WHAT SHALL BE DONE ABOUT Germany?

Korero (AEWS), Volume 2, Issue 3, 14 February 1944, Page 7

WHAT SHALL BE DONE ABOUT Germany?

From the Christian Science Monitor |

One of the most arresting questions before the worlddaily becoming less premature —is, “ What Shall Be Done With Germany After the War ? ” In conversation, one already hears the question dismissed in a phrase, ranging all the way from “no punishment ” to “ complete annihilation.” But these answers leave the complications unconsidered, untouched.

The Council of Democracy has sent to national leaders a questionnaire on the subject of Germany. At a later date collated returns will be available.

But meanwhile the reader can see, by trying to answer for himself the following carefully contrived questions, that the problem will require the most earnest study of statesmen and citizens alike. We present these questions, with a prefatory note, as a sort of intellectual exercise to illustrate the difficulties of post-war planning.

In order to keep the discussion within bounds and to confine it to the one question, “ What shall be done with Germany after the War ? ” various related problems, important though they may be, have been eliminated, viz. :—

(a) The effect of public discussion of the peace terms on the actual military conduct of the war. Such discussion

necessarily enters the sphere of strategy in so far as it provides propaganda for use by us, or by the Germans, to weaken or strengthen their will to resist.

(&) How large a share the United States will actually have in determining the conditions imposed on Germany, in view of possible conflicting desires of Russia, Great Britain, &c. (c) Questions of World Federation, treatment of other countries, &c. Foreword For practical purposes the question, “ What Shall Be Done With Germany After the War ? ” has been subdivided into the following specific topics :— 1. Punishment. 2. Reparations. 3. Form of government. 4. Disarmament. 5. Re-education. 6. Relationship to rest of world.

It is urged that these questions be considered from a purely objective, unemotional point of view. The problem is— not what we might like to do to Germans, or what the Germans deserve. It is—What treatment of Germany is most likely to produce the kind of world we want — ten, twenty, fifty years after the war ? 1. Punishment (Considered always from the objective viewpoint) A. Why Punishment ? 1. Effect on Punishers : — (a) Would quick blood-letting relieve pent-up emotions in invaded countries, thus permitting a calmer approach to the main problem of the Peace ? (&) Would harsh punishment of Germany give us a guilt complex later on ? Namely, Anglo-Saxon conscience after the last war, which through sympathy for Germany contributed to permitting Germany to re-arm. (2) Effect on Punished :— (а) Will punishment act as an example—deterrent ? (б) Will it convince Germans (and others) that Nazi philosophy of aggression and race hatred does not pay, or (c) Will it root permanently in the German soul the desire for revenge ? B. Punishment For Whom ? 1. The whole German people ? 2. Army officers ? 3. Junker class ? 4. Government officials ? 5. Members of the Nazi Party ? 6. Leaders of the Nazi Party ? 7. Gestapo ? C. Guilt How defined ? 1. General responsibility ? 2. Personal responsibility for particular crimes ? 3. Determined by what judicial codes ? 4. By whom tried ? (a) Anti-Nazi Germans ? (&) Allied Powers ? (c) Courts of invaded countries ? (tZ) Neutrals ?

D. Form of Punishment ? 1. Death ? 2. Imprisonment ? (а) Where ? (fe) How long ? 3. Forced labor? (See also " Reparations.”) 4. Fines, deprivation of property, of civil rights, &c. ? 5. Withhold food or other supplies from Germany at end of war ? 6. Any diminution or cancellation of punishment for those who aid us between now and the end of the war ? 11. Reparations A. Desirable, in any respect ? B. Amount. 1. Fixed ? 2. Indefinite ? C. Method. 1. In cash ? 2. In kind ? 3. By furnishing labour and materials for reconstruction inHolland ? Belgium ? France ? Russia ? Great Britain ? Norway ? HI. Government A. Divide (“ Balkanize ” ) Germany into pre-Bismarckian States ? B. Do not divide, but—1. Stipulate form of government ? 2. Let the Germans decide without interference ? 3. Let the Germans decide but by referendum with voting supervised by the Allies ? 4. If a strong Communist movement develops in Germany, what shall we do ? IV. Disarmament A. Military planes, tanks, &-c. 1. Total ? 2. Partial ? 3. How supervised and enforced ? B. Economic. 1. Eliminate heavy industry from Germany ? 2. Control the use of certain strategic materials, such as alloy metals, which are necessary for armanents ? C. Political. 1. Shall we or shall we not allow Germany to contribute its share by hypothetical international police force ?

V. Re-education , • A. Can the spirit of Nazism be wiped out (broadly speaking) ? 1. From all Germans ? 2. Only from Germans over thirty - five years of age ? 3. Only from the young under twelve or fifteen ? B. Methods. 1. Leave “ Re-education ” entirely to Germans ? 2. Leave to proven anti-Nazi Germans ? 3. Take it over ourselves ? 4. Leave it to Germans, under our supervision and control ? 5. If under our supervision and control, do we — (a) Select teachers ?

(b) Specify courses and contents of textbooks ? (c) Control the censor — press—radiopublishing ? VI. Relationship to the rest of the World A. Economic. 1. Equal access to raw materials ? 2. Control of rates of foreign exchange ? 3. Loans to Germany for food, rehabilitation ? B. Political. 1. Shall Germany be admitted to the Society of Nations ? (а) At once ? (&) After qualifying for membership ? (c) If so, what qualifications ?