Evening star., 1941-08-13

the tribunals.
I have seen Bahr threaten physi-
cal violence on a customs guard who
late one night brought in mother
and a babe in arms caught trying
to cross the line. my God," he
roared, This is no kindergarten
'Raus, all of you" He had a special
weakness for wounded French yet
Grams of the last war and let them
off with very small sentences.
He was nice to me. He figured the
Reich was making an effort to con-
vince America that Nazis are nice.
He gave me little gifts of sausages,
butter, cakes and other gifts from
home. He always stopped and talked
to me in the courtyard. We had a
special act we put on for the others
or tor visiting German officers.
was to go to him publicly and ask
to be allowed to send a cable.
Where to?"
ITO Washington"
"Why?"
ITO Mr.. Roosevelt to ask him
please to make no more speeches
until I get out Of jail"
This made him very happy.
PassionateIy Anti German.
Some day I will do book about
by fellow prisoners. l liked them.
They restored my belief in the dig
nifty OF human nature. They hadn't
wanted war. They had made fear
ful mistakes, but they had learned
their lesson. 1t Is no exaggeration
to say that 90 per cent of all of those
1 met were passionately anti-Ger-
man, not always sure what they
were pro, but definitely anti-Ger-
man. Quietly so. No one ever called
them "boche" 1t was always ices
messleurs" these gentlemen) or
mos invites" (our invited guests
or, best of all, "doryphore," after
the famous potato plague. Some
times it was Fritz" but you had to
be careful when you said this. The
Germans don't like it. They insist
on being liked, the Germans.
remember young French ad-
Jutant. He had escaped from a Ger
man prison camp and had been
caught trying to get across the line
OF demarcation. After some weeks
he was sent back to Germany, but
escaped from a moving train on the
way, later learned. He said: I'm
July last year, after our defeat, the
Germans could have won us, even
to declaring war on Britain. We
were so utterly disillusioned about
ourselves, about the democratic
cause. The Germans looked to us
like archangels with flaming swords.
They were might personified, and
efficiency, honesty and even decency,
or SO We thought. Now We know bet
ter. Only their war machine in mo-
ton is that. Seen close up, they are
corrupt as We never were, as para
lyzed by administrative bureaucracy
as we ever were I" .. Beneath their
surface politeness we see them as
they are, conquerors, pillaging
France. They missed their great op-
portunity in failing to release our
prisoners in the first two months.
The prisoners are SO per cent anti
German, though not all pro- British
yet"
Priest Struggled Letters.
I remember the old village priest.
He was 73 and had nosebleeds. He
had been arrested for carrying let
tiers back and forth across the line
under his cassock. He did three
months. I don't think he has re-
formed.
I remember the little lads-16 all
of them and so tiny-who had come
from Brest and were on their way to
join De Gaulle when caught. They
used to get letters from home tell
ing of the frightful British bonn
bardments of Brest: And they were
jubilant! We had to urge caution
on them.
I remember the others, whom
shall not identify even slightly, WHO
came to me one day and, pointing
to two newcomers, said: They are
British soldiers. They speak little
French and Flemish. You must tell
them to keep their mouths shut.
The Germans won't be able to spot
them if =" And together, over
a period of weeks, We worked out
ways and means and the two British
soldiers went free, as Flemings.
There were other cases like that.
We failed in two, one a boy who had
God Save the King" tattooed on
his forearm and a Scot whose
French accent would not have got
ten through an open door, much
less an interpreter.
Girl Risks Firing Squad.
found morale highest among
the Hollanders who came through,
second best among the Belgians and
third among the French from the
north. But France was the COM
try of the three worst hit by the
corruptive propaganda of the Nazis,
And they are up against both a
German regime and a French ad-
ministration that, in the occupied
zone especially, is indiStinguishable