The Hess Mystery The original Nazi assertions that Herr Rudolf Hess was suffering from hallucinations when he took off from Augsburg on his Might to Britain have since been thoroughly discredited, even by the Nazis themselves. The British have Hot Hest and he has been medically examined. The only hallucination he appears to be suffering from is that the British do not realise Germany's might, and must be persuaded to seck peace immediately. Britain, however, realises full well that the Nazi wor machine is most powerful, and that its defeat will be no easy ask. But because they realise these facts, they ire determined that the war machine will be
ware from that quarter for scores of yore to come; and the idea of their seeking to make peace just for the reason that their enemy formidable strikes the average Briton a: £0 Tudierous "as fo. be unworthy. of any further consideration. Britain also is strong, and. with the assistance of the United States need serious. Jy fear no combination of European states which Hitler may be able to form under the whiplasher fof his taskmasters. Just before his fight from 'Augsburg, Hess made a speech to the workers of the Messerschmidt factory, In the course of which he highly' praised the workmanship of these German planes, and misquoted in the usual Naai manner the casualties they had inleted upon. the Royal Air Force. Considering what Herr Hess must had then in his mind: 2 flight by a Messerschmidt from Augeburz to Scotland—his eulogy upon the value of these planes can be looked over with a certain amount fof cynical amusement. Possibly he was trying to convince himself as much as anyone else that the machines were good enough to catty him to his destination and the Duke of Hamilton, who has been put into a most unenviable position since Hess claimed him as a friend, 'The Guke's behaviour from the time he received the fret of the letters directed to him by Hess has been scrupulously correct, "and his complete absence of sympathy with' the Nazi cause can-hot be doubted, 'Hess' letters prove one thing, however: that the Deputy Fuhrer did not ae Under impulse when he made hig flight. The idea must have generated in his mind for many months. It should not be forgotten, however, that as late as May 1 Hess declared Augsburg meeting: "We are about to military decision. which he may be presumed to be working, but a "military decision." At the same time presented the Nazi medal, "Pioneers of Labour, fo three men. The first Was Herr Amann who, Herr Hess declared, "had furnished one of the most important weapons to National Socialist Germany by placing at her disposal the entire press." The second was Reichs Minister Ohnesorge on account of his activities in perfecting Wireless navigation, And the third was Professor Messerschmidt himself, to whose plane Hose was shortly to entrust the safety of his life. These three men Were highly praised by the Deputy Fuhrer for the part they had played in assisting towards a Nazi victory. Yet at the very. time Hess was perfecting his plane for Might! In anyone but a Nazi this double. facedness would be surprising, At that time Mess appeared to be in the full confidence of his Leader, yet the most significant crack had appeared th the Nazi facade—the doubt of one of the Fuhrer's most faithful followers whether the Fuhrer was really infallible as the Nazis claimed. 'That may. turn out to be the most significant feature of Hess' action—the assertion, Against. all Nazi tenets, that a follower may know better than the Leader, More Slaves nothing else that hag occurred in other countries which have been overrun by the Nozis could have been cited as proof of the German plan to make citizens of so-called snferior races saves of the Herrenvolk, what hac Just happened in Croatia would be quite enough. Though the Croats contributed by their detection to the swift defeat of Yugoslavia and might, therefore, have been considered entitled to a certain amount of gratitude from the Axis, the first Important news which comes out of the part of Croatia which is under German control Ip that fifty thousand Croats are to be trans. ported to Germany for work there. Apparently they are to be given no choice in the matter, and whatever industries they formerly supplied in Croatia will have t0 get along as best they can without them. Or, as i9 more likely, the Nazis plan to allow the Croatian industries 10 dle. out in accordance with their scheme 10 make greater Germany the centre of all important. Industrial production in Europe, and the surrounding countries mere suppliers. of labour, and agricultural necessaries for the Reich, Thug the punishment of trust In the Nazis has already tation upon the Croats; the slave system has been applied with even less disguise and less. preliminary sapping of resources. the world has become accustomed to see this condition has arisen in other country improbable that the Nazis wil) stop with the Croats. There are other overrun nations in the Balleans which can conveniently supply labour for them. There is Bulgaria, for example, There a possibility that adion to enslave Bulgarian workers will not be immediate, since it ig reported that the Nazis are anxious to withdraw many. of the occupational troops from Greece fand Yugoslavia for use elsewhere, and that pret-sure hag been brought on the Bulgarian Government to provide soldiers to take their place. There can be little doubt, however, that even if the Bulgarians are persuaded to take over the unenviable task of holding down the popula. tions of two hostile countries, with whom they had no quarrel except that which was invented for them by Berlin, the Nazis will continue the economic exploitation they have already begun. 'The Bulgarians will have to do the dirty work, and will got nothing out' of it except the crumbs which "Hitler allows. to fall from his fable. "The arrogance of this kind of thing amazing, but it is even less amazing than the frame of mind which must posses the Nazis and which allows them to believe that they can treat their Axis subordinates and the peoples they have conquered in such a fashion without stirring up an immeasurable hatred. Axis propagandists have been busy painting their "new farder" in glowing colours. Some people may have been' deceived by the picture. If so, they will be very quickly disillusioned when' they experience the "new order" in practice and Fealize that it means for them a role of permanent Peonage. There is something to be said for the idea of Europe working together under tone system for the mutual prosperity of all. But there is absolutely nothing to be said for the idea of Europe working together under one system for the prosperity of only one—i "master race," which looks on history with the eves of distortion, and which dreams of a oneation millennium which would be a nightmare to the rest of the world.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.