PEOPLES ENSLAVED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 August 1940, Page 5

PEOPLES ENSLAVED

PLIGHT OF THE VICTIMS OF THE NAZIS

WHOLESALE PLUNDER & EXPLOITATION. SURVEY BY BRITISH OFFICIALS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright! LONDON. August 25. In ii speech last night, a representative o! the .Ministry <>!' Economic Warfare followed up the declaration that .Britain has already prepared measures to supply food in the occupied territories of Europe as soon as the Germans quit them.

He pointed out that to relax the British blockade would help the Germans further and enable them to fasten on Europe a system of slave States where the farms, factories, and. above all. the armament works, would toil for the German masters. The German-controlled Press had already shown what Germany’s policy was by such a statement as: "The standard of living of the Dutch people must be lowered if the conquest is to supply Germany with food." He said that any famine which occurred this winter would not be due to a genuine shortage of supplies, but partly to the deliberate Nazi policy and partly to the fundamental selfishness and incompetence of the Nazi system. Facts about conditions in countries now under German domination make it clear what the new German economic order means. The facts come from a bulletin issued by the International Transport Workers’ Federation. In Belgium the standard of life has been reduced and unemployment is rife. At the beginning of last month, the third month of the German occupation. the Brussels unemployment exchange put the number known to be unemployed at nearly 390.000. A year ago the number of registered unemployed was only 170,000. SEIZURE OF FOOD STORES. In Holland the situation is the same. Stores of food laid up by the Dutch Government have been used by German troops or moved to Germany. Reserve meat, specially intended for sale to the unemployed at a nominal charge, has been confiscated. Dutch cattle are to be slaughtered by German order because feeding stuffs are not available.

The regular exchange in both countries has been altered to favour the German troops in occupation. In Belgium the German now gets 12 per cent more for his money and in Holland 25 per cent more. The Germans also use the method of compulsory employment. Dutch unemployed have been forced into so-called reconstruction corps in which they do heavy excavation work for a pittance and suffer as well the insolence of the Germans. Boys between 16 and 18 have been deported from Holland to Germany to work.

In Norway growing unemployment and falling wage standards are reported. Many fishermen have been robbed of their boats and farmers of their horses. The official German news agency says that the present state of essential supplies in Norway may be considered completely satisfactory. That is the German claim, but a Norwegian, writing in a newspaper, says:

“Statements appear in the Press that we still have supplies of essential commodities for a long period. The same day my grocer informed me that he had sold out of various commodities, including dried peas, apricots, cocoa, syrup, stoned raisins, assorted fruits and chocolate, and the grocer said he did not expect any further supplies.” Other information about essential supplies in Norway which the Germans regard as satisfactory includes news from one area where the butchers last week were sold out half an hour after opening time, and the bakers. quickly followed them. In Oslo, police had to intervene to prevent a, market-place riot because of the egg! shortage. Denmark has experienced a rise in food prices. According to the previously existing sliding scale arrangement, wages should have kept pace with prices. This has been rendered impossible because of the conditions of the German occupation. Danish workers have also been sent to work in Germany and although Denmark is claimed by the Germans to be neither conquered nor occupied but only “protected," such workers are not allowed to return home.

Germany’s latest decision about the Poles and Czechs will remove the latest pretence of freedom in those countries. As regards Poland. Dr Goebbels's organ announces that the so-called government-general area will in future be under the exclusive control of Germany. The first task, it is stated, will be to consider the interests of the German Reich. The interests of the local population come second. It states frankly that there have been three stages in the evolution of the government-general: the first when it was merely occupied by German troops; the second, when it was brought, closer to the German Reich: and now the third stage. The Czechs, according to German plans, are marked out for a similar fate. According to a Swiss newspaper, arrangements arc now complete for uniting them in a Customs union with Germany and abolishing the Czech currency.

The tail-piece is provided by Luxemburg. where the Gorman authorities have just embarked on the first stage by dissolving all political parties.