Evening star., 1940-04-27
'Finis Germuniu'

To those many people in both allied
and other countries who think Ger
many's defeat will begin, as it did in
the World War, with collapse of the
"home 'front.'" and not until then,
there is something heartening in
Fritz Thyssen's warning to Adolf
Hitler in series of hitherto unpub-
lished letters reproduced in the cur
rent issue of Life Magazine. AS long
ago as last December, the >exiled
German steel and coal king, who
helped to finance the Nazi party and
made possible Hitler's rise to power,
admonished him: Your policy will
terminate in fnis Germania."
With German military fortunes in
Scandinavia for the moment, ap-
parently, in the ascendant, Herr
Thyssen's warning to the political
adventurer he once hailed and
"heiled" as Fuehrer, may sound Cas-
sandra-like But German prospects
Of victory in the first World War,
after more than two years of fighting,
were vastly brighter than they are
today in a conflict which has lasted
fewer than seven months. It is far
too early for the Nazis to brand their
one-time angel as a mere jeremiah.
The inexorable forces which eventu-
ally spelled Germany's defeat before
again are at work.
In making public his letters to
Hitler, appealing to him to turn
back while it is still possible" the
former Rhenish industrial magnate
fulfllls his threat to "call upon the
conscience of the world" by disclos-
ing the inside story Of his flight
from Germany to live the life Of an
exile and fugitive in France. Be-
cause he dared to denounce Hitler
ism, Thyssens vast properties were
confiscated and he and his family
were stripped of their citizenship.
Before becoming man without q
country, Herr Thyssen uttered in
creasingly helpless protests against
the course of dictatorship. Here are
some of his pleas to Hitler: Think
Of the oath you swore at Potsdam
Ito uphold the German constitu-
tion). Give back to the Reich a free
parliament, give back to the German
nation freedom OF conscience, free
dom Of thought and freedom Of
speech. Create anew the foundations
which are necessary to restore law
and justice, which will make 1t pos
sible to trust German treaty again.
Stop the useless bloodshed and Ger
many will obtain peace with honor
and will preserve her unity"
Once again the outside world hears
circumstantial rumors that the un-
derground and Gestapo-suppressed
revolt against Hitlerism is now so
deep and widespread that if.freedom
of the ballot existed, instead OF rule
by bayonet, the German people
would throw the Nazi regime out of
power Such reports are generally
dismissed abroad as the outcries Of
an impotent minority But voices
like Fritz Thyssen's cannot be lightly
dismissed. When he tells Hitler that
"your present policy Inclusive of
persecution and torture of Christians
and Jews) amounts to suicide" and
that "its beneficiary will be your
arch-enemy Of yesterday (Stalin) u,
who Is your friend Of today"
1t is possible to conclude that a
large and representative portion of
the German people agrees that Hit
lerism "is driving Germany into an
abyss and the German nation into
perdition."
1t cannot be doubted, despite Nazi
protestations of national unity and
unalloyed support of Hitler's pro-
gram of aggression and brutality,
that Fritz Thyssen speaks the voice
of many another "tormented Ger
man" in appealing to Der Fuehrer
to Turn back and let freedom, right
and humaneness rise again in the
German Reich" But overwhelming
military defeat must precede that
unshackling process. That is one of
the reasons why the democracies still
left in the world watch the fluctu-
ating tide OF battle on the Scandi-
navian peninsula with abiding hope
that victory will perch on allied
banners before Hitler's ruthless gam
BILE in the north becomes a matter