FAITH IN THE FUEHRER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20124, 19 December 1939, Page 6

FAITH IN THE FUEHRER

POPULARITY OF GOERING DUNEDINITE IN GERMANY “In Munich only a few days before the war started we found the majority ol Germans still convinced that there would be no war, and that Britain would not light," said Mr. A. G. Neill, a Dunedin resident, jwho has just returned from a tour of Europe. "1 asked two German airmen what they thought and quick as lightning they replied. 'There will be no war. The Fuehrer will fix everything.’ Everywhere .this was the attitude. People relied implicitly on Hitler, who is invariably called the Fuehrer. “I met a Nazi organiser from Australia, home for instructions probably, and he told me with all the assurance in the world that Britain would not light for Poland because she had no money invested there. That seems to be the idea that Ribbontron sold the Germans from the start.” The most popular man in Germany, Mr. Neill added, was Field-Marshal Goering. ■ “I saw him in Munich one day, dressed in the picturesque Bavarian costume, and accompanied by five carloads of bodyguard. Where he gathered them from I cannot sav; but. if he had combed the darkest dives of the Bowery in New York he could not have found a more murderous looking crew of toughs. They looked the sort that would shoot you first and ask themselves why afterwards. Goering is Herman to everyone in Germany. No one ever speaks of Hitler as Adolf or by any name but the Fuehrer, and there can be no doubt about the faith of the people in their leader. Anyone who thinks that Germany is divided in its allegiance to Hitler should think again. There may be undercurrents of opposition and distrust, just as there are in any country, but generally speaking the country is heart and soul behind Hitler.” Time to Leave What finally decided Air. Neill that, it was time to leave Germany was a conversation overheard in a railway carriage. Two officers, obviously of the civilian army type, entered the carriage after a very affectionate family farewell on the platform, and by straining one’s ears it was possible to hear them when they told the guard they were bound for Breslau on the Polish frontier. Reservations were made the next day. “Berlin,” Mr. Neill said, “was deadly quiet and the people very doleful. Although they were not actively or openly hostile to -Britons, they gave the impression that they preferred our room to our company. I was not sorry, therefore, to leave Germany, but in this I was nearly defeated because when I reached Cologne I found that I could not cross' the frontier without a visa. I was held up for half an hour while m.v ease was discussed, but, eventually 1 was allowed to pass;”