Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, MAY 1, 1939. HERR HITLER MARKS TIME.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 May 1939, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, MAY 1, 1939. HERR HITLER MARKS TIME.

TF the speech delivered by Herr Hitler at. the opening of the * Reichstag had a keynote, it, was one of uncertainty. Foieigi diplomats in London are said to have described Lie speec i - a strange mixture of truculence and conciliation, Ina , polite way of saying that'in the extentto which Hen Hitler descended to particulars hl % s P e f ll ?™IV sought to contradictions and that, in a number of instances he sought deny well-established truths.

For the Fuehrer, when he is engaged in oratorical. contradictions and inconvenient facts are ec l ua , y the Although he has on his conscience, amongst othei things lie invasion of Spain, the annexation of Austria and _ie sl * P c ' of Czechoslovakia, he had the effrontery on this occasion to declare that: “I have taken no steps injuring foreign n o hts, but have onlv restored rights which were damaged years ago.” Bearing in mind the abominations that hate Sen shape in Spain, in Austria and in Caee as weU as in Germany itself in the martydom < 1 “» savage suppression of all freedom—abominations foi which He Hitler -bears a greater share of responsibility than any othei man—this astonishing assertion in itself makes it to attach serious significance to any part of the Fuelnei s speech. Answering President Roosevelt’s statement that the world plainly was moving towards catastrophe unless a rationa manner of guiding events was found, Herr Hitler said in part:-, T wish to point out that I have not conducted a war and for years past I have expressed abhorrence of war and warmongers. I. am not aware for what purpose I should wage war at all. This is the man who,Ju conjunction with his fellow-dictator. Signor Mussolini, lias conducted a lawless invasion of Spa and on his own (account reduced Austria and Czechoslovakia to submission by mobilisation and the threat, of invasion It is Z mmi also who wrote in “Mein Kampf,” which circulates in Germany as the Nazi “bible’ : Whoever really desires the victory of pacifist thought must ' give his whole-hearted support to the German conquest o.the world The pacifist-humanitarian idea may perhaps be quite good when the world has been conquered and subjected by the highest type of man, who would be made supreme rulei of the earth There would then be possibility that this idea could have a harmful Influence, in so far as its practical applications would become rare and fmally impossible. Therefore, war first, and afterwards perhaps pacifism. Tn “Mein.Kampf,” Hitler also wrote:— When the territory of the Reich includes ail C J^ an f s ’ l an f the Reich avows itself to be unable to support them fiom that necessity will arise its moral right to acquire foreign tern y. With these ferocious aspirations still circulating in the hands of.his countrymen, though to some extent withheld from foreign perusal, their author now says: “I am not, aware for what purpose I should wage war at all.” If ever a man was convicted out of his own mouth of blatant insincerity, it is the Fuehrer of the German Reich. As has been said, the keynote of Herr Hitler’s contradictory speech, in the extent to which it. had a. keynote,.was uncertainty. It may be supposed that this man of extraordinarily unbalanced mind, but of undoubted power for the time being, is still in the dilemma- pictured by the French writer 1 ertmax in August last rear, fn an article then published, Pertinax said the question'of time must be weighing heavily with the Fuehrer, and added: — Is time working for or against a Germanic Central Europe? If the Fuehrer delays .... will he not become a prisoner of peace? And could his regime fit in with such a denouement? On the other hand, should he take the risk of defeat in order to maintain his regime? It is frightful to think that these notes of interSgo day and night through a head which „not at all normal—although it has been revealed that it is much moie calculating than was generally supposed—and which is seldom visited by sleep. Assuredly there is no dependable promise of peace in any word that. the German dictator spoke on Friday. If the outlook is less gravely critical than it was, the improvement, is due to the ability of the democracies and Soviet Russia, with which they are reported to be working in agreement, to stem further totalitarian aggression. Account has to be taken not only of Hie possibility of direct and open aggression by the dictatorships, but of'the accompanying possibility,-perhaps at a longview’still more dangerous, that these nations may for the time being renounce open aggression in favour of a continuation and "extension of Hie policy of conspiracy and intrigue Nazi Germany has pursued with so much success in Central Europe Ihal she now holds or dominates a great, part of the Danubian basin From that standpoint, the Fuehrer’s references m his speech to Poland, softly as they were phrased, evidently must be regarded with the utmost suspicion.