Evening star., 1939-10-06
HitIer's "OIive Branch"

7 Peace Is brought no nearer by
Chancellor Hitler's truculent address
to his marionette Reichstag this
forenoon. Those who expected that
he might tender to Great Britain
and France some sort of olive branch
calculated to induce them to call
off their war on Germany will search
in vain in Der Fuehrer's charac-
teriStic ninety minutes of bluster for
any acceptable basis of negotiation.
The two fundamental conditions
laid down by the western powers for
cessation Of hostilities are fatty
rejected by Hitler. He declares that
Poland shall never rise again.
that her restoration will not be
decided by war in Western Europe,
but exclusively by Germany and
Russia"-and that If "it is desired to
sacrifice millions of lives to re-eStab-
1ish a new regime in the Reich and
destroy the present regime, then the
sacrifice will have to be made"
Thus, the twin minimum demands
of Britain and France-reconstitu
ton of the Polish state and removal
of Hitlerism-apparently are unat-
tainable, except through the grim
arbitrament of war Flushed with
the success of his blitzkrieg against
Poland, the Nazi dictator seems
ready to risk Germany's all in a war
to the finish.
Today's Reichstag harangue was
not devoid of subtle suggestions that
the Nazis crave peace, but only on
their terms. Hitler talked at some
length about European conference
to adjust outstanding problems. But
the agenda for it, which he fore
casts, indicates the demands that
would presuppose Germany's partici-
patton. These include the outright
return of her war-lost colonies; an
utterly free hand, in "co-operation"
with Soviet Russia, for regulation
and domination of Eastern and
Southeastern Europe; and recogni-
ton of the fait accompli in Poland.
Only If these conditions are guaran-
teed IN advance-unless, in other
words, Europe will underwrite the
territorial and political status quo
which the German war machine has
established, in Austria, in Czecho-
Slovakia, at Memel and in Poland
is the Reich ready to sit down at a
conference table, "far from the can
mons roar" and discuss a general
peace founded on Equitable eco
nomic and ethnographic" lines. It
is a picture, marred by the fact that
no government in Europe, in light
of Hitlerism's record, would consider
Its plighted word worth the ink in
which it was pledged.
Hitler bangles his usual bait before
neighboring neutrals and before
France. The Saar represented the
Relch's last demand on the trans
Rhine neighbor. There will be no
more demands" is the form In which
Der Fuehrer couches his latest yelled
attempt to detach the French from
their British allies. He tosses honeyed
assurances at Denmark, the Neither
lands, Switzerland, Belgium and
Yugoslavia. He adjures the Balkan
states that Germany cherishes only
"ecOnOmic aims" there
The chancellor hardly minced his
words in threatening Great Britain
with dire chastisement in case the
allies discern no basis for peace in
what Hitler specifically terms his
final declaration" Clear threat of
air attacks on the British are dis
cernible in his allusion to the fact
that there is no longer any island"
Apart from the transparent effort
to intimidate the western powers
into stacking arms on his terms, Hit
ler devoted himself for the most part
to a glorification Of the German
Army's feat in subjugating Poland in
a month; to justifying his action in
having crushed a state (which really
had no excuse for existence" and to
claiming that, in the face of intoler-
able provocations and atrocities, Ger
many's peace efforts" at Warsaw
from April to August were baked by
Polish faith in the protective guaran-
tee of Britain and France.
Hardly by any stretch of the imagi-
nation is it possible to feel that aught
is now in sight except prolongation OF
Europes tragedy of war. Marshal
Goering closed the Reichstag pro-
ceedings today by stressing "the blind
confidence" of the German people in
their Fuehrer. Until this is shattered
on the battlefield or broken at home
by pressure of privation, there seems
slight hope of early peace. To date
there is no convincing sign Of col
lapse on either front.
The Reichstag speech is signifl-
cantly devoid of any reference to
1taly's availability ss a peace chan