Evening star., 1939-11-19
Europe's Civilians Bewildered
AS Walls of Life Close Inward
"A Nightmare War, Lacking Reality of Actual
Conflict, but With All Its Annoyances,
Envelops Everyday Routine
By Thomas r. Henry.


psychoanalysts attribute some fantastic
symbolism but which other psychiatrists
think is due to an upset stomach, in
which the four walls Of large room be-
gin to move inward Inexorably they
close, and one usually awakes just at
the moment of being crushed to death
between them.
The likeness of the present war to this
dream is often expressed by folks in
France and England, and in the neutral
countries of Western Europe. 1t seems
to be natural comparison which simul-
taneously has occurred to many minds.
The walls of life are moving inward upon
the individual from every direction and
the dreamer is helpless. 1t is just that
kind OF nightmare war, lacking the
reality of actual conflict which would
make it seem different from horrible
dream.
Until the first of September, when the
tnevitability of war was generally recog-
nized, the average man or woman in
England and France was a reasonably
free agent, within the scope of the in
dividual's economic circumstances In
England, especially, the policeman was
public servant Every mans house was
his castle. London, for example, had a
series of experimental blackouts in Au-
gust. For the most part the citizens CO.
operated Loyalty in extinguishing their
lights or covering their windows with
heavy curtain. Those who did not got
some severe tongue lashings from police
men and the newly y-appointed air raid
wardens.
Cracks in Curtains.
But small minority knew their
rights" and there was nothing to be done
about it if they insisted on them. AS a
result there were lot of cracks in the
curtain of absolute blackness spread
over London
AS one air raid warden, in charge of a
large residential area, said dispairingly
the morning after one of these blackouts:
There's one class of Londoner you
Just can't do anything with, the freest
individual in this world. That's the un-
married women with a good job and an
apartment OF her own. Law or no law,
one way or another, you can usually talk
to man. If he will not listen to reason
you can threaten him, and he knows
from long tradition that policemen have
ways OF acting in emergencies outside
the law. But one of these women is diff
ferent. She knows her rights. She also
knows that if policeman or an air raid
warden sWears at her or threatens any
violence she can raise an awful scandal
She knows nobody is going to beat her
up. So she can just talk back and
theres nothing you can do about it,"
All That Changed With War.
But after the morning of September
) this "freest individual in the world"
and all other more or less free indi-
v1duals, found that they had very little
freedom left. Their rights" existed no
longer. They were literally imprisoned
IN their homes at night on account of
the dense, weird darkness. This was
not question Of any new man-made
law but OF the law Of self preservation,
Movement OF any sort came close to
being physically impossible. At the
best it was extremely dangerous to ven
ture out of doors. Only pickpockets and
street walkers attained a new degree of
freedom, and they proceeded to make
the most of it.
The police forces everywhere were dou-
bled and tripled in size. This step was
necessary on account of the blackouts.
New misdemeanors came into existence,
to keep the new policemen busy 1t be-
came punishable offense to appear on
the streets without a gas mask, to show
as much as candle flicker through
window at night. Here again there was
likeness to frequently experienced
bad dream-that of finding ones self in
q crowd in very scanty attire. One was
constantly subject to this sort of sensa-
ton and would reach instinctively for
the gas mask strap over the shoulders.
The new London policemen were, on
the whole, rather innocuous crowd,
their status designated only by their
clubs and helmets. Their chief Job was
to rescue lost wayfarers in the dark.
No Police Tradition.
They apparently had little police
training and still less of the police ira
dition. They would stop person on the
streets with a rather apologetic:
Hey, buddy, where's your gas mask?
Better get it before bobby sees you or
1t will cost you 10 shillings"
But in every other direction the walls
were closing in. Travel became virtually
impossible. Even nearby Ireland was
closed territory. Visas of any sort were
practically impossible to obtain, except
for very important reasons and with
considerable delay. Exit permits, usually
requiring Today delay were necessary
to leave England. They were dated. So
were any Nsas it was possible to obtain
If the two dates did not coincide the
whole had to be repeated. There were
rigid restrictions on withdrawing money.
All transportation services were greatly
curtailed. Ships virtually stopped sailing.
Prices began to go up.
1t all ended with the imposition of the
hitherto unparalleled tax rate of 7 shil-
lings and pence on a pound of earn
ings-more effective than the blackouts
or than the restrictions of transporta-
ton In restricting the movements of the
Individual. Private mail began to be
opened. Englishmen found themselves
shut of from the news of the world. They
could no longer feel that they were get
ting an impartial account of the hap
penings of the day in their newspapers