The Omaha guide., 1945-07-14
Aim to Reorient
German Mind

Aim to Reorient
German Mind
A part of the aim of the Ameri-
can program is to help maintain or
der, and its l~ong-range objective is
described as "re~orienting the Ger
man mind, after IL years of Nazi-
ISM"
General Mcclure, head of the psy-
Geological warfare division, ex-
plains the immediate detectives of
the information bureau Of his divi-
sion as "Q) to maintain and deep
en- the mood of passive acqui-
escence and acceptance of orders to
the German people. and so to facili-
tate the completion Of the occupa-
ton of Germany; (2) to undertake
special campaigns required by mill
tary government, and 90 to take the
first steps toward arousing a sense
Of collective responsibility for Ger
many's crimes and to provide the
facts which expose the fatal conse-
quences Of Nazi and militarist lead
ership and German ac~quiescence in
them"
General Mcclure realizes that
step number three is a long one and
a high one. At present the Ameri-
can occupation officials are in a
somewhat paradoxical position.
They are expected to maintain
strict military discipline and in the
same breath in which they order,
Stand at attention" they have to
say, Now think for YOURSELF" And
furthermore the Nazis have done
all that is humanity possible or 1
should say. inhumanly possible-to
e that there is nothing left of initi-
alive or individual responsibility in
Germany. Having created this state
of chaos. they hope to gain an in
term in which to strengthen their
underground.
1t is not organized resistance
which the American occupation is
meeting. Out of TO- O0, 900 or more
Germans in the American zone, so
far less than 1000 have been jailed
for acts inimical to the American
military regime, but hundreds and
hundreds have been fired from
the civil administration because
they cannot produce a clean anti
Hitler-record or they have definite
connections with the Nazi party or
its activities.
What many people fail to realize
in this connection is how thorough
the Notification of Germany has
been. I had occasion to point out
in previous columns that the Ger
man people were the Nazis' first
conquest, that it took longer than
the military conquest of any of the
nations occupied by the German
armies and that the preparation for
this domestic campaign was long
and thorough.
Recently we have had a chance to
learn more about what a %concentra-
ton camp really was. l refer not
only to the grisly horrors revealed
by the dead and the living-dead
found in the captured camps. What
is far more deeply revealing is the
testimony of some of the former in
mates who were released earlier
with their brains still intact. From
them we learn the powerful psy-
Geological influences of the treat
ment of prisoners by the gestapo.
This psychological effect reached
those outside, too. Further, by re-
peating publicly the camp bru-
talities in q milder form and like
wise by means of the tyrannicaI re-
s%trictions on the whole people, all
Germany was turned into one great
concentration camp. This was DELHI
erately planned
From my own personal expert
ences in Nazi Germany 1 can
testify that this last statement is
not an exaggeration. I have felt the
terror" atmosphere which the ges-
tapo created even for a foreigner,
reasonably sur of safe and I'M
molested departure from the ac-
cursed country. Leaving Germany
in wartime, herded into the station
under the piercing eyes Of the SIS
troopers, with the invisible presence
of the gestapo all about one had a
paralyzing effect on a person even
though he had a passport in his
pocket and the sovereign power of
: the United States behind him.