PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 259, 17 January 1941, Page 2

PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES

THE NAZI LEADERS MAKE! THEIR PILE "Down with the British plutocrats! with choir vulgar diamonds mil their rivers of champagne,'' .screams Goebbels ladio. "Where docs lie get iiis ideas? 1 ' queries the astonished Englishman, and the answer is easy. They begin at home. To collect ideas Gocbbels lias only to visit the houses of his National Socialist cviicagues, He tells us that "Molotov mistook the noise of Berlin's anti-aircraft gunfire for the popping of champagne corks." This .' imple picture of Nazi life serves as a frontispiece to our guide to the Wilhelmstrasse or handbook of racketeers. Hitler, because lie neither smokes nor drinks, has achieved an undeserved reputation for asceticism. His motto is "Moderation in refinement," but his style of living makes Hollywood seem suburban. He lias n yacht at Kiel and a private train with cinema and cocktail bar. His palaces at IVrchtcsgaden and in the Wiihelm.slras.se, are equipped with every grandeur of marble and gilt and many fine tapestries and-paint-ings 'borrowed' from museums not only in Germany but in the occupied territories. Goering's ii-come is about £109,000 a vear, less than Hitler's £200,000 so he doc>- not have a train of his but he cuts quite a dash in his own way? From his 42 motor cars to the retinue of huntsmen blowing hunting horns at departing foreign journalists, from the solid gold lust of his first wife revolving on its marble pedestal to his three country castles and his palace in Berlin, he is an example to the young Nazi of the advantages to be reaped from the party racket. Goebbels is more modest. He pigs it in a Berlin house of fifty rooms and makes do with a mere couple of country estates. Oddly enough it is Goebbels who has housed a protest. The German people put up with a great deal from their leaders but even they were annoyed when the Minister of" Propaganda treated them to a film of his own life, called "Daddy's Birthday." Tt seems that the contrast between their conditions and his was too great. The film was withdrawn. Where Does the Money come From? The glib Nazi answer to this searching question is that l the leaders are rendering the Reich such invaluable services" that "there can be no dividing line between their fortunes and ihat of the state." In other words, the perks of office — official residences, expense accounts entertainment allowances—are definitely elastic. No payment, it seems, is too high. What do the Germans Think of It? They may think volumes, but they can say nothing. The Gestapo;, the controlled press and concentratioii camp see to t'hat. But now and then resentment bursts and bounds. The Viennese lately hissed Frau Goering when she appeared in ermine in their Burg theatre. Similarly when Dr Ley tlie'Svorker's friend" bought himself a fourth -estate in Bavaria at the price of 100000 marks, there was a protest. "Tell us, Ley, where did you get that 100,000 marks?" said a sign posted on his gate, and Avhen a reward of 100 marks for the culprit's name was offered by the outraged Socialist — "Tell us., Ley, where did you get that 100,000 marks?" appeared next day.