Evening star., 1933-03-11
Nazis Drunk With Power.

Nasi political supremacy and the
Hitler dictatorship in Germany have
promptly gone to the heads Of the Ger
man Fascists. The drunkenness in
duced by the sudden acquisition Of
power would be bad enough If 1t vented
itself merely in broken heads and other
excesses at home, with consequences Of
purely domestic nature. But already it
has taken forms which have required
three foreign countries, including the
United States. to make diplomatic or
other moves in protest or defense.
In Berlin American citizens Of Jewish
faith have been brutally maltreated
and, in some cases, after remonstrances
by the American Ambassador, acting
on State Department instructions, which
ofncially called for cessation Of such
attacks. The cruelties visited upon
these Americans coincide with out
RACES committed by Nazi hotspurs
against German Jews. Chancellor Hit
ler has instructed his overzealous CO.
horts to restrain their anti-Semitic pas
sions. but as these have been long and
systematically inflamed by Hitler HIM
self. his satellites can hardly be blamed
for thinking they now have oflcial
sanction for their depredations.
Serious as are the assaults on Ameri-
can citizens, the Nazis' ebullitions in
other directions are far graver from an
international standpoint. In the case
OF Poland, they have provoked q war
like situation. Chancellor Hitler him.
self is directly chargeable with arous-
ing Polish fears and inducing the War
saw government to take reaching
precautions against an armed attempt
by Germany to recover the Danzig
Corridor. During the final stages of
the recent campaign Herr Hitler made
a spectacular airplane flight across the
Corridor into East Prussia, utilizing the
occasion for assuring East Prussians
that they might rely confidently on
Nazi support for their aspirations once
again to be joined, without the barrier
that now separates them. to the old
German Fatherland. On the night be-
fore election Nazi enthusiasts lit bon
fires at every point where German
territory abuts the soil OF the Corri-
dor or Poland proper.
Today comes news that the Warsaw
war Office is strengthening the Danzig
ammunition depot in the Westerplatte
Basin, which Is within the Danzig
harbor area, the Corridors outlet to
the sea. Ordinarily, the basin Is open
for general commercial traf1c. Until
further notice it will now be held ex-
clusively at the disposal Of the Polish
government. Poland Is also concen-
trating troops at Gdynia, the Poles
newly-created port on the Baltic, and
near the Corridor frontier adjacent to
Danzig. German residents of that an
cient city, capital of the Corridor, have
protested to the League of Nations
against the landing Of troops there
Thus are sown, before the ink on
Hitler's lease Of power at Berlin is dry,
the seeds of desperately serious crisis
in Eastern Europe.
In the west, too, Nazi high-handed-
ness has manifested itself. The bar
racks at Kehl, the Rhenth town in
the Grand Duchy Of Baden, three miles
from S!rasbourg, were invaded and oc-
cupied on Thursday by a band Of SOC
Brown Shirts. who hoisted the Hitlerite
swastika flag, regardless Of the fact that
the premises are of1icially demilitarized
territory. The French government
holds that this particular Nazi excess
is a direct violation of the treaty Of
Versailles, On which Hitler has never
made a secret of his intention sooner
or later to wage a wer Of destruction.
The French are not unjustified in
thinking that the Kehl affair may be a
dress rehearsal for the bigger show.