UNREST IN BALKANS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21187, 9 August 1940, Page 5

UNREST IN BALKANS

GROWING DISILLUSION PRO=BRITISH FEELING (United Press Assn.—ciec. Tel. Copy rig-lit) LONDON, Aug. 7 The growing disillusionment in countries immediately concerned in Hitler’s plans for reorganising Europe is reflected in despatches from newspaper correspondents in these and other neutral countries. The Times says: “ Hitler’s ostentatious undertaking to square the Balkan circle has so far only made more confused the pattern of politics in that part of Europe and rendered less secure the position of his latest protege, King Carol. His own special disciples., the Iron Guard—the Nazis of Rumania—have issued a rousing manifesto, certainly not proGerman and actually introducing a pro-British note into its battlecry. “ The Rumanian leaders who went to Berchtesgaden see their supporters slipping and hear their silenced critics once more raising their voices, while eminent Transylvanians who had parted company have united to oppose the concessions recommended by Hitler.

Demands by Hungary “ While Rumanian resistance is stiffening, Hungarian demands are apparently rising. It seems, in any case, that Hungary expects very substantial territorial concessions to be made and Rumania is going to find it difficult to yield any territory at all in Transylvania. “ With regard to the Bulgarian claims in the Dobruja, the way to a settlement is clearer. There never was much justification for the seizure of this territory by Rumania, and, according to our Balkans correspondent, the Bucharest Government has agreed in principle to the return of its southern portion to Bulgaria. “ Britain has already indicated that she considers a fair solution could be reached on these lines and it may be confidently predicted that Britain is not in the least likely, when victory has been won, to wish to upset any settlements which have been amicably reached between Rumania and her neighbours in the south-east or north-west. “ It is believed in Balkan capitals that the German view, impressed upon Rumanians, Hungarians, Yugoslavs and Bulgarians alike, is that the whole region is destined by nature and the will of the Fuehrer to become a purveyor of primary products, particularly food, oil and minerals, to the Reich. It must therefore, so the theory goes, be economically reorganised as German ‘ lebensraum.’

“ Since economical organisation could never be satisfactory unless directed from a central headquarters, it follows that general political control must also emanate from Berlin. Consequenty, the countries in southeastern Europe are not expected to have independent foreign policies at all. Dominated by Reich “ These dependent States must, moreover, maintain a certain balance between themselves. None must dominate the others, foF all alike must be dominated by the Reich. Of this /German plan it may be said at once that it is completely vitiated by the over-riding presumption that all is to be done for the benefit of Germany rather than of the States immediately concerned.” The Manchester Guardian says: “ Hitler is fond of emphasising his sense of responsibility to Europe and contrasting with it the selfishness* of the Western Powers. A leader of a people, it is represented, is to direct not only its own destinies, but also those of smaller peoples belonging to its living space. “ Europe is to be turned into a continent of colonial peoples, all made subservient to the interest of a responsible leader. France is to return to agriculture; the Balkans must grow and produce just what the Germans find convenient; all the economic life of the States that are subdued is to be crushed into the German system, feeding Germany’s industries and consuming Germany’s products. German Order For Europe “ The German order for Europe is a plan under which the different peoples would lose their liberty and obtain in exchange not a higher standard of economic life but distress and economic servitude. “ The spectacle presented by the British Commonwealth today is the most dramatic answer to Hitler’s claim that his plan is generous, whereas our use of power has been entirely unscrupulous and selfish. The truth is that our experience gives us a qualification for leadership that the German lacks, for we learned that to give freedom is to gain strength, whereas Germany still trusts to force as the secret of power.”