Jan, 10.
While no one should be surprised at the lengths to which German propaganda is made to go, it is dificult not to be amazed at the stories Goebbels is telling his own people, and particularly the men of the German alr force. Some time ago, when he was shot down, the pilot of a Junkers 88, a truculent youth of 22 years, when taken to the nearest police station, demanded to know where the nearest German forces were stationed. He was told "The French coast." "Reading!" he retorted. "It is useless to lie to me, I know." He refused to accept any statement other than that the German invading forces were practically in control of the whole of the British Isles and were rapidly approaching London. "I know what T have seen myself," he declared. Soon he was compelled to admit that he had been deceived; his reserve broke down, and he described the way in which he and others were being deliberately misled.
They were apparently being told that halt of Brilain was already in German hands, that London was making a last stand and that a German victory was inevitable in a few weeks or even days, Hundreds of thousands of German troops had invaded Britain, Industrial northern England was completely under German domination, the King, Queen, and Government were besieged in the capital, Portsmouth was then a German naval base, those vessels which escaped being rounded up by the Italians in the Mediterranean, In addition to all this the people of Britain were starving, being held in check by oppression, and waiting eagerly to welcome the victorious Nazis. Disillusion came when the young man was taken off and given the first good meal he had had for many weeks. The reason why so few military objectives have been attacked in "Britain has puzzled many, but this pilot provided it, Before leaving their base German airmen were shown maps indicating military camps, airfields and gun positions. They were told to avoid these as they: were already in German occupation.
Here is seen the application of Hitler's theory that if a lie is big enough it is bound to be believed, and there is every indication that the German forees and people are being drugged into some degree of complacency by means of stories of victories which exist only in the perfervid imagination of Goebbels and his underlings. It is clear that the lies the German people were told during the last war fade into insignificance when compared with the high pressure fiction which the German propaganda officials are pumping out for the delectation of their own people. Herein lies the weakness of the dictator system, It has at all times to live upon success, It dare not admit defeat or even minor reverse, for at all times it has to preserve its self-imposed characteristic of omnipotence. There is no difficulty in persuading the youth of Germany of the truth of these wild stories. They have been-brought up to place implicit confidence in the declarations of Der Fuhrer and his satellites, and it would be the profoundest heresy on their part {o harbour any doubt as to the crystal clear veracity of official pronouncements.
But a time of reckoning is coming for the Nazis, Defeat, which will most surely be theirs, will mean the tragic disillusionment of the credulous German youth,—the middle-aged are probably even now more than a little sceptical, remembering their experi~ ences in the last war,—and the reaction will be enormous. It is not difficult to realize what will happen when defeat shows that the whole Nazi system was founded upon a lie,—the super-superiority of the German race,—and that the Germans have been prevailed, upon by deliberate untruth first to enter into this struggle and then to continue fighting. It is against that reaction that the German Teaders have been making vast monetary deposits abroad, for, when defeat does come, it is confidently expected that they will follow the example of the Italian Blackshirt leaders at Bardia,, and, betraying their fellows, save their own skins by getting out while the going is good.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.