UNITED BUT DEPRESSED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 June 1940, Page 3

UNITED BUT DEPRESSED

CONDITIONS IN GERMANY. FEAR THAT DEFEAT WOULD BRING RUIN. The German Social Democratic Party, at its office in Paris, is publishing monthly reports of conditions in Germany. According to these reports Germany is suffering from privation but apparently more than ever tightly held in the grasp of the Nazi Government. It is a depressed but a united Germany. If enthusiasm for Hitlerism is at no high pitch there is no opposition worth mentioning. The Nazi pact with Russia has "dished" the Communists, whose underground anti-Nazi propaganda is said now to have stopped. A Bavarian correspondent reports no apparent resentment among the Catholic masses at the Nazis’ contemptuous attitude towards their church.

In the middle classes, those whom Hitler had never won over incline now to make common cause with him in the name of patriotism, fearing that the defeat of the Nazis woqld spell ruin and chaos.

A report from Berlin says that, in the absence of anything more gratifying, the working classes find a measure of satisfaction in so far as there are now practically no “better ’ classes. No one seems now to hope for a truly happy and contented society; but at least there is equality in this principle; nothing for anybody. Hence the support which the working classes still give to Hitler. If no one hopes, many are afraid. A Berlin report says that there is wide-spread fear that the end of the Nazi regime would mean the destruction of all order.

A Bavarian correspondent says that anti-British propaganda has made little headway among the peasants, but in the towns the working classes are not unaffected by the Nazis denunciation of the "plutocracies.” A neutral business man who has been travelling in the south of Germany found discontent among manufacturers, who are urged to produce goods for export but are denied adequate supplies of raw materials. Yet no radical criticism of the Government was heard in these circles; and however much they complain, these people are full of nationalist arrogance. The observer nil the same had the impression that, no one felt sure of a German victory. Everyone was apprehensive of the future and wished to disclaim personal responsibility for the course of events. The head of one manufacturing concern was an experienced middle-aged man. but had swallowed the Nazi propaganda whole. Though he knew England well, he put the whole blame for the war on Britain and was convinced that the aim of every Englishman was the annihilation of Germany. He was bitterly contemptuous of the campaign by leaflets. "It is idiotic to attempt to weaken our patriotism like that.” he said. "Not even the opponents of National Socialism arc going to turn traitor."