The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1944-09-15
COMMENT ON WORLD EVENTS

With Nazi defeat near, the peoples
Of Europe are looking to the future
a future which they are determined
shall be better than the period before
the war; An. account of the state of
feeling in Holland emphasizes this
forward-looking view, which the Meth
erlands Information Bureau says is
typical of all non-Nazi Europe.
The bureau reports there has been
a remarkable increase, in recent
months, in the number of articles de-
voted by the Dutch underground press
to the social, economic and political
problems to be dealt with once the
country is wrested from the Germans.
This is one of the numerous symp-
toms Of the change which allied VIC
tories have wrought in the mental
complex of the invaded nations.
Not SO long ago their dominating
anxiety was how to survive, as COM
munity, the terrible ordeal to which
they were subjected and the end of
which event the bravest and most op-
timistic could not foresee Today that
end is in sight. The hour of liberia
tion may still be far away, but it is
visibly approaching. The oldest in
habitants of the oppressed countries
may live to witness it, and thousands
of children will be too young ever to
remember it..
The generation born during the
years of occupation will grow up in
freedom, and not within the prison
walls of a Nazi-dominated country.
The present may be hard but the fu-
ture is full of promise. The German
night which not so long ago seemed
endless, is clearing. When at long last
the sun rises, it will rise over ma
tion which has survived the utter
darkness of German tyranny. The or
deal is not yet ended; many are the
hardships and the perils. But the
great agony has been lifted from the
mind of the nation-the agony of a
night not followed by dawn.
The Dutch underground press, re-
fiecting the change in the popular
mind, is looking into the future 1t
does not look into the future as a
temporary escape from the horrors of
the present, as kind of day dreaming
all too frequently indulged in by those
who in times of danger and distress
are apt to shirk the risks and re-
sponsibilities of situation which de-
mands aggressive courage. 1t looks
into the future because the future is
knocking at the gates.
Looking into the future behind the
crumbling German oppression is an
mics of the United Nations; an act
of confidence in the fortunes of war;
an act of solidarity and spiritual COM
munion between the fighters inside
and the fighters outside the beleag-
uered Nazi fortress.
Moreover, the spirit in which the
future is envisaged by the Dutch un-
derground writer's who represent all
social, political and cultural shades of
the population, proves that despite all
that happened in the last four years,
the national mind is as vigorous and
independent as ever before. Loyalty
is expressed by practically all writers
to the constitutional Netherlands gov
ernment temporarily seated in Lon
don, and it's authority is fully accepted
as matter of course.
But both this expression of loyalty
and this acceptance Of authority bear
the hallmark of democratic conscious
ness, which has been strengthened
rather than weakened by four years
of Nazi domination. Had the spirit OF
the people been stunned by the hor-
four years, they would await the mo.
ment of liberation in passive antici.
patton and emotional nervosity-just
day-dreaming of a return to things as
they were before the German deluge
AS it is, the free voice of free mer
whose sense of liberty has risen te
unprecedented heights in years of op
preston and tyranny, are talking Of 6
future which must be better anC
nobler than the past; future Of ma
tional unity, of democratic endeavol
and social justice; future of the foul
freedoms, and a little more than these
Nazi officials have been heard OF
the air complaining that the terms Of
unconditional surrender pronounced
months ago by the Allies are unrea
sonable and too severe. Such cruelty