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Soldiers

The army is gloomy despite the advances in the Caucasus. Soldiers are convinced that the war cannot be won. The victories of Rommel in Egypt were cleverly utilized by the propaganda machine. However, the joy over victory soon disappeared. Everybody is worried that no lists are published about the losses at the Eastern front. They know that they are heavy. Many wounded are not brought home but are sent to far away places in the occupied countries. Mail takes a month from and to the front. Soldiers are angry about the brief furloughs. They grow more and more indolent at the front. The many death sentences in the army present desperate actions on the side of the soldiers. Eighteen men of an infantry regiment were shot. They returned from the front and were resting in Prague waiting for new assignments. They had started a rumor campaign and told they would not go back to the front and in case they were forced, they knew what to do about it. Food at the front is sufficient but the lack of fat is noticeable. The soldiers dread a second winter in Russia. Their clothing is frequently made of substitute materials.

Fear Rules

The impression received by a recent observer is that the Germans will only revolt if and when their anger against Hitler surmounts their fear of him. Fear rules everything. The reporter - a woman - was haunted by this fear and refrained from seeing people whose company might cause her difficulty. The only organized anti-Nazi activity she saw was a printed leaflet in an aeroplane factory. This leaflet complained about the lack of food. She was impressed with the fact that the leaflet had been printed. She learned from workers in the factory that since foreign workers were employed, there has been a slow-up. The moment work is supposed to be started, something important is missing and has to be looked for. Among the foreign workers, the French are the most welcome as they are very industrious. Russians, men as well as women are in high esteem because of their dexterity and adaptability.

Anti-Nazis

A friend of this woman, who has a very good position with the Nazis and is himself a loyal anti-Nazi, informed her that there is still resistance in an organized way. For his own safety, he has broken the ties with the people who were active in the Trade Unions and in socialist circles. His attitude seems to be typical of many anti-Nazis. Terror has been so intensified that the remaining

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persons do not dare to organize. He, however, is convinced that the Nazis will crash eventually, but he has no conception as to who will be their successors.

The women met only one anti-Nazi who wanted to organize resistance. He came from the Eastern front where he had distinguished himself and had been rewarded with an important position inside of Germany. He would like to have contacts abroad to transfer the information which he daily receives in his job. This man, a Socialist, does not see any possibility of open resistance. He says if one man rebels, he will be shot. If a whole division mutinies, they all will be shot, and if 100,000 revolt, they will be annihilated. They would be useless victims. He verifies, however, that there have been small revolts during last winter. In one case he knows, the officers joined the soldiers. The officers have been shot and the soldiers distributed among other troops.

The relation between officers and men in the East is good, as they share all the hardships. At home these relations are not good. The comradeship among the soldiers on the Eastern front is excellent. The young, seventeen year old boys find at once a few older seasoned fighters who voluntarily teach them how to best protect themselves.

The woman saw a few former illegal workers who are now released from prison. None of them was willing to resume their illegal work. Her impression was that they have not changed their minds but that the brutal treatment they received had punished their spirit and that they keep their opinion to themselves. They cannot again be exposed to torture which may cause a break-down and their giving information to the Nazis. She received the impression that many of the former illegal workers suppress all reactions and lead a life of aloofness from war and terror.

One illegal worker, who had been in prison for three years, worked for half a year in a factory and then was seized again because he had a discussion with his fellow workers on Russia. He did not promote communistic propaganda, as he was very much interested in stabilizing his position as a skilled laborer, but a worker had denounced him and the Nazis do not take chances with former illegal workers even if their skill is needed.

The Germans are enslaved

A man who had been arrested because he participated in the black market told that the prisons in Berlin are so overcrowded that they had to stand on their feet in a small room. He saw many political prisoners there who did not receive a trial, but he was able to buy his way out with a few thousand marks. Formerly, persons who served sentences in penitentiaries were disqualified to serve in the army, but now they are inducted.

The Gestapo is fully manned to follow up suspects. A woman whose husband fled to South America and from whom she demanded a divorce for her own safety, regarding this divorce as a formal protective political step, was called before the Gestapo who asked her how her husband could tell in South America that the divorce was only a political measure.

The woman observed that short-wave foreign broadcasts are universally listened to. Those who cannot listen themselves receive reports from friends.

The Germans like to listen to foreign broadcasts but are very sensitive about lies. When the British radio told that the dangerously wounded from the Eastern front were not sent into Germany, many objected as they all knew numerous cases

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where the seriously wounded were sent back, even with aeroplanes, in order to get treatment, for the Germans try desperately to save the lives of soldiers in order to use them even as cripples in factories. While they recuperate, they are trained for work, but those who are of no use any more, such as grave tuberculosis cases, insanity, and very old people, are put to death. Everybody knows that in Germany. Nevertheless, the British statement was accurate because fatally wounded were not sent to Germany.

The Gestapo now has master keys for apartments in order to enter a room unobserved and to catch those listening to foreign broadcasts. It is now quite difficult to protect oneself with a door chain, as there are none available in the stores.

The soldiers returning from the East are not favorably impressed with the primitivity of living of the Russians. That has weakened their sympathy toward bolshevism. They say that the Russian soldiers are terrible in battle, but so are the Germans.

