REVEALING TALK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 October 1942, Page 4

REVEALING TALK

AT FAMOUS PARIS CAFE. INCREASING GERMAN PESSIMISM. The Cafe de la Paix, the most famous corner cafe in Europe, on the angle of the Boulevards and the Place de I’Opera, is as revealing today, now that its terrace is crowded with German officers at its round tables, as it ever was. Conversations overheard there by a correspondent of a Swedish nawspaper are reported in “Arbetaren,” of Stockholm. After pointing out that Parisians no longer frequent their favourite boulevard cafe, he says:

“A year ago the tone was optimistic, whereas today the principal question that crops up in all conversations is, ‘How do you think all this is going to end?’ Or, ‘Do you believe Germany can hold out?’ And if the German officers remain silent, there is in their silence something not only of pessimism but of fatalism.

“Furthermore, the conversations overheard reveal a' surprising absence cf political realism. These officers invariably take their wishes for realities, especially in regard to present reactions among the French.

“When the alliance between the U.S.S.R. and Britain and the agreements with the U.S.A, were concluded, the Germans said among themselves: ‘The French, being in the majority antiCommunist, will certainly ally themselves with us now.’ But if the Germans had been able to understand the people around them it would have been brought home to them that the Parisians were absolutely delighted at the signing of the treaty, convinced as they were that such agreements signify the certain defeat of Germany.”