FEAR & SAVAGERY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 November 1943, Page 3

FEAR & SAVAGERY

RAMPANT IN GERMANY DEATH PENALTY FOR CHILDREN OF TWELVE. MORE PRESSURE ON WORKERS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, November 16. Never has the German public shown such intense interest in the Eastern front or devoured the newspapers more hungrily in the hope of finding something to dispel its growing fears, report neutral observers in Berlin, according to a correspondent of “The Times” on the German frontier. A new German decree permits the death penalty for children aged 12 years. The law in 1939 stipulated the minimum age of 16, but the decree slates that the children now are maturing earlier and therefore those between 12 and 16 are subject to the same punishment as adults in exceptional cases or when found to be incorrigible. There will be no Christmas or New Year holiday in Germany, states another decrss, but if the workers want to spend either with their families they must make up the lost lime by working overtime on Sundays without pay. A decree stipulates that air raids must not interrupt factory work. Foreign workers who have been allowed to visit their homes if raids have closed down their works will no longer be allowed to do so. The German newspapers give prominence to these decrees under the headline: “Not a Single Hour Must Be Lost,” DIETMAR’S ADMISSIONS. The High Command spokesman, General Dietmar, in a broadcast over Berlin radio tonight, declared: “In spite of definite obstacles, our faith is unshaken. Confidence is our slogan for the moment—a confidence which is no blind optimism. We know the setbacks of the last months. The Russians are still able to mass superior numbers at all strategical points, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Red Army to widen its bridgeheads. This shows the improvement in our defence system. “It is possible that the British and Americans will want to shorten the Italian campaign by landings on other sectors of the Mediterranean front, and it is well known that this possibility is a reason for the preoccupation of a part of the German public. The Bal'kans and Aegean Sea regions must be left for later discussion; the fighting fronts in the east and in Italy are the most important at present.” BEYOND COLD REASON. General Dietmar, continued: “The Fuehrer in his speech last week expressed his certain belief that sooner or later our people’s way will certainly lead upward again to victory. It would be presumptuous to try to discover the reasons which have led this unique personality to this conclusion, since his ideas come from sources be'yond the scrutiny of cold reason. “Such an attempt is doomed to failcure, because vision, which is an integral part of all outstanding greatness, cannot be made the subject of reasoning and calculations. On the other hand, it must not be overlooked that the Fuehrer’s confidence is based on a blear appreciation of the military situation by the responsible supreme commander.” Mr Harold Nicholson, in a broadcast on a recent visit to Sweden, said: ‘Swedes who had recently returned from Germany gave me the impression 'that the Germans have lost all their sense of destiny and have acquired a sense of doom. A wave of disillusionment, distrust and fear is passing over the land.”