Evening star., 1945-03-18

One of the questions which the Allies
must decide soon after the impending
defeat OF Germany is whether that
country muslin a real physical sense
repair the colossal damage it has
caused to other countries. There are
indications today that the United States
is moving toward at least tacit support
of such program.
President Roosevelts recent visit to
the war-torn Russian Crimea appears
to have convinced him of the justice
of the Soviet Unions often-expressed
demand that German labor be drafted
to make amends for Nazi savagery. And
there are increasing indications that
France and the Low Countries also will
insist that Germany make good what
1t has destroyed.
The use of German labor on a tre-
mendous scale raises many problems
economic. political and moral. They are
receiving keen study by the Allied Ad-
visory Commission In London as well as
by the United States and other gov
ernments concerned.
While the United States has not gone
-on the record oficially, a casual remark
OF the President in recent press con-
ference indicated the orientation of his
mind. When reporter asked whether
Mr.. Roosevelt thought that the Russian
demand for German labor conflicted
with the Yalta promise that the Allies
would not make slaves of the German
people, he replied that 1t would not be
bad idea to use some ex-Gerrnan SOL
diers to clean up the mess he recently
had seen In the Crimea.
Impressed by Wantonness.
Apparently the wanton destruction he
saw in the wake of the German armies
in South Russia impressed the Presi-
dent deeply, for he referred to it at
length In his speech to Congress on the
Yalta Conference, without, however,
committing himself there on the ques-
ton Of German enforced labor.
During my stay at Yalta," he said,
II saw the kind Of reckless, senseless
fury and destruction which comes out Of
German militarism. Yalta had no mill
1tary significance of any kind, and no
defenses. Even the humblest of
homes were not spared. There was
little left in Yalta but ruin and desola-
ton. -. I had read about Warsaw and
Lidice and Rotterdam and Coventry
but saw Sevastopol and Yalta!"
The Presidents strong emotional re-
action to the ruin he witnessed indicated
to observers here that he was thinking
in sympathetic terms of Russia demand
for restitution.
If labor is to be form of reparation,
number of practical questions must be
decided soon.
First, what is to be the basis of re-
cruitment. Is forced labor to be a form
Of punishment for war atrocities in
which case members of the Nazi party,
particularly the Gestapo-that is, those
who are not shot-would stand high on
the list of draftees? Or is Germany to
be required to furnish men skilled in
construction work regardless of their
political status?
Nazi Members Would Suffice.
If the former rule is to hold. the an
proximatey 4,000, 900 members of the
National Socialist Party should yield
enough physically fit men to make
sizable labor army.
II the latter yardstick is to be applied,
the German labor organization TODT
with an estimated 100000 men in its
ranks. all experienced in construction,
would offer the best reservoir of man
power. Formed before the war, TODT
built the military superhighways that
spread through the Reich, as well as the
Siegfried Line.
Another problem which must be met