EUROPEAN COMMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20923, 30 September 1939, Page 16 (Supplement)

EUROPEAN COMMENTS

“From what I have seen of many Germans, including prominent Nazis in business, I am convinced that the complete lack of honour and the glib disrespect of promises and the given word which have characterised the Fuehrer’s recent policy must have given rise to desperate feelings of shame,” said Mr H. Turner, London manager of the New Zealand Fruit Control Board, in a conversation with | a Daily Times reporter recently. . “We have done a lot of trade with ! Germany under the New ZealandGerman agreement lately,” he said, “and our relations have been most cordial. There has been no trouble whatever, and business has been built up on mutual trust and honest dealing.” The average German one met, Mr Turner said, could be trusted implicitly and most business men were hard put to it to conjure up even a shadow of an excuse for the shattered pledges and dishonoured commitments of Herr Hitler. In his trade visits to Berlin and Hamburg of recent years Mr Turner had been greatly impressed by the frequently expressed view that Britain and Germany should never have been at war in 1914-1918, and the confident assurance that the two nations would never be on opposite sides again. I “There are many people in Ger- 1 many today who are still wondering what it is all about,” he said. “They j have not wanted war with anyone and least of all with Great Britain. The thinking German can see the rocks ahead. He knows that the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the nation, for which he has to thank Herr Hitler, is now in danger of being thrown into the discard. The progress of years will be destroyed, and most people are asking why. Germans generally know that Herr Hitler saved the country at a critical period in its history, but they consider that he should have rested on his laurels in Europe for a time at least, and concentrated on the economic consolidation of all that he had achieved or planned.” Interesting Contrasts Contrasting the attitude of European peoples with current events, Mr Turner said there was no comparison between the demeanour of Germans and that of the British and the French. The Germans, and more particularly those who were old enough to recall the last war, were puzzled < and anxious, and not a little resentful. They were distrustful of their country's policy, and feared its final result. The nation was divided into young and old—with the young wori shipping Herr Hitler and prepared to j follow him to the cannon’s mouth ‘ and the old fearful of what the j future will bring. | “The situation is not so bad so ! long as things go right,” Mr Turner said, “but when reverses come, and the war is carried right into the homes of the people there wfill be a different story. Already people in

New Zealander’s Impression Germany and the War Reactions to Conflict

Germany afe beginning to contrast their meagre rations of food and the spartan diet that has been ordered with the palatial mansions and chancelleries which the leaders of the nation are building for themselves. The suspicion that Goering, Goebbels, Streicher, Hess and others are feathering their own nests is gaining ground, and with the first serious development detrimental to the nation as a whole will soon turn the whispers into a roar of accusation.” On the other hand, the people of Britain were exhibiting qualities of courage and determination that were amazing. The whole nation stood as one man behind the Government, j There was no misunderstanding of i the situation and no under-rating of j the perils and possibilities of the future. Nothing had been hidden from them, and when the time came to make a decision and face the facts the British people did it grimly and doggedly, without cheering and flagw r aving perhaps, but nevertheless with an unshakable resolution to see it through. Similarly, the French had addressed themselves to the prospect of war in a grave and sober fashion unusual in the Latin temperament. Internal discords and political differences had disappeared, and the whole nation was united. Moreover, people approached the problem of war with the confidence that France was better prepared economically and militarily than in 1914. Suppression of News Speaking of the censorship of news and the suppression of overseas intelligence and views, Mr Turner said the system had to be experienced to be believed. The people were allowed to know only what was good for them. In illustration of the effectiveness of the censorship, Mr Turner told how he was in conference with trade executives in the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin on the day that the German Army marched into Austria, but no word of the coup was released. Late in the afternoon he went to Hamburg, and, though he was in that city until 11 o’clock, he heard nothing about the events. Everyone was in ignorance of what had happened. It was not until 6 o'clock the following morning, when the night express from Hamburg reached Dutch territory, that he learnt about the r momentous happenings in Austria. It was amusing, he said, to read of the ban on wireless receiving sets capable of picking up overseas news. In this* respect, the Nazi Government had been hoist with its own petard. The radios now being confiscated and destroyed had for the most part been specially manufactured by the Government, and distributed at very low prices to facilitate the dissemination of Nazi propai ganda, the tuning into which was i mandatory. Today the instrument ! fashioned for its own purposes was becoming a serious embarrassment to the Government

Rationing of Food Food rationing had been in operation for a long time before the war started, Mr Turner said, and people were getting heartily sick of it. Butter was almost unknown in most private homes, meat supplies were at a premium, about 21b a week for a family of four being the limit, and tea was almost a luxury. On the other hand, however, the traveller in Germany from abroad could get tke best of everything, and, in fact, as much of anything as he could pay for. It had been represented to the German people that meat rationing had been necessary to conserve sup-

plies in case of war. Actually. Mi Turner said, he understood that foot-and-mouth disease had taken such a terrible toll of cattle in the north of Germany that a halt had had to be called in stock killings to enable herds to be built up again. “One of the expedients adopted. Mr Turner continued, “was to flood the marts and shops with fish, caught by the hundreds of tons by specially commissioned fleets of trawlers. Exhibitions and demonstrations were given to illustrate the innumerable ways in which fish could be included in the national diet until people became tired of the word and sick eC the smell sod taste of flak."