is life under the jackboot of Germany. Though their bodies are bruised, the spirit of the oppressed peoples still burns fiercely. This article tells you of the brutality endured by the occupied countries and of the passive resistance which the conquered show to their overlords. France (Lorraine) members of French patriotic associations, Catholic clergy, nuns, all inhabitants possessing private fortunes in France and entire villages of French-speaking peasants have been expelled from their homes. Civic employees have had to choose between exile and signing contracts to work for Germany for five years. In Thionville and several other small places, the homes of expelled families have been emptied of everything. The furniture has been catalogued, labelled and exported to Germany. Many villages have been destroyed to make way for two or three large farms. Perhaps this is a lesson learned from Soviet Russia, but it has not been mastered, for this substitution of large estates for small ones has brought complete disorganisation of production. The population is sullen, resentful, ever seeking new ways to evade the barriers of “Verbotens” which hem it in. * In Metz the Germans forbade the annual procession to the statue of the Virgin in the Place St. Jacques. So, for forty-eight hours before the fete day, the townsfolk passed that way singly, in silence, giving no cause for police intervention. And on the morning of the fete day a magnificent display of tricolour bouquets lay at the base of the statue. The “Metzger Zeitung” printed a picture of the statue, with the caption: “As usual, the people of Metz I pay homage to the Virgin.”

can, to crush life and hope out of have overrun. ... v I there. Starved, persecuted, threatfind ways of being “difficult.” Five days later the Germans cashed in on this religious devotion. Their papers on the other side of the Rhine printed the same picture, with this caption: “Rejoicing at their return to the Fatherland, the people of Lorraine give thanks to the Virgin.” Often in the crowded streets of some Lorraine town a voice can be heard singing the Marseillaise. Never can the police find the singer . . . never will the passers-by give him away. — Parents of young children in Mulhouse were asked to swear fidelity to the Fuehrer, to serve him wherever they might be sent, and to bring up their little ones in the Nazi spirit. Seventy-five per cent, refused; they were expelled and many had their children taken from them. . Religion has been taxed. Only those who are athesists or who de-1 clare themselves “religionless” are exempt. Catholic schools have been replaced by Protestant schools, at which attendance is compulsory, and any student who fails to attend the Kameradschaftsend meetings forfeits the right to enter a German university. Salaries have been augmented 80 per cent. —but the working week re--1 duced almost to half. The amount earned is therefore only 30 per cent, more and as the cost of living has risen 300 per cent., the property of the working classes is extreme. One reaction which frequently greets the Germans is the overnight painting of long stretches of pavement with the French colours. Elsewhere in France an indication : has been given of where the Germans intend the line of their future frontier , to lie. . Frontier regulations have been enforced along the entire line running L between the Forbidden Zone in the North and the Occupied Zone of , France and any- person wishing to

cross into the Zone must have a special permit.

In Charleville, French prisoners were forced to pillage the homes of expelled French families, while the German propaganda service filmed the sence for use in the Reich. Concentration camps have been prepared near St. Lo. They are unoccupied, but all men between seventeen and forty in the district have been registered and presumably they are the future prisoners ■ if there is any military activity in the neighbourhood. Poland—ln Posen, only Germans may enter a shop during the morning. Poles are permitted in the afternoon,, but if a German is shopping at the same time he must be given priority.

In the Warthe 880 German women have been installed, and the men recently expelled from Lorraine have been brought there. Denmark. Dahl, Danish . Chief of Police, has been in Berlin since February, studying methods of securing closer collaboration between German and Danish police,, while Dr. Clausen —head of the Danish National Socialist Partyis' leading a campaign to secure a plebiscite which will finally settle the fate of his country. Belgium.—-Dr. Ellis, Burgomaster of Ghent, is playing the same role as Clausen, for he is actively working towards the handing over of Flanders to Germany. For a whole month the population has not tasted meat and its bread ration is only 100 grammes a day. , Norway.— street fighting breaks out between patriots and the followers of the Norwegian Quislings. In desperation the Germans are arresting people wholesale, but in spite of their reign of terror sabotage persists.

Italy.—A German delegation — entrusted to raise volunteers for a regiment called “The Legion That Will March on Nice”—has met with small success. Apparently the Italians feel that they have had their fair share of marching. Discontent has shown itself several times in the factory regions of Turin, Milan and Verona. Workers give way to occasional bursts of discontent, and it is not unusual for the Duce’s name to be openly attacked.