She is under the impression, but has not made systematic investigations, that there are still more people for the regime than against it. Everybody wants the war to end, but not all believe that Germany will be defeated. The continued reports of part victories make many believe that they can win the war.

Wherever there is bombing, people get restless. Reports about small casualties are not believed and the truth soon is known to everybody. Those fleeing the bombed sections talk. People living on the left bank of the Rhine were convinced that they would not be bombed as they thought the left bank would be seized by the Allies after the war and they would want it undamaged.

Many of the inhabitants of Cologne have been sent to Vienna. The Viennese do not care to have them. There were difficulties during the evacuation. Women and children refused to leave husbands and fathers who had to remain at their work.

The Germans have plenty of money but nothing to buy. They therefore carry their money to the banks. Our woman was not able to buy an envelope in order to send a letter and neither could she buy a used or new baby carriage. Goods which are still in stores are only given to persons who bring something valuable for barter. The black market flourishes, although those captured are sometimes condemned to die.

Those who have to sustain themselves on rations look very sick. This woman stood for three hours in line to get a head of lettuce. Often women have to leave the line to go back to work. There is grumbling but mainly the talk is: "This is war."

Even the unkept promises of the Nazis were charged to the war.

War industry workers make good money but others, for example brick workers, do not receive more than twenty marks a week and are worse off then before the Nazi-regime. Some do not earn enough to buy the rations, but there are restaurants in Berlin where one can buy excellent food for thirty marks a meal.

In the West of Berlin, the window displays are impressive. Nothing reminds one of war. Our woman went into one store and asked for a displayed umbrella. She was laughed at. In Northern Berlin, the stores do not have window displays. The window displays in the West are not available for ration cards. The customer is told they are just for display. Only those who bring goods may barter them.

The Jews are systematically annihilated unless they work in war industry. When

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they receive notice to move, they know they will be sent to the East. After a few days, they are asked to be ready to leave. In Poland, somewhere, the women have to undress and are asked: "Sarah, where do you want to be shot, in the heart or behind the ear?" The rumor is that very rich Jews have been able to bribe Nazis, who then arrange that these persons are put into special cars and then somehow, these cars are brought to unoccupied France.

The Germans are not yet won over to anti-semitism. There are many occasions where Aryans have put up the money for Jews to enable them to leave. These Aryans who help them are not always anti-Nazis but ordinary people who cannot stand the Nazi brutality.

An officer who had been stationed in France and was transferred to the East, said to his Swiss friends: "We will not meet again. We will have revolution in six months. They will not stand it any longer."

Another German officer, who spent his furlough in the Rhineland, came back to France and said: "Thank God that I am back from furlough. Now I can get a good night's rest."

A German business man who went to Paris compared the people of Paris with the people of Germany and said. "The Germans, much more than the French, give the impression of a conquered people."

Switzerland, the Sanitarium of Germany

August.

A friend who lives in Davos, the famous resort for tuberculosis in Switzerland, states that at present there are 1200 German patients in Davos, 400 in hospitals, 800 living privately. The Germans want to bring more to Davos, but would like to save money. They are buying more and more sanitariums in Davos and in other places in Switzerland. It is cheaper to live in a sanitarium than privately. The Germans would like to eliminate private treatment. The medical organization of Davos published an appeal to all private patients to take a new examination with their physicians. Nobody knows whether the physicians of Davos were forced by the Germans, or whether they had made a dirty deal with them. A German physician decides whether a patient will be transferred to a German sanitarium or whether he should be sent home recovered, or whether future treatment is futile. The gravely ill are very much afraid that they will be sent back to Germany. They say: "We will get a hyperdermic for heaven."

One of my acquaintances was forced to choose between returning to Germany or undergoing an operation. His Swiss physician advised against an operation as it would do no good. This man nevertheless chose the operation performed by a Swiss physician who, himself, thought it not advisable.

I saw letters which a German woman wrote to her friend in Davos. These letters prove how completely Germany destroys sick people. This woman had three sons. One died in Russia, the other became tubercular on the battlefront, and the third had a chronic nervous ailment, which eventually would result in death. His parents are well-to-do and could easily afford to have him cared for. His illness was neither contagious nor dangerous to others. He could not speak fluently and his walking ability was impaired. The Nazis put him into a hospital and after a while cut out visits and also letters. Then the mother received a letter that her son had died

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of flu, that he had been cremated and that she could call for the ashes after due payment. Mother and brother are convinced that he has been murdered, as he had written a day before his death to his brother that he was quite well but that he could not write more, as it would not pass censorship. The woman succeeded in transmitting this news to Davos by inserting it gradually into several letters.

Those cities in the East have suffered heavy bombardment, turn their hate not against the British but against the Nazis.

On the door of the Catholic churches around Halle are large posters, forbidding Poles to participate in the service. Priests are requested to notify the police if a Pole attends. In some distant villages, special services for Poles have been arranged, but in the German language.

Many Russian women were brought to middle Germany for farm work. They were led through the city without shoes and in rags.

The Russian prisoners of war who work in the fields give the impression that they are trying passive resistance. The Germans tell that young Russian soldiers have at once formed Soviets in order to organize slow-downs.

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