Evening star., 1945-05-12

German high Lowell Mellett.
command speaking to the German
people by radio in the last official
communique. The voice continued:
1.-THE enemy, too, will not deny his
tribute of respect to the perform
ance and sacrifices Of German SOL
diers on land, at sea and in the
air. Every soldier, therefore. may
lay aside his weapon, proud and
erect and set to work in these
gravest hours of our history with
courage and confidence to safe
guard the undying life of our peo-
Pile"
1t was a mastery propaganda
performance. Nothing ever at
tributed to Goebbels in the past
could surpass it. To German ears,
1t is to be feared, it rang true.
After brief silence, the high
command concluded: Effective
from today the ban on listening to
foreign stations has been lifted"
That's an invitation to us-Amer-
leans, Russians, British, French,
Dutch. Norwegians, Danes, Bel
gians-to start telling the Germans
the truth or the truth as each OF
us sees 1t.
But apparently it isn't going to
be that simple. In the first place
most of us have no access to any
radio that would reach the Ger
man people. Stations in Germany
will be controlled by the occupy
ing armies. Stations in neighbor-
ing Allied countries will be con-
trolled in pretty much the same
way. Neutral news may be broad
cast from Switzerland and Swe-
den and it probably will be from
Switzerland that the Germans get
most of their outside information,
since German is the language chief
" used by Swiss radio. There is
reason to believe the Swiss will give
itsto the Germans honestly.
The Allied stations that have
been broadcasting in the German
language for propaganda purposes
chiefly British, American Guxem-
bourg) and Russian-will continue
to broadcast. To what extent those
stations continue to devote them
selves to propaganda, as distinct
from news, remains to be seen. The
decision rests with the Allied army
commands.
Some indication has been given
concerning the manner in which the
German people are to receive the
printed word. The Office of War
Information announces that Ger
man newspapers will not be per-
mitted to resume publication during
the initial or military phase of AL
lied control and that, during the
same period newspapers from out
side countries, including our own,
will be barred. The Germans will
have to depend on newspapers pub
lished by the occupying armies in
various German cities, edited large
ly, in the case of the American
Army, by members of the owl staff.
German plants will be taken over
for that purpose.
This announcement has been re-
ceived with mixed feelings in this
country. Some see in it a violation
of our highly priced freedom of the
press. The military men, faced with
the task of turning the present
chaos of Germany into something
approaching orderly life, see only
the use that can be made of the
newspapers in accomplishing this.
Life in Germany for time will be
entirely under military control and
the newspapers, like the radio, will
be instruments of control. They
will carry the necessary and doubt
less continually changing orders
concerning food, fuel and other ra-
tioning, transportation, housing and
the like. Beyond that they will
carry the news of the world. It is
the view of Elmer Davis that they
should not carry editorials and that
view probably will prevail.
Apart from the uncertain effects
of any editorializing there's an
other reason for hoping these Army
owl newspapers restrain the edi-
torial urge. No great good can re-
suit at this stage from a contest
between American, British, French
and Russian editors for the hearts
and minds of the German people
No satisfaction to anybody save
those who wish to promote trouble
between the Allies.
Propaganda should be out. Ger
tainly some of our military men