Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1938. AN UNSETTLING SPEECH.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 September 1938, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1938. AN UNSETTLING SPEECH.

TN the speech at Nuremberg in which he dealt with the European crisis and to some extent defined German aims, Herr Hitler may have intended that what he had to say should be regarded as a contribution to the establishment of European peace. The Fuehrer indeed said he had made an effort to serve peace, but in the strange jumble of his speech, particularly bearing in mind the manner of man he is and his record—-that of a remarkably gifted political confidence trickster, who has accomplished marvels in working upon the credulity of his fellow-countrymen there is little enough that is calculated to inspire confidence for the future.

From a glorification of his own party, by way of a vague and rambling attack on democracy and a furious denunciation of the Soviet (whose methods, though bad enough, are not worse than his own), Herr Hitler proceeded to a preposterously exaggerated statement of the grievances of the Sudeten Germans and to an assurance that Germany would defend “these poor creatures” if they could not defend themselves.

Anything that the Fuehrer had to say about Germany s desire “never to cross swords with England again” is vitiated by the extravagant insincerity of his references to the Sndetens. So also is his declaration that:—

Germany is reconciled to a large number of her frontiers and is determined to accept these as unalterable and definite and thereby to give Europe a feeling of security and peace ...

It has been stated fairly by the London ‘‘Times” that “the last set of Czech proposals removes altogether whatever might legitimately have been regarded as a grievance by the Sndetens, and only leaves unsatisfied certain claims which would place them in a privileged position in the State.” The Sndetens, indeed, are demanding more than a. privileged position in the State. They are demanding full freedom to organise for its dismemberment, and ultimate subjugation by Germany.

It is and can be nothing else than this measure of achievement that Herr Hitler has in mind when he affirms Germany’s readiness to defend the “poor creatures,” the Sndetens, if they cannot defend themselves. The pretene he puts up of a tender regard for the rights and liberties of individuals and of the Sudeten group is a really remarkable example of the Fuehrer’s brazen effrontery. Tn Nazi Germany there are no rights and liberties of individuals. The Nazis have the distinction of having induced even university students to shout in chorus: “We spit on freedom! ’ ’

With France, Russia, and presumably Britain also aligned against the extortion of any further concessions from the Czechs to the Sudetens, Herr Hitler’s speech, taken at its face value, evidently cannot be regarded as a contribution to European peace. It has to be considered, also, that the man who today wields so much power and influence in Germany has proclaimed openly, in his autobiography “My Struggle,” and has never disclaimed, aims of ruthless aggression, conquest and duplicity. In his book, still a manual for all good Nazis, Hitler declared that France must be destroyed and that expansion would then proceed in three steps—the reconquest of territory lost in 1918; the union of all Teutonic Aryans in Europe under German leadership; the seizing of new lands in the east and south-east, into which the German population could migrate and multiply. This, it has been pointed out, implied the end of Poland and the division of Soviet Russia.

There is no reason to suppose that Hitler has abandoned these aims. It is true that he has abandoned many features and details of his internal programme which later proved inconvenient, but this only emphasises the, well-established fact that deception and falsehood have an important place in the propaganda by which he gains his ends.

If the outlook in Europe is in any degree better than it was, the improvement is due to nothing else than a perception by Hitler and his associates of the necessity of yielding something in face of the stand taken by the European democracies and Russia. The necessity certainly is not lessened of seeing to it that he is not allowed to wring such concessions from Czechoslovakia as would only

postpone for a time, and ultimately magnify and accentuate, the dangers by which Europe is confronted.