GERMAN LAMENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 November 1943, Page 4

GERMAN LAMENT

OVER CZECH LOYALTY TO BENES.

AND HATRED OF NAZI REGIME

In an article published prominently on June 13, 1943, one of the special correspondents of the “Kolnische Zeitung” sent to Prague announced that the Czech people are completely opposed to the Nazi policy and the German war, and that the name of President Benes is now more popular than it has ever been before. The article is particularly noteworthy because this is the first time that a leading Reich German newspaper has attempted to give the German public a clear idea of the real situation in the Czech “Protectorate.” Up to now the propaganda of Goebbels has always maintained that the policy of annexing the Czech lands into the Reich had been largely successful and that only an insignificant minority of intellectuals, who were held to be responsible for the assassination of Heydrich a year ago, were hostile to the Nazi regime. Another article, published by permission of the Ministry of Propaganda, also speaks for itself. It points out that now, with the Allied offensive in Europe beginning, it is considered dangerous by authoritative circles in Berlin to nurse any illusions about the reliability of the Czechs. The publication of this article is intended to be a warning, on the one hand, to the German public to whom it is explained that the Czechs cannot be relied upon and that they represent a threat to the Hitler regime, and, on the other hand, to the Czechs who are expressly warned of the serious consequences that may result from their “playing with fire.”