MERELY A RACKET

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 October 1942, Page 5

MERELY A RACKET

FRENCH COLLABORATION WITH GERMANY. NAZI BLACKMAIL WEAPONS. . . I A recent study made by a British Government Department tells the story of Franco-German collaboration, which the French did not fail to realise in due time was merely a racket, and shows the trickery which it covered. It goes to show, in its final assessment, that complete collaboration means complete subservience, while incomplete collaboration is used as an excuse by the Germans for exactions. How was France to be bled white without i the process bringing about a revolution which, of necessity, would bring an end to the possibility of full exploitation of France’s resources? Such was the problem that faced German statesmanship on France’s day of defeat.

To put collaboration across with the French public, three main arguments were used; a mild one for the simpleminded, a more brutal one for the more politically awake, and an undisguised threat for the potentially resisting. The first argument presented collaboration as a bargain. The second, used more extensively as the failure of the firs' was realised, tried to persuade rhe French that they have no choice, that since the conqueror can impose hi; will, their only chance of getting more favourable conditions is to submit to his will with a good grace, thus presumably keeping him in good humour. The third argument is simply, “Collaborate —or else.”

Recipes for collaboration have been (1) the demarcation line, (2) permanent weapons of blackmail, such as prisoners, control of raw materials, requisitioning and the blackmail of hunger, and (3) control of Press and information.

The demarcation line can be hermetically closed, partially opened, to be crossed by this or that person, at the whim of the Germans. The possibility of the release of prisoners of war is the cruellest but most effective form of blackmail. Radio-Paris (German-con-trolled) is allowed to broadcast that certain prisoners are about to be re-, leased, which after three weeks Berlin will deny. Germany offers France the hope —ever deferred —of the return of her prisoners. Raw materials, another form of the blackmail, will be released to French enterprise, but whenever raw materials are released, it is to industries by which Germany, not France, iwill benefit. Requisitioning forms the 'backbone of the hunger blackmail system. The method is brutally simple and effective. First take France’s food then encourage her to increase her food supplies by requisitionng in order to make her strive to produce more and more—for the benefit ultimately, not of France, but of Germany. Control of the Press and information consists chiefly in bewildering the reader or the person who listens to the radio until he or she gives up trying to think. That is the right road to despair and to the acceptance of the Germans’ will. It is only when we realise all these tremendous powers and influences at work that we can begin to measure what French resistance means, and the obstacles to be overcome render it all the more praiseworthy.