NAZI OPPRESSION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 January 1941, Page 8

NAZI OPPRESSION

DEARTH AND HARDSHIP

IN EUROPE

I CONDITIONS IN PARIS CALLED ! GHASTLY, j I FOOD PROBLEM IN NORWAY DIFFICULT. 'By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright, LONDON. January 9. “The Times" says that uncensored letters that have arrived from Holland reveal that the Dutch are listening carefully to the broadcasts from Britain and are widely spreading accurate news through their “whispering journal'' and secret news sheets. The Germans are retaliating with heavy penalties and also are controlling the wireless. The uncensored letters are unanimous on the seriousness of the unemployment in Holland. A quarter of a million Dutchmen have been taken to Germany for factories or repairing raid damage. Trade has slumped, and as dismissals of staff are forbidden, man} - , staffs are on half-pay. The cost of living is scaring: rationed foods are expensive, and there is hardly any unrationed food, resulting in diseases due to malnutrition. Half of the country's cattle and poultry have been slaughtered due to scarcity of fodder. Another report states that of the Dutchmen sent to Germany 4000 have returned j as they could not stand it. They are now facing starvation, as they are not allowed to work in’their own country and do not receive the dole. The German's replacement of guil-j ders by credit marks is draining the' Treasury. An American woman who has jus'.! returned from France, writing in the New York "Herald-Tribune.” describes conditions in Paris as ghastly. House fuel is unobtainable, she says, and only in restaurants can meat be obtained. The poor are really starving, and though 4000 head of cattle are slaughtered daily in Paris 3500 of them goi to the Germans.

Another American correspondent says that queues of people hoping to buy cheese, meat, chocolate, and vegetables are common, and eggs are practically unobtainable. Luxury shops, however, arc thriving, and brighter colours are being used for Parisiennes' hats to offset the depression. The food problem in Norway is also becoming djfl'iculL as the Germans are requisitioning food without regard for the needs of the population. On one occasion a storehouse containing 3000 bags of flour was emptied by the Nazis, who are also taking moat, fish, tobacco, and eggs. Ono message says that supporters of Quisling are being boycotted by their fellow-Norwegians.