Evening star., 1949-10-30

been completely defeated. On tho
ruins has risen an even more
ruthless dