MERELY A MASK
VICHY CONTROL MORA I. CO J.LA PS F. OF FRANCE The extent to which Marshal Petain is the tool of Berlin—or whether lie stands as a bulwark against complete moral capitulation to the Reich —is one of the grave questions of tiie war. The, following comment from the Christian Science Monitor is stated to be by a French diplomat in exile whose sources of information arn of unusual calibre. The fact that France has its own Government in Vichy and has tho outward: appearance of an independent will of its own has concealed the cunning methods by which tho German conqueror contrives to' exert his own will over the French nation til rough the instrumentality of the regime of Marshal Petain. The unexpected capitulation of France offered to Hcrr Hitler the undreamedof opportunity of realising his piano. The new French Government repudiated all the idealism of the French Republic, the Bill of Rights, and the right of free to think and spea* freely, the Habeas Corpus, religious freedom and tolerance. The Government was organised according to the totalitarian pattern. Germany soon began to meddle in
the internal affairs of France,. No Secretary of State, no civil servant can be nominated without German assent. The Havas Agency is practically under German control. The Press censor works under German orders. The Avirclcss stations can broadcast only what Germany allows. All French Ministers have Gorman controllers who have to approve every important act of the. Vicliv Government. At ilic same time nrmisticei commissions have poured into unoccupied France, ransacking what was left of France's wealth. German infiltration in the French colonial empire began on a large scale. To-day French Morocco, Algeria and Hunisiia are practically under German control. Marsjial Petain and his colleagues rendered Herr Hitler an inestimable service by remaining in France and taking the measure which llerr HilIcu- was obliged to take himself in other countres such as Belgium, Holland and Norway. | The fiction of an independent . French Government proved extremely useful to Herr Hitler. It not only prevented the French colonies from continuing the fight, but gave an appearance of lawfulness to every act accomplished by Herr Hitler in France 1 through the help of the French Government. Moreover. French diplomacy in foreign countries were obliged to carry out Herr Hitler's orders. France; therefore has ceased to be a political or moral factor in Europe. Military defeat could have been icpaired. But the moral surrender, the acceptance of a foreign ideology by France is a much more serious; matter. France will have to bring about great accomplishments before she can re-establish heir former moral position in foreign eyes. Military and political conques! was followed, by economic organisation of the subdued nation. As soon as Paris had fallen into German hands, German functionaries began to reorganise French economy, on J German lines and in German interest. Elimination of the Jewish influence was onei of the first measures taken bv the German military commander, soon followed by Vichy. Reorganisation of French economic life was entrusted to two German officers. The or General Staff for Economic Questions by the German military commander in France and the Ministry of Armament and Ammunition both housed in Paris. ,
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Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 131, 18 July 1941, Page 7
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535MERELY A MASK Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 131, 18 July 1941, Page 7
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