The Wilmington morning star., 1940-04-29
MORE NAZI PROPAGANDA

GERMANY sprung what it hopefully thought
a diplomatic bombshell on Saturday, when
Foreign Minister Won R1BBENTRoP disclosed to
such foreign representatives as he could as
semble for audience what he declared docu-
mentary evidence proving that Britain and
France long contemplated a Scandinavian in
vasion and defended the German rape OF Nor
way as necessary for the protection of that
country and the safeguarding of Nazi inter-
ests there. The announcement was in the best
German form, cunningly t%inctured by pervert-
ed facts.
But in the attempt to show the claims as
something new and just found out, the R1BBEN-
TRoP revelations missed the mark. Germany
had previously made the same claims. A fold
er recently appearing in newspaper offices,
called Facts in Review" and issued by the
Germany Library of Information at II Battery
street, New York, told approximately the same
story in its issue of April Is. After telling how
Germany, despite it's heartfelt desire to live at
peace with England and France, was made war
on by those nations, and how it had sought to
uphold the neutrality of small European
states but had been prevented by the Allies,
the article continues:
The German government is in posses
sion Of interchangeable documents that
England and France intended to make a
surprise occupation of certain regions of
the northern states in the next few days.
The Nordic states on their part not only
failed to resist earlier transgressions on
the part of England and France, but even
tolerated the most serious infringements
Of their sovereignty without correspond
ing counter-measures
The German government must therefore
assume that the Royal Norwegian dan
ish government will adopt that attitude
also towards the action of England and
France now planned and about to be exc
cuted. But even if the Royal Norwegian
(Danish) goernment were willing to take
countermeasures, the German govern
ment realizes clearly that Norwegian
(Danish) military forces would not suf.
flee to oppose the English and French &C.
lions effectively.
In this decisive phase of war for exist
ence, forced upon the German people by
England and France, the German govern.
ment can under no circumstances tolerate
that Scandinavia be converted by the
western Powers into a theatre of war
against Germany and that the Norwegian
(the Danlsh) people be directly or indi-
rectly misused for war against Germany.
This IS about what Won RIBBENTRop was saw
ing to his audience on Saturday. The whole
and the fanfare that ACCOMPANIED
it, shows how adroit the Nazi propaganda de-
partment seeks to be, and incidentally how it
fails to pull the wool over anybody's ewes, in
building up a defense for Germany's program
conquest.
1t is hardly to be expected that even Won
R1BBENTRoP hopes to fool anyone outside of
with the obviously fraudulent levi
dence" against France and Britain, any more
than the Nazis did with the documents they
to have "discovered'' to Justify the
Polish invasion. The outside world is not to
be hoodwinked any more by German propa-
ganda. The chief motive for the Won R1yaES.
rRoP disclosures" therefore must have been
10 help keep the German masses in a blissful
state of ignorance of the true facts. The Nazi
oropagandists know the more fully doped they
IAN keep the people the more dead will they
be to the sins Of their leaders.