From Inside Germany
AN unfortunate title and a still more unfortunate and bom- bastically worded dust-cover advertisement eulogising the author for all the wrong things prejudiced me as it may have done others against this book. Actually, in so far as the German chapters are concerned, it is deserving of high praise, not so much because of Mr. Williams's " pipe-line " technique—very good as far as it goes—but because of the extremely hard work, conscientious cross-checking and, above all, the real knowledge based on. experience and wide reading which he and his colla- borator have put into it. The "pipe-lines," it should be explained, are, according to the dust-cover, "friends, officials and other authorities who secretly furnished important news . . . specially coded, which enabled him to ' scoop ' all other news sources." It is a book of reference .which every student of the German problem should possess, and the lack of an index is a real misfortune : this deficiency should be made good. There are a few minor errors which specialists will detect, such as a reference to the Belgian Government in Belgium itself ; but for the most part the -great mass of detailed information given is martialled accurately into one of the best expositions of the present German scene yet published.
The Russian chapter is a serious disappointment. It is a " pipe-line " one, but on this occasion the distillery appears to have gone out of action and what flows out is distinctly a crude product. It will be regrettable if, for example, the account of what Sir Stafford Cripps told Stalin is taken seriously in America. There is an assertion, but no evidence, that a strange "secret agreement" was concluded between Hitler and Stalin, and eight measures said to have been " recommended " by Germany are quoted. As their purpose was mainly to improve the efficiency of the Red Army, and as at the same time Hitler
is assumed to have been "double-crossing" Stalin throughout, we are left to draw the conclusion that• the better prepared the Russian Army was to meet the Wehrmacht, the more satisfied Hitler would be. This chapter requires revision.
In-the earlier chapters which deal with Germany, a very good cross-section of public opinion has been exposed. Among many opinions attributed to workers. are tile following: "If Hitler loses this war it is our turn. If he wins he must live up to his promises. He will do so because then he will have all the food and raw materials we need at his disposal." This comes from Central Germany. An older German elsewhere says: "The morale in general can be described as fatalistic with no enthn. siasm for the war on the one hand and just as little determination to oppose the regime on the other." Mr. Williams's own ann. ment is: "Confusion, helplessness fear ; fatalism, indifference, terror: these recur in various ccmiainations."
One of the most thoughtful and constructive chapters is that on the Jewish problem. The position not only in Germany itself but throughout the whole Continent is objectively dis. cussed and numerous statistics are quoted. The final chapters are concerned mainly with German plans for the United States, which, Mr. Williams forecasts, will -" emerge as the strongest Power on earth, whose word may well be law, whether or not they want it. To decree a balance of punis.hinent and justice for Germany may be America's task. It may devolve upon her to bring into Europe and the rest of the world her own brand of old-fashioned Liberalism with new teeth in it." From this point of view, too, one would welcome a fresh chapter on
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