HEIL! THE UNIFORM

Evening Star, Issue 23686, 20 September 1940, Page 6

HEIL! THE UNIFORM

WHAT INFLUENCES GERMANS The scene is a German factory. A foreigner, paying a visit there, asks tfa» manager: “ How have the political convictions of your workers changed sine* 1932?” The manager is taken aback for a moment, then he says; “ In 1932 we had 60 per cent, of Social Democrats and 40 per cent. Communists. Now w© have 40 per cent. Social Democrats, 60 per cent. Communists—and 100 per cent.- Nazis ” (writes Dr J. K. Wolff, formerly of Germany, now living in Australia, in the 1 Sydney Morning Herald’). There is the riddle. Outward appearances are no guide to political beliefs in Germany, and have not been for eight years past. . . . It is Ihe uniform the Germans are taught to greet, not the man inside it. The cultivation of this state of mind makes Hitler possible. Without it he would be preposterous

There is that famous (and true) story of a shoemaker from Koepenick, who, after spending most of his life in gaol, was released. With what little money he had managed to save he bought himself a captain’s old uniform. Sallying forth in full glory, he met a platoon of soldiers and ordered them to fall in behind him. Thev did: and he led then* to the Town Hall, where they obediently arrested the mayor. After which lie inspected the municipal accounts, arranged a revision of the funds, and finally vanished with all the ready cash in the building! No one dreamt of stopping to think or ask questions while the uniform was acting.