Evening star., 1941-05-15
Rauschning Regards
Flight Of Hess as
Hard Blow 10 Reich
Detection Is Held Worse
For Nuzis Than Loss
Of Bottle Would Be
BY HELEN KIRKPATRICK,


foreign Correspondence of The Star and
Chicago Daily News
LONDON, May 15-"Hess' flight
Is more serious for Germany than
lost battle would be-" Dr.. Hermann
Rauschning. former Nazi president
of the Danzig Senate and intimate
personal friend of Rudolf Hess, said
last night.
DR.. Rauschning fed to Great
Britain in 1885 and subsequently
wrote one of the best and most re-
vealing books on National Social
ism. He has kept in closest touch
with other political refugees and
with events in Germany through
the underground movement which
has assumed important proportions
since the ill-fated Munich confer
ence.
Commenting further on Hess un-
expected arrival here, DR.. Rausch-
ming said:
HE was one of the great number
OF Germans who gave allegiance to
Nazi-ism because they were per-
suaded that it would lead Germany
to better times. Among them, his
flight must cause questioning. His
influence in the party's inner circle
was important and his flight means
that the Nazis have suffered a
damaging loss"
Little Enthusiasm for Victories.
A full understanding of the i'm
plications of the desertion of the
third most important member of
the Nazi hierarchy can probably
only be known to those who have
been in Germany during recent
months, DR.. Rauschning suggested.
According to underground infor-
nation, the impressive victories
scored by the German Army have
failed to evoke the enthusiasm
which might be expected from the
German people. Their principal
concern appears to be the end of
the war and Nazi speakers who have
promised peace in the immediate
future have evoked the greatest re-
sponse.
Reaction outside the party is more
difficult to assess, DR.. Rauschning
believes. 1T is difficult to estimate
the effect on the Army" he stated.
Certain officers looked to Hess as
the man who represented their
Ideals, but there are plenty of others
with wilder views just as there are
moderates and extremists among the
people at large" he concluded.
in Tlf-
Rauschning's mind but that the
obviously premeditated and care
fully planned escape of Hess to Brit
ain would seriously shake the faith
of those who had looked to NaZi-iSm
as a saving and regenerating force
in Germany and as a bulwark
against Communism. 1t might even
be that those who had been con-
vinced by DR.. Joseph Goebbels'
propaganda that Germany had been
obliged to fight because of Franco
British encirclement would now be
led to question the truth of all Nazi
statements since the man they be-
ieved to be sincere Nazi and
German had fed to the country
represented to be Germany's only
real enemy.
Propaganda Value Stressed.
Londons anti-Nazi newspaper
Die Zeitung, edited by political
refugees from Germany, has taken
q consistently strong line, which
stresses the Importance of Hess
presence in England from propa-
ganda viewpoint, and at the same
time it has scorned the description
of Hess as an "idealist and fine
man." which some British political
writer's have used.
1T is the supreme moment with
out precedent in this war" Sebastian
Haffner, editor of the paper, writes
this morning. 1T is the psychology
ical moment on which everything
depends-in propaganda warfare
even more than military warfare" I"
he continues.
The German people, Haffner says,
have been let down not only by Hess
but by their other leaders. who have
had to dish out three lying tales
within 48 hours to explain Hess ac-
ton, which clearly caught them off
guard. Haffner predicts that the
bulk of the German people will risk
all penalties to listen to London
radio for some explanation of one
of their leaders detection.
copyright, 1871. Chicago Daily News, Inc.)