The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1944-09-07
COMMENT ON WORLD
EVENTS


a future which they are determined
shall be better than the period before
the war. An account of the state o.
feeling in Holland emphasizes this for
ward-looxing view, which the Neither
lands Information Bureau says il
typical of all non-Nazi Europe.
The bureau reports there has beer
remarkable increase, in recent
months, i'm 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 symptoms
of the change which allied victories
have wrought in the mental complex
of the invaded nations.
Not so long ago their dominating
anxiety was how to survive, as a com
munity, the terrible ordeal to which
they were subjected and the end of
which even the bravest and most opti-
mistic could not foresee. Today that
end is in sight The hour of liberation
may still be far away, but it is visibly
approaching. The oldest inhabitants 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 Nazi-dominated country.
The present may be hard but the fr-
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 nation
which has survived the utter darkness
of German tyranny. The ordeal is not
yet ended; many are the hardships
and the perils. But the great agony has
been lifted from the mind of the ma
tiOn-the agony of night not followed
by dawn.
The Dutch underground press, re-
flecting the change in the popular
mind is looking into the future. 1t
does not look into the future as a tenn
porary escape from the horrors of the
present, as kind of day-dreaming all
too frequently INDUCED in by those
who in times of danger and distress
are apt to shirk the risks and respOn-
sibilities of situation which demands
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 act
of homage to the victorious armies of
the United Nations; an act of conf
dence in the fortunes of war; an act
of solidarity and spiritual communion
between the fighters inside and the
fighters outside the beleaguered 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 i'm the last years, the
national mind is as vigorous and inde-
pendent as ever before. Loyalty is ex-
pressed by practically all writer's to the
Netherlands government
seated in London, and its
authority is fully accepted as a matter
Of course.
But both this expression of loyalty |
md this acceptance of authority bear |
he hallmark of democratic conscious |
ness, which has been strengthened |
rather than weakened by years of |
Nazi domination Had the spirit of the |
people been stunned by the horrors and
he sufferings of the past 4 years, they |
would await the moment of liberation
n passive anticipation and emotional
day-dreaming of re-
urn to things as they were before the
German deluge
AS it is, the free voices of free men
whose sense of liberty has risen to un-
,recedented heights in years of oppres-
,ion and tyranny, are talking of a
uture which must be better and nobler
han the past; a future of national
nifty, of democratic endeavOr and so
.ial justice; a future of the 4 free
Ions, and little more than these.