[Seite: - 1 -] -

TOTAL WAR

in HITLERITE GERMANY

The Executive of the German Social Democratic Party, London, has again received
a number of reports dealing with the conditions in Hitlerite Germany
during the first two months of 1943.

1. Increased Efficiency through Efficiency Wages ("Leistungslohn") and Efficiency Parties (Leistungstrupps)

2. Workers Judge Hitler's Betrayal of the Middle Classes

3. Fallen in the Struggle for Freedom

4. The Effects of the Air Offensive in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne

5. The Transport Crisis

6. The Opinion of a German Industrialist

7. Disillusioned Nazi German Abroad

8. "I am Shocked by the Nazi Atrocities"

[Seite im Original:] - 2 -

Increased Efficiency through Efficiency Wages ("Leistungslohn") and Efficiency Parties (Leistungstrupps)

'The methods by which the Nazis are now trying to increase industrial efficiency are impressively illustrated by the example of a comparatively large metal factory in Hamburg.

"In this factory the representatives (Vertrauensleute) of the Arbeitsfront have been ordered to adopt a different valuation of labour in order to increase efficiency. Particulars should be determined by these representatives and the management. An increase in real wages was, however, permitted only on condition that the increase should be paid into the "Iron Saving Account". The Nazis and the management found the following solution: If the general rate of work was unchanged wages would suffer a decrease; whereas even a slight improvement of the maximum output in piece work would carry a comparatively high premium.

The workers decided that they would by carrying on at the old pace, persuade the management that increased efficiency was impossible. The management was ready to give way and reported to the competent authorities, followed the second act. Eight young metal workers appeared in the factory who exceeded the former maximum output. It turned out that these young people were proceeding from plan to plan in order to make the new system work. They are exempted from military service and have meanwhile become ill-famed as "Stakhanovs". The workers must not, however, show their dislike of these fellows because the Gestapo watch very carefully over their "honour". Unfortunately, they succeed very often in making inroads into the workers' solidarity. In the afore mentioned factory the workers under 45, about one quarter of the total, have gradually adapted their work to that of the 'Leistungstrupp' and that not for pecuniary reasons, but solely for fear of being sent to the Eastern front."

[Seite im Original:] - 3 -

Workers Judge Hitler's Betrayal of the Middle Classes

From a group of formerly organised workers we have received the following opinion on the regime's measures against the middle classes in the course of the so-called "total mobilization":

"We have to confess frankly that we cannot help feeling a certain malicious satisfaction when the small tradesmen have to close their shops for it was, after all, these petty philistines who helped Hitler to seize power. It is true, Goebbels promises them a glorious regeneration, but this is preconditioned by winning the war, and even such a jingo as the average petty bourgeois no longer believes in that."

Fallen in the Struggle for Freedom

For distribution of illegal pamphlets

Hans Scholl, Munich, aged 24
Sophie Scholl, Munich, aged 21
Christoph Probst[1], Innsbruck, aged 23

have in Munich been sentenced to death. All three sentences have been executed.

It is reported from Leipzig:
The Gestapo traced widespread distribution of clandestine papers. 106 people were arrested. All of them were murdered without trial by the Gestapo of the SS. The distribution of illegal material goes on.

[Seite im Original:] - 4 -

The Effects of the Air Offensive in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne

A neutral industrialist, manager of a big business, experienced the big R.A.F. raid on Berlin on the 1st March. This is his account:

"Immediately after the raid I visited the bombed districts. The damage is immense. The devastation is especially heavy in 'Under den Linden' where many big buildings have been wholly destroyed. The cathedral has been heavily damaged, the Hedwig Church and the Werder Church have been utterly destroyed.

The people were extremely depressed. It is as if everybody had lost his nerves. Everybody is irritated and at the slightest incident people make scenes and insult each other. This irritability is common among all classes.

Another eye-witness reports: During the night of the raid I spent seven hours in a shelter. In 'Unter den Linden' the damage is especially heavy. To the south of this street whole streets have been razed. The quarter around the Hedwig Church is a heap of debris. Also the 'Werdersche Markt', the bank-district, and the Behrens- and Französische [!] Strasse have been hit hard. One of the City Railway stations, presumably 'Börse' [!] or 'Alexanderplatz' has been destroyed.

The people were very depressed. One sees only earnest and sorrowful faces. Mothers on night shift bring their children to the shelter before starting work in the evening."

A traveller, a neutral subject, who visited her mother in Hamburg, relates:

"Most of my time in Hamburg I spent in some shelter. I hardly ever saw my mother though she is seriously

[Seite im Original:] - 5 -

ill. Normal life - so far as it exists at all - is heavily impaired by the many warnings. To avoid a decline in production an order has been given for all Hamburg factories that the workers may seek shelter only when the first bombs are being dropped. Then it is very frequently too late, and consequently casualties among workers are heavy. The workers are very embittered by this order. The workers of Blohm & Voss repeatedly left their jobs contrary to the order when the warning sounded. They were seriously warned and threatened that in future everybody contravening the order would be shot at. It is alleged that people have actually been shot in this way.

The Nazis try to cover the damage as soon as possible - walls standing are pulled down, the debris cleared away, and the bombed place fenced in with planks. Nevertheless, the gaps in the streets speak an impressive language.

The morale of the population is low. Many people grumble when unobserved and look upon the war as lost, but others still hope for victory."

A traveller reports on the R.A.F. raids on Hamburg at the end of January and the beginning of February:

"I experienced raids before, but the attacks at the end of January and at the beginning of February surpassed everything. In the shelter of my boarding house which is at least two kilometres away from the place of the main impact we felt the concussion so strongly that we believed bombs had been dropped in the immediate neighbourhood.

The otherwise calm people of Hamburg were so upset by the raids that next day they expressed their opinion on `Hitler's damned war' very freely. They seemed to have forgotten that there still exists a Gestapo. Of that I reminded a business friend of mine when he gave vent to his feelings at a restaurant, but he was so upset by the death of his mother who had become a victim of the raid, that he declared it couldn't be any worse and the Gestapo pigs might

[Seite im Original:] - 6 -

kiss his ... . Such outbursts were quite frequent during the following days, even in public conveyances like the tram, and I know of no case in which anybody defended the Nazis or committed a denunciation. Later the old taciturnity returned. People wait in desperation for the bitter end which is desired to come soon, one way or the other."

With reference to Cologne a neutral businessman who visited the city at the end of February relates: "The destruction is terrible. Whole quarters are in ruins. Nothing has been cleared away, only the streets have been made passable. The morale of the population is low. One has the impression that people were out of their minds."

The Transport Crisis

As to Passenger transport a traveller reports on his own experience in January last [!]. When he travelled to Cologne from Berlin there were only three civilians on his express. All the other travellers were soldiers or other people in uniform. His travel permit was examined nine times during the journey.

The Opinion of a German Industrialist

An influential German industrialist judges the situation in Germany at the end of last year as follows:

"The mental frame of the population is catastrophic. The worst desperation prevails among intellectuals. Also among officers opposition against the regime is growing. As an example he referred to his two sons serving at the Eastern front as active officers. Formerly they had been enthusiastic Nazis. Now they were wholeheartedly against Hitler. They had realised the crime against the German people Hitler had perpetrated.

He saw only a poor chance of an international [wahrscheinlich gemeint: internal) revolution. Any sign of resistance, from whichever quarter, was ruthlessly suppressed. The terrorism

[Seite im Original:] - 7 -

was indescribable. Every organisation, even administrative and military authorities, were infested with spies. The people were suffering from a veritable persecution mania. The workers had, on the whole, become reconciled to the system. They were earning good wages and were given preference in food distribution. In addition, the preconditions of revolutionary action differed greatly from the conditions in 1918. There was a spy in every house, indeed, in every flat. Besides, there was no organisation capable of preparing for concerted action. In these circumstances the workers had lost all their courage and energy.

In this connection it is interesting to mention the impressions of an industrialist from a neutral country who returned from a journey to Germany at the beginning of March. He thinks that Goebbels' recent propaganda drive was a big success. His contention that in the event of defeat the whole German people was doomed to destruction had made a deep impression. Everybody said: We have to do all we can to use the small chance of success, we must all come forward, for if the Russians and English win we are all lost.

He did not believe in a German revolution. It was impossible because everybody distrusted everybody else. For a man from a democratic country it was an appalling experience to see how people were frightened by the Gestapo and their spies. From conversations with the hotel staff and with workers of his German branches he had gained the impression that the workers had become reconciled to the Hitlerite system.

Disillusioned Nazi German Abroad

A German National Socialist who runs a wholesale business in a neutral capital returned greatly depressed from his last journey to Germany at the beginning of this year. He complained about the bad food situation for travellers dependant on catering establishments. In Nazi circles there prevailed an all

[Seite im Original:] - 8 -

but desperate mood caused by the military reverses in the East and in Africa, and by the effects of the British air offensive. They were also worried about Hitler's whereabouts. Wild rumours were being disseminated, generally it was believed that Hitler was seriously ill and that Himmler had prevented the news from being made known. This Nazi further stated that foreign broadcasts were being listened into specially by Nazis.

The measures of "total warfare" are also very strictly applied to Germans living in neutral countries. The prospect of an enforced return has considerably damped down their enthusiasm for National Socialism. It has been established that a number of Germans who always liked to stress their Nazi creed disobeyed the summons to medical examination or the call-up order. Others made inquiries among German refugees what to do to avoid a return to Germany. These Germans abroad have been deeply impressed by the fact that the former German Minister in Stockholm, Prince of Wied[2], did not return.

"I am Shocked by the Nazi Atrocities"

The representative of a North German machine factory stated on the occasion of a visit to a neutral country: "I anticipated that I should get a very different picture of Germany's military situation. We all feel that a catastrophe is inevitably approaching. What moved me deeply is the reports on the atrocities committed by the German armies of occupation. Nothing is known in Germany of these matters. I think that atrocities of this kind are perpetrated solely by the SS who have practised barbarism in their own country for ten years."

+

(Reports by the Executive Committee of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany,
Published May 1943.)

Zu den Inhaltsverzeichnissen