NAZI REPETITION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20098, 18 November 1939, Page 6

NAZI REPETITION

THEORY OF HITLER TELLING IT OFTEN MAY CONVINCE REICH EXPLANATION REVIEWED ' (Klee. Ti'l. Copyright —United Press Assn.) (Hritisli Official Wireless.) Reed, 1 p.rn. RUGBY, July 17. There appears to be no cessation in the circulation by the Nazi prnpa- ! panelists of the rubricated chaise against Britain of bavin;;' supplied poison gas which is alleged to have boon used against German soldiers in * Poland. J Although complete refutation of [ what the Prime Minister. Mr. Neville : Chamberlain, described as “an impu- ! dent and transparent falsehood” has I been given in official British slate- ' ments reports from various parts of I the world show that Nazi agencies ; are still assiduously distributing i leaflets and repeating this lie. I The calculation must be—in accordi ance with Herr Hitler's theory of propaganda—that it a lie is repeated sutlicicnlly often and with sullicient assurance it will not be overtaken b> denial, however authoritative or eoni vincing the denial may be.

Whatever may be true of Germany itself, that is certainly a miscalculation as far as neutral opinion is concerned. The stringency of the control of arms export by Britain has long been well known abroad and the" categorical statement that the Board of Trade records showed that no poison gas had been sent to Poland therefore made a profound impression.

Equally damaging to neutral credence in the German charge was the statement issued on October 23 by the Swiss professor whose original diagnosis ol the condition of German soldiers he was invited to examine was used by the Nazis to lend verisimilitude to the story. Professor Staehelin significantly emphasised that he had "found no evidence indicating in what circumstances the poisoning had occurred.''