IS GERMANY NAZI ?
StR,—I have read with great interest the article entitled " Is Germany Nazi? " by Mr. Joseph Grigg, which appeared in your last issue. The author's diagnosis of the state of political thought in Germany is, I have little doubt, substantially correct. Even if he may err a little in his percentages of Nazis and anti-Nazis, it is perfectly clear that Germany is a vast prison camp. The anti-Nazis are just as impotent as the population of the German occupied countries, since, like them, they possess neither the weapons, the organisation nor the leadership necessary for successful revolt. A small powerful minority can always hold down a large unorganised amorphous mass, and this is especially true of the ruthless Nazi regime with its S.S. army and the sheep-like docility of such a thoroughly dragooned people as the Germans. For all practical purposes, the Germans are one, for, whether Nazi or anti-Nazi, in time of war, all parties sink their differences, fight with a will and concentrate on victory.
All this seems so obvious that one wonders what the British Government hoped to achieve by Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris's call to the Germans to overthrow Hitler. Admirably worded as that warning undoubtedly was, as far as practical effect is concerned, it might as well have been addressed to the prisoners of Dartmoor to incite them to overpower their armed warders lest the direst consequences befall them. In any case, such tactics are not likely to be of use except in hastening an end already well in sight, but not before. The right moment for launching such an appeal is therefore hardly-at a time when the Germans are triumphantly advancing in Russia. Is it likely that the Germans would interpret it as anything else but a naive manoeuvre to deprive them of their victory— in short, a sign of weakness and not of strength? Badly-timed efforts are apt to defeat their own ends. Deeds must precede words. It has often been said that the Germans are bad psychologists. They are ; but
are we any better?—Yours truly, VICTOR WELLESLEY. The Croft, 12 Dinham, Ludlow, Salop.
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