Evening star., 1942-06-08
BY LOUIS P. LOCHNER,

NEW YORK, June 8.-The NaZi
editor or reporter writes as he is
told to write. If he doesn't, he is,
at best, blotted out from the lists
of his profession More likely he is
headed for concentration camp.
He is told in the minutest detail
what he may write. what he may
not touch on, what emphasis he
must place upon given item, how
he is to comment on 1t, when to
harp on a certain theme and when
to drop it.
Nothing is left to chance, and
very little to Imagination.
Here's the setup:
Every morning the press officers
Of the various ministries filter into
the Goebbels ministry of propa-
ganda and public enlightenment
such items of news as the minister
of their department chief approves.
This does not mean, necessarily,
that the item will be released for
publication. 1t may happen that
the experts of the propaganda min
istrv consider the time inauspicious.
in which case the ministry. in ques-
ton, too, is barred from releasing
it.
Handymen Foregather.
Or it may be that even the min
istry, in relaying it to the propa-
ganda department, desired merely
that it be communicated to the
German newsmen for their infor-
nation but not for publication.
At 10 o'clock every morning,
Goebbels' handymen foregather to
learn what they may say to the
press, what information should be
withheld, what commentary should
be offered, which items must be
carried as privileged matter land
thus made obligatory upon the pa
pers to carry), what evasive replies
should be told in response to ques-
tions anticipated.
Every official in the ministry thus
knows what he is to say during the
ensuing hours. So do the CORES
ponding officials in the various min
istries, who usually attend this pow
WOW or at least are advised of its
proceedings. Ring up whom you will
after this conference, and you will
get practically the same stock
answer. Only very rarely is man
to be found who will even bother to
tell the same story in his own words.
Inside Office Broadcast.
No sooner has this morning con-
ference taken place, than radio
speakers of the ministry get busy on
an inside office broadcast to the 40
odd sub-offices of the propa ganda
ministry scattered throughout the
Reich. The press officials in these
branches thus receive identical in
structions.
When, therefore, the editor of the
Frankfurter zeitung at Frankfurt
inquiries concerning the news and
how to handle it. the local propa-
ganda representative will give him
exactly the same information that,
a few minutes later, the Berlin cor
respondent for his paper will receive.
For, at IL am. the Berlin press,
including representatives of all i'm
portant provincial papers, is received
at the propaganda ministry and told,
you may write this; you must not
say that"
Men Are Picked.
The men selected for this confer
ence are a picked lot. They are
under oath not to reveal what is said
during these conferences. But dur
Ing my 20-years' stay in Germany
I got to know many German edi-
tors personally. From them know
how they often blush at what is eX-
pected of them. Many feel very un-
happy and wish they might get out
of the meshes of the ministry.
A few years ago We had the case
of one such correspondent who felt
so Inundated at what was happen
ing in these daily conferences that
he secretly took notes (the CORES
pondents must not take notes while
the interpretations" are handed out
to them). which he then turned over
to the representative OF a British
daily. Unfortunately this colleague,
bent upon scoring scoop, published
textually a number of instructions
and "verbotens" given during a GER
tain week
The propaganda ministry hnmedi-
ately invited two gestapo officials to
sit unobtrusively in the conference
and to observe who was taking CO.
pious notes. The man was dis
covered, then shadowed for several
days and finally arrested as he was
about to slip manuscript to a
representative of the British news
man in a billiard hall He was sent
up for life. Since that time there
have been few transgressions.
Access to Daily Instructions.
Almost until the very end of my