ICELAND’S FUTURE
ATTEMPTED PENETRATION BY GERMANS RELATIONS WITH DENMARK. LANDING BY THE BRITISH. Germany has recently acquired special rights to land troops in Finland for transit to northern Norway. Should any attempt be made to attack Iceland, it is generally thought that it would be launched from ports along the northern Norwegian coast. When Hitler’s horde invaded defenceless little Denmark, the British Foreign Office decided without delay to safeguard Iceland from any disagreeable surprise by occupying the island for the duration of the war, writes H. Markert in an exchange. An American, Dr Wilton Krogman, Professor of Physical Anthropology of Chicago University, said recently that German scientists in all parts of the world were acting as advance agents for the Nazi war machine. They provide the German High Command with detailed maps, with information about terrain, about stocks of raw materials and possibilities of propaganda. These “scientists” also have the task of “proving” the Nazi racial claims in the countries concerned. Such researches have been made in Iceland, among other places. The German geologists had a good excuse for their visit to Iceland, for this island presents a' very strange phenomenon —it is in the course of splitting in two. Already cracks stretch from the north-east to the south-west, all extending in the same direction and reaching far down into the earth. Large fields of lava are to be seen near these cracks; whole areas have sunk several yards, indicating that something uncanny is going on. SPLITTING IN TWO. The theory of continental drift, developed by Alfred Wegener, a German scientist who died in the Arctic, supplies an explanation for this phenomenon. Wegener's theory supposes that America and Europe millions of years ago were one continent, which subsequently split in two. While America drifted away from Europe the Atlantic was formed between them. Hence the old legends of Atlantis, the “sunken” continent. Iceland, in fact, one of the pieces torn away by the continental drift, can be regarded as a remnant of Atlantis. The geologists suppose that Iceland is, as it were, hesitating which way to slip and is therefore falling into two parts, one of which is drifting towards the American side, the other towards Europe. For years reports on Iceland have been published in German papers. As early as 1928, when trans-Atlantic flights were the latest fashion, the American pilot, Bert Fish Hassell, advocated an air route from Germany to the United States of America via Iceland and Greenland, and soon German research parties set out for these islands. The Nazis naturally regard the home of the “Edda” and other Nordic sagas as their spiritual “living space” —though nobody believes that the interests of the Nazis are purely literary. Iceland means to them nothing but a stepping-stone for the invasion of America. TREATY OF UNION. They will meet with little sympathy among the Icelanders, in spite of all “racial affinity.” For Iceland is democratic to the core. She is proud of her Parliament, the “Alting,” the oldest in the world. And she is no less proud of her model health institutions which have made Iceland the country with the lowest infantile mortality in the world. It is little known that Iceland, since her constitutional conflict with Denmark in 1918 —under whose rule she lived for five centuries and a half — has been an independent kingdom. Iceland and Denmark were connected merely through the personal union of the King. The basis of these relations is the “Treaty of Union,” which was due to expire in 1940 and could have been ended by Iceland had these loose relations with Denmark ceased to please the Icelanders. The Nazi occupation of Denmark brought a radical solution: Iceland is free to decide for herself —and she has readily accepted the protection offered to her by Britain.
Denmark’s voluntary surrender of supremacy over Iceland in 1918, the separation of Norway from Sweden in 1905, and the settlement of the Greenland conflict between Denmark and Norway in 1931 are impressive examples of the peace-loving attitude of the Scandinavian States, which despise war as an instrument of modern policy and solve all their problems by mutual understanding—in striking contrast to their “Teutonic brethren” of the south. LACKS RAILWAYS AND ARMY. This peaceful liquidation of conflict, has been rewarded by economic and social prosperity for the last 20 years. A poor colony has become a modern, well-organised state, whose population can be called wealthy. The Icelandic fishing industry has flourished, and a big industry for fish products has been created in the world market. The national wealth has been trebled since 1918. The capital, Reykjavik, where two-thirds of all the buildings have been erected since 1918, possesses the most-up-to-date institutions, an excellent university, and a national theatre of high standard. Good motor roads connect all parts of the island. Fortunately it will be some centuries before the fissures splitting the country will seriously affect communications. Iceland lacks only two things; there are no railways—this stage of traffic lias been skipped—and today regular aeroplanes connect the more important places on Iceland. Second, Iceland has no army. Hitherto her fishery has been protected by the Danish fleet, a task which has now been taken over by the British Navy. The island has only a few policemen. When English soldiers were about to land the Icelanders were a bit afraid of them, according to a report by Icelandic fishermen who recently came to England. No soldiers had ever been seen in Iceland before, and in their first surprise some of the islanders thought that the men in the steel helmets were Germans. But when they learnt they were British, and when the soldiers showed themselves sociable and friendly, all went well. Today the "Tommies” are great favourites in Iceland, which they will protect against Hitler.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1940, Page 9
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965ICELAND’S FUTURE Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1940, Page 9
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