HITLER AND HACKNEY
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—I have read the article "Hitler and Hackney," by Mr. Greenwood, in your issue of March 31st. Perhaps I may be allowed to make a few remarks, as I can speak from personal knowledge, having lived in Vienna for thirty-six years.
The writer admires Hitler and his work ; he asserts that there are no unemployed in Germany. This may be so, but let us examine the facts. Before Hitler came into power Ger- many had six million unemployed ; during Hitler's regime one million and a half have gone into the Army, Navy and Air Force, one million sit in the offices of the Nazi Party, Police and in other places, where they do useless unproduc- tive work—for example, the Gestapo, or Secret Police, is a vast organisation; one million have been placed in the Labour Camps, and every man and woman in such a camp must work ; half a million or more are in the prisons and the con- centration camps.
However, the writer is correct when he asserts that the economic develapment has increased and the industrial pro- duction has grown ; but at what price? The workers are obliged to work for ten, twelve or fourteen hours a day, whereas formerly a working day was eight hours. Actual wages are smaller, for the writer allows that the deterioration of the articles means a- rise in prices. To give an instance : formerly a coat might last for two years, today perhaps for one year or less, but the price of such a coat is higher. The wages are higher due to the increase in the hours of work, but they are hardly enough to meet the cost of living. I have spoken to many people from different classes, and they have told me that often in the middle of a job they have had to cease work for lack of raw materials.
A sign of this is the reduction of export trade. No reli- ance can be placed on the Nazis' reports, but here it is diffi- cult for them to 'ie, for the figures can be checked by statistics from other countries. After the annexation of Austria and Sudeten Germany it has not been able to state the decrease, because the comparative figures are not obtainable, but an analysis shows that exports have declined by 25 per cent. to 30 per cent. This statement agrees with the words of Hitler in one of his recent speeches : "We must export or die." A reduction by such a sum means three milliard marks. This amount, after deducting the profit of the manufacturers, is the wages of two million workers. Now it matters little to the worker whether he gets his money by working for an external or German customei, but in the end the decline must have its effect on the production, for Germany has no raw materials and no gold or currency. She needs the raw materials, and if she does not get them, she cannot produce anything.
The materials which replace them are of very little value. The writer is mistaken about the satisfaction of the workers. They cannot be content, for they have to work much longer, they earn much less, and they cannot get the necessary food to keep body and mind up to standard. I will not deal with the loss of their personal freedom.
He who has seen the work of the dictatorships, these systems of most cruel, barbaric despotism, cannot help but be a fervent lover of liberty.—Yours faithfully, AN AUSTRIAN JEWISH REFUGEE.
Previous page
