Evening star., 1939-12-24
Nazi Storm Troopers
Do Thorough Job as
Relief Collectors
Refusing Contribution
For Winter Help Not
Good Form in Reich
Bv LOTHROP STODDARD.

ny AoA HhOE SAODDAND.
BERLIN (N.AN.A3.-Along with
the chill, dark winter has come the
manifold activity OF the Winter
hilfe"-the winter help. Once
fortnight, every city, town and viii
lage in Germany seethes with
brown-shirted storm troopers car
rying red-painted canisters. These
are the collection boxes.
The Brown Shirts 60 everywhere.
You can't sit in a restaurant or
beer hall, but, sooner or later, a
pair of them will work through the
place, rattling their canisters
ostentatiously In the faces of Gus
toners. And I have never seen a
German formally refuse, even
though his contribution was equiva-
lent to less than one American cent.
During these periodic money-rais-
ing campaigns all sorts of dodges
are used. At busy street corners,
comedians, signers, musicians, sail
ors gather crowd by some anus
ing act, at the end of which the
Brown Shirts collect. People buy
little badges to show they have
contributed-the badges good only
for that particular period. Last time
they were miniature daggers.
When the winter-help campaign
series reaches its climax later in
the season, the big guns of the Nazi
party will sally forth with their COL
lection boxes to do their bit. I am
told it is considered quite an honor
to drop your mite into a canister
welded by so redoubtable a per-
sonage as, say, Marshal Goering.
Winter Help Lottery.
A striking feature is the wartime
wlnter-heip lottery. The sale OF
these lottery tickets goes on all the
time. They are sold by men in
rather attractive uniforms with red
banded caps and gray capes. Like
the Brown Shirts. they cover every
public place, even the best hotels.
The tickets are inclosed in tightly
sealed orange envelopes stacked in
rows on little tray. The lottery
vendor approaches you. salutes po-
litely and offers his wares. Should
you wish to buy. you pick an en-
velope at random and pay so
pfennigs, half reichmark, worth
somewhat over 10 cents. Unlike
his Brown Shirt colleagues, he is
not insistent. and the public does
not feel constrained to buy, so he Is
often smilingly refused.
In this winter-help lottery. you
know right away If you haven't
won. Most purchasers promptly
tear open the envelope and take
out their folded ticket. Nearly al
ways they are confronted by large
blue "Nicht' mo-. In gay restau-
rants its quite game for a whole
group of diners to buy envelopes
and greet each loser with peals of
laughter-the vendor standing by
and enjoying the fun.
Not Always Losers.
However, buyers aren't always
losers Out of the 5000, boo tickets
which form series there are nearly
100000 which carry small prizes
called premiums" ranging from
to 10 marks. These minor premiums
are paid at once by the, seller to
the purchaser. Above. these come
prizes ranging all the way up to
a single grand prize Of 5000 marks
Those prizes are not paid out of
hand. What you get is the right
to prize-winning number in the
lottery drawing which will be held
some months hence-in this series
on March 30, 1910. The prizes anc
premiums total 1000 900 marks; the
cost of the tickets is 5000 900 marks
There are other money raising
devices. Perhaps the best known
is the one-dish plan. Each month
during the autumn and winter, a
certain Sunday is set apart as the
sacrificial day. On that Sunday
every patriotic German is supposed
to contribute to Winter-help the
cash difference between the cost
of good dinner and that of q
| SAAA6 &c AIACdl
More Than "Charity."
The winter-help is by no means
wholly charity" as we understand
the word. In Germany, total desti.
tuition is rare. thanks to the system
of social welfare begun under the
old empire more than half a cen.
tury ago, and extended under botf
the Weimar Republic and the Naz
regime. Most Germans are thu.
legally protected against dire pov.
erty and downright starvation.
However, this legal minimum af.
forded by state agencies is low. TIL,
winter help is designed to step il
and bridge the gap between stat,
charity and more tolerable condi
tion of life. 1t provides coal ane
garments enough to keep a house,
hold comfortably warm and decent
ly clothed. 1t supplies a bit NOR
food. 1t distributes Christmas tree;
and toys and Christmas dinners. I
steps in to relieve victims of unex
pected accidents or misfortunes
Winter help is itself only part of
much larger and more complex or
ganization with jawbreaking com
pound German name which, broker
down into English, signifies Nationa
Socialist Peoples Welfare. Fo
short, the Germans call it N. S. v.
Touches Every Phase of Life.
N. S. V. touches intimately ever,
phase of German life. Far from
being mainly concerned with tn
poor and weak, it is interested evel
more in helping the fit and stronI
to be filter and stronger. 1t seeks t,
make every individual feel constant
ly that he is organically a part o
the whole nation and that he ha
the whole nation behind him so lonl
as he does his duty and seeks il
turn to serve the nation. Especially
does N. S. v. endeavor to integrat
CAMERA EXPERT