INSIDE GERMANY

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20955, 7 November 1939, Page 11

INSIDE GERMANY

VIGILANT GESTAPU REPRESSION OF FREEDOM CENSORSHIP OF SCHOOLHOUSES (Times Air Mail Service) LONDON, October 3 Evidence is constantly coming to hand showing the vigilance which must be exercised by the German Secret Police—Gestapo—to nip in the bud every spontaneous tendency which might be dangerous to the Nazi regime, writes the diplomatic correspondent, of the Daily Telegraph. I am able to give two examples of this repressive action against any freedom of thought among the youth of the country. Throughout Germany an order has been issued by the Ministry of Education, on the instructions of Heinrich Himmler, Gestapo Chief, to suppress any knowledge which the young people might acquire on the subject of the French Foreign Legion. Himmler considers that the Foreign Legion’s romantic appeal might encourage independent thought and so run counter to the conception of military superiority which the Nazis seek to instil. Himmler’s instruction which, as it was circulated in South German schools during August, reads: “Destroy School Books” “The Secret State Police has drawn my attention to the fact that school books still contain references to the French Foreign Legion. These are to be discarded, even if the dark side of the Foreign Legion is shown, since according to experience any such publications could indicate the existence of the Legion to youthful and unsettled persons, and excite in them the idea of joining up in it. “I therefore request headmasters to remove from their libraries all books about the Foreign Legion. An inventory of such books must be sent to the Provincial and University Library, and the books must be forwarded to it, or destroyed, at its request. “This decree will not be published in the official gazette.” Himmler began life as a schoolmaster. He should therefore know what is likely to appeal to the romantic spirit of German youth and, apparently, has little confidence in the unchallengeable appeal of Nazi militarism. Teachers Dismissed Under orders from the same authority the German Ministei for Education has dismissed from their posts in schools two Roman Catholic vriests: One had called into question the infallibility of Hitler; the other had made a “derogatory remark” about German soldiers. Here are the facts, as stated on the instructions of Himmler: Chaplain Otto Graf, a teacher at Freiburg-im-Breisgau, has been deprived of his post because he addressed his class in the following sense. He said that In fundamental characteristics all men are alike, and there is a point of view which makes it possible to love and esteem all men. He maintained the truth of this assertion with respect to Jews and declared „ that Hitler favoured a just relationship to the Jews. But the Fuehrer could not relax his vigilance for the preservation of the German nation, as is proved by the fact that the newspapers were writing articles about the tendency of the German people to become decadent. In this latter association Chaplain Graf referred to the Greeks and Romans, saying that even a nation of high culture could bring about its own downfall through abuse of its natural gifts. “Designed to Raise Doubts” “* Commenting on these observations, the Minister for Church Affairs declares that Chaplain Otto Graf misuses religious instruction to express political opinions. Moreover, his remarks were designed to raise doubts in the minds of his pupils as to the fundamental truth of the NationalSocialist world ideology in its racial theory, Fuehrer principle and doctrine of absolute obedience to the State. The final observation from the appropriate Reich Ministry disposes once and for all of Hitler’s long-sus-tained contention that Nazi ideology was “not for export.” It is a “world ideology.” Vicar Knickenberg, of Staufen, near Loerrach, who shouted to his class, “Stop looking at those miserable soldiers” when a platoon marched past the school, was also deprived of the right to teach “for lack of respect for the military,” though the order, as in the previous case, was marked “not for publication in the (German) Press.” From a reliable eye-witness I have now received an illuminating account of the recently reported insurrections in the German “Protectorate”—former territories of Czechoslovakia. Czechs “Encouraged” Trouble was started by German agents provocateurs who circulated stories that the Poles were forcing back the German armies, while Britain and France had sent a thousand ’planes to support their Polish allies. These stories coincided with two strikes for shorter working hours in Czecho-Moravska and Skoda, where workers were dispersed by armed forces of the S.S. Sympathy meetings were held in Prague. The stories of German reverses in Poland encouraged certain former Czech officers, whose pay stopped on September 15, to revolt in one or two districts. Their action seems to have been carried out against the orders of those who hope one day to promote restoration of Czechoslovak independence. Evidence of Nazi Gestapo anxiety, none the less, is proved by the fact, which I can state, that 9000 arrests were made, although many men were subsequently released. One gains the impression, however, that the Nazis are far from happy, feeling that a bomb, still’unexploded and undiscovered, lies beneath their feet.