THEY WILL RISE AGAIN!

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 99, 16 May 1941, Page 7

THEY WILL RISE AGAIN!

Written for "The Listener"

by

The REV.

W. S.

ROLLINGS

The Story of Csechoslovakia’s Campaign of Passive Resistance on the Home Frout and Active Opposition Abroad

NAZI censorship has sought to make Czechoslovakia a prison through whose walls no news shall pass to the outside world. Letters from abroad are censored and none must be stamped except by Nazi officials lest under the stamp a secret message should lurk. But the National Czechoslovak Councils in London and Chicago receive constant news of happenings in Bohemia and Moravia and the following article is based on reliable news received from these sources.

FTER two years of occupation all German efforts to reconcile the Czechs to Hitler’s new order and secure their collaboration have failed. This is illustrated by an amusing incident which happened in Prague a few months ago: A Gestapo agent heard an aged Czech exclaiming "Hitler is the greatest leader. The Germans are a_ noble nation. I would rather work for ten Germans tham one Czech." The old man was taken in triumph to the Gestapo headquarters, but when asked his occupation he reluctantly admitted that he was a gravedigger! Methods of persuasian have failed. So_ the Nazis have resorted to savage acts of repression to break down Czech resistance. The resources of the country in finance, agriculture, raw materials, and manufacture have been exploited to the estimated value of £500,000,000. Czech Solidarity Thousands of Czech farmers have been evicted to make room for German evacuees from the Baltic States, Bessarabia, and Bukowina. Hundreds of thousands of Czech workmen have been deported to Germany. Primary production and industry have been harnessed to the Nazi war machine. All Universities and higher schools of learning have been closed, and their scientific equipment transferred to the Reich. Eighty thousand Czech patriots have been imprisoned or sent to concentration camps, Yet the nation maintains a solid front against Nazi domination. As an English woman lately said, one might as well try and stop green grass growing as to suppress Czech love of freedom.’ The Czechs. called the restoration of national independence in 1919 after three centuries of Habsburg rule, Resurrection. The Munich agreement they regarded as an attempt on the part of Hitler to bury the nation alive. But the reborn nation has too much vitality thus to perish. Czechs in Britain The pre-war Czech community of 500 in London has swelled to 15,000. The political nerve centre of Czech national life is the Czech National Council which functions in London as the legitimate Government. With the Imperial Forces there is a Czech ‘Command of several thousand. Under the British Home Defence 270 Czech doctors are serving in hospitals, first aid stations, and mobile medical units: In Britain’s. munition plants the rule to employ only British craftsmen has been relaxed by the Minister of Labour, who announced a plan for employing 10,000 Czech workmen in war industries. The Air Arm But it is in the struggle for air supremacy that the Czechs are rendering most vital aid. There are a thousand Czech airmen serving with the R.A.F. Their skill and gallantry have been freely acknowledged by their British comrades, It has been revealed that British *planes, which in rapid turning and manoeuverability have proved superior to the German, owe some of their qual-

ities to Czech scientific craftsmanship. When the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia, Edward Outrata, Director of the Brno Munitions Plant, fled to France and then to England, taking with him invaluable production secrets, Nazi emissaries sought in vain by lavish promises to induce him to return. It was in the Brno Plant that the Bren gun*was developed. Here also, by an "Extrusion Process" of treating certain metal alloys, the strength and quality of ’planes had been increased. Czech engineers are operating this process in fifty British munition plants. The Home Front The Czechs are known as masters of the art of passive resistance, which is now being practised on a national scale. There is a Cultural Front, which the Nazis rightly regard as the nerve centre of Czech resistance. The Czechs are an educated and cultured people. Their political leaders from President Masaryk down have been intellectuals of distinction. A few months ago Dr. Goebbels visited Prague, and summoned the journalists and other intellectuals to meet him. He stressed the necessity of collaboration culturally with the Nazi administration -or else! Later he attended a command

performance in a Prague Theatre, where he was received with icy silence. Prague is the centre of the intellectual front.’ This takes the form of a whispering campaign in which slogans and news items are passed from lip to lip. The New Year’s slogan was "A happy New Year with the old frontier." It sometimes takes a bolder turn. When President. Roosevelt was re-elected, Prague was flooded with leaflets proclaiming: "Heil Roosevelt! Long live Czechoslovakia in a free Europe." The Nazi propaganda denunciation of democracy has been countered by a new political catchword, "Nazi Brutocracy." There are a few Nazi Quislings in Prague who function under the name of Vlatja, With heavy German subsidies they produced a Czech-Nazi journal of the same name. But the Czechs would not read it, and it ceased publication. All the Czech papers are subject to Nazi censorship, and receive propaganda articles for publication. The latter are readily detected by their abusive epithets, which are called "the Nazi trademark." In one article twenty epithets were hurled at Mr. Churchill. At the ViJatja propaganda meeting held in a Prague auditorium seating 3,000, only 150 were present, and most

of these left during a violent speech of the Viatja leader. Another meeting in a Czech town was attended by eight schoolboys. Reprisals? Yes! Eight thousand intellectuals, including 3000 students, have been sentenced to concentration camps, ef whom 800 are reported to have been done to death. Still the campaign goes on. The Industrial Front Sabotage is the weapon on the industrial front. Railway fransport is dis« organised, rolling stock shows deteriorastion with frequent breakdowns. Details of these casualties must be withheld in order to protect the saboteurs from Nazi vengeance. But their effectiveness may be judged from this fact: The famous Skoda Munitions Plant has been taken over by the Germans with Albert Goering, brother of Marshal Goering, as manager. Czech foremen have been replaced by Germans. The plant now works three shifts of eight hours daily. Yet the production is less than the pre-war normal output on an eight-hour day! Reprisals? Sabotage has been made a capital offence. Many Czech workmen. have faced the firing squad, The same story is told on the Farm Front. Only half the normal grain and potato crops were gathered last autumn. The milk, butter, and cheese production declined by one-third. Less plunder for the Germans and severer rationing for the Czechs. Yes, but the Czech can take it as part of the price of coming freedom. Here is the Czech point of view: "It is much better to get along without such material necessities as food and clothing than that our souls should be destroyed. Czechoslovak children will be pale after the war is won, but their spirits will be free."