Evening star., 1937-12-01
Army Protests to Hitler
Amazing Document of Chaplains Questions Unity
in Crisis of War.

sinatsd without trial, IN single night,
and In the ensuing three or four days.
Issus Sslsly Political.
This new conflict u the more amaz-
ing. In that 1t does not arise over an
immediate military issue. The whole
issue IL political.
But the army s learning, it seems,
that the way the state uses it, au-
thority, and the atmosphere prevail
ing among the people, cannot remain
. matter Of indifference to the army.
Some weeks ago. the ofacer In charge
Of the economic department Of the
war ministry complained that there
was overtraining Of the young people
In the Man labor camps and youth
organizations, and that, when they
came up for military service, they
were discouraged and downtrodden.
This petition Of the chaplains says,
in effect. that the officers Of the states
armed forces cannot make . decent
army out Of people who feel contempt,
distrust, and even hatred for the au-
thority Of state!
To think Of this document Is a Pc
ton from the army chaplains alone,
Is to misunderstand 1t. No one who
knows the discipline Of the German
Army will dream that this document
was sent of to the Fuehrer by its re-
ligious mentors alone. Unless We are
to presume that there is q division in
the ranks Of the army itself, which
would make the move even more om-
inous for Germany. then one must be-
heve that the petition was inspired
by. and has the support Of, the general
stan; that it represents the opinion,
not only Of the chaplains, but of Chief
OF Stan Beck, the commander in chief.
Gen. Won Fritsch, and Of the war min
lister general, Won Blomberg. It is an
outright, frontal attack of the army
on the policies Of the government,
and it deals with far more than the
religious issue, for it attacks the basic
morality Of the states behavior.
Not Unlike schaehts Case.
I believe, also, that it cannot be dis.
associated with what has recently
happened with DR.. Schacht. For
there are many parallels between the
case OF DR.. Schacht and the case
OF the army. DR.. SchAcht undertook to
run the economic administration of
Germany, and from the beginning
has had serious conflicts with the
party leaders. In order to retain his
position, no doubt because he wished
honestly to serve his country, he
made compromise after compromise.
He asked Hitler to give him some
BODY to stand between him and the
party and guard him from interference
from 1t. Hitler gave him 0oering, who
was considered . conservative Nazi
in economic Affairs. But Goering
used his position to agsrandise his
power. and the whole business ended
up with Schacht out Of the economics
ministry and = mere ngurehead in
the cabinet; 4 prisoner Of his own At
tempt to compromise with this regime.
The army Is in something of the
same position. 1t, too, has compro-
missed. It has made thousands of
minor concessions, for the sake of
getting on with the Nazi party lead
ers. But the case OF Dr.. Schacht must
have given it pause. The army must
have learned. from the fate Of DR..
Schaeht, that every concession en-.
courases new aggrandisements on the
part Of the Unsuitable Nazi party lead
ers who made the revolution, and who
eagerly snap up every scrap of power,
regarding every concession as . sisn
Of inherent weakness.
Hitler's Move Awaited.
What Hitler will do now will b. in.
teresting. Perhaps there will be an
other purge. Perhaps there will BE-
some shift in policy. We shall have to
wait and see.
But the moral that the outside world
might draw seems to me plain.
II the Nazis take ruthless ADVANTAGE