Evening star., 1938-02-20
Brilliant Stage Set
for Session of
Reichstag.
POINTS IN ADDRESS
CLOSELY GUARDED
New Move i'm Direction
of CzechOslOvakia
Anticipated.
BY the Associated Press.

BERLIN. Feb. l9-Germany to-
night set brilliant stage for Adolf
Hitler's announcement to a tensely
listening world Of the next steps to
bring all German-speaking peoples
into the Nazi orbit.
The Third Reich made the most
elaborate preparations of its history
SO all Germany and as much of the
world as willing could listen tomor-
row to Hitlers closely guarded speech
to the Reichstag.
An enormous eold-rimmed sun,
topped by a spreading German eagle
with a sWastika clutched in his claws,
was the symbolic background Nazis
erected behind Hitler's rostrum in the
Kroll Opera House.
Will he demand again fulfillment
Of "Drang mach Osten"-expansion
to the east-which his book ".Mein
Kampf" foresees?
Will he emphasize anew Germanv's
demand for colonies or will he hint
at economic penetration of the entire
Danubian Basin as the way out of
Germany's problems of overpopulation
and a dearth of raw materials?
Answers Kept Secret.
The answer to these and other
critical questions remained a secret
but the subject Of endless speculation
in the chancelleries of Europe.
Only his paladins know what our
Fuehrer will tell the German people
and the entire world tomorrow" one
Nazi editorial writer put in.
Those "palalins" included Marshal
Herman Wilhelm Goering. No. 2
Nazi; Propaganda Chief Joseph Paul
Goebbels, and possibly Joachim Won
Ribbentrop, new foreign minister.
Military circles looked to Hitler.
among other things. to declare the
Reich would take over the entire
German armament industry. but no
ofhcial confirmation was forthcom-
ing. Thus even the famous Krupp
works would pass from private hands
to possession Of the Reich.
News Czechoslovakia besides Aus
tria and Hungary officially will broad
cast Hitlers speech seemed another
step toward realization of Hitler's
dream Of the union OF all the Ger
man race
The Czechoslovakian broadcast de-
ciSion was taken as a sign ancient
Bohemia. caught in a vice between
German Silesia and Nazi-tending Aus
tria, might lend more willing ear to
Hitler's probably certain demands that
autonomy be granted the Sudeten
German minority in Czechospvakia.
If granted. the 100000 Germans
affected would achieve a status some-
what like the Germanic cantons of
Switzerland Exposed little Czecho-
slovakia seemed the logical point for
the next Nazi expansionist move to
be proclaimed in Der Fuehrer's speech
Anschluss Short Step.
From autonomy for the German
minority it might be only question
of time until German-speaking Bo-
hemia. seat Of the important Skoda
munitions works, would proclaim
Anschluss uniting it with Germany.
The Nazi principle that any people
which does not feel at home in one
state has the right to demand juncture
with a more congenial state was openly
proclaimed by Or. Hans Keller, presi-
dent of the Academy for the Reich of
Peoples, in q recent address.
Successful invocation Of the prin-
ciple for Czechoslovakians probably
would lead next to application to Ger
mans in Poland as soon as the 10-yesr
non-aggression treaty with Germany's
eastern neighbor expires in 1914.
Germany would still have to look,
however, for q natural source of raw
materials and outlets for her surplus
population. Colonies might be the
answer Hitler will demand. -
Loudspeakers in strategic points OF
every city, town and village Of the
Reich will bring Der Fuehrer's words
within sound of all Of Germany's 68,-
600 900 persons. Concert and theater
programs have been suspended 20
that a silent Reich can hear.
If the Danes have fears Germany
might invoke similar PAN -Germanism
against territory Denmark gained
from Germany at the end Of the World
War, the Danish sovereign had an
opportunity to express such fears to
Hitler today:
The Reichsfuehrer took time of
from preparations for his Reichstag
speech to pay courtesy visit to King
Christian x and Queen Alexandrine
when they stopped for day in Berlin
on their way home from q Riviera
holiday. .