Evening star., 1941-02-03
Europe Under the Nuzis

y
Chalmers, chief of the Division of
Foreign Tariffs, describes the meths
| DDS through which Germany, since
the military collapse of France last
June, has brought the greater portion
of continental Europe under her eco
nomic domination. Through these
| controls the Germans are exploiting,
! for their own advantage, both the
conquered peoples and the neutral
nations that are too weak to stand
up against Nazi economic pressure.
and have, therefore, been forced, in
their commercial dealings with Ger
many, to accept the unfavorable
terms offered by the NaziS.
In their trade arrangements, the
occupied areas have been given little
freedom of action, In nearly every
instance, Germany has taken over
domestic products and imported
stocks accumulated in the occupied
countries, in exchange for German
goods in such quantity, and of such
types as the Reich can spare, beyond
the amounts charged to the costs of
the German armies of occupation.
The new exchange ratios established
between the respective national cur
rencies have given Germany big
advantage in her commercial deal
lngs with the conquered peoples. The
successive cheapening of the cur
rencieS of other nations, Mr. Chalm-
erS points out, has had the effect of
increasing the purchasing power of
German money for the products of
the occupied countries, and of max
ing German products dearer to their
population
In addition to eXpropriating their
surplus foodStuffs and other supplies,
Germany has made heavy drafts on
the financial resources of the con-
quered areas. At the time of the
German occupation last spring, for
example, Denmark owed the Reich
small amount on their clearing &C
count. Before the end of 1910 Ger
many had converted this to a huge
debt owed to Denmark, and had
borrowed" from that country the
equivalent of 1900 million crowns,
welcome addition to the Nazi war
chest.
European neutralS, caught between
the British blockade and the Nazi
pincerS, have made many trade
agreements in recent months, in their
effort to secure needed raw materials.
Agreements with Germany have been
the outstanding ones in this group.
Trade relations between the neutral
and the occupied countries of Europe
have become increasingly tied up
with arrangements with Germany,
and these negotiations have been
carried on under the close super
vision of the occupying authorities,
who have insisted that payments for
trade with the conquered areas be
made through special clearing ac-
counts in the Reichsbank in Berlin.
This seems clearly in line with the
Nazi plans to develop a post-W
collective clearing system for all
European trade, centering in the
German capital. AS in the case of
the conquered territories, Germany's
trade agreements with neutralS pro-
vide for an increase in the value of
the mark in terms of other curren-
cies.
Though some of the details are still
lacking, the general pattern is clear.
Since Hitlers legions, with their
fifth-column auxiliaries, completed
their conqueStS, the Germans have
embarked on a campaign of scientific
exploitation of the once free nations
of Europe, a campaign whose objec-
tive is the enrichment of the Reich
at the expense of those countries
that have been subjugated by the
Nazi war machine, and the neutrals
that have been forced to yield to the
economic pressure of the axis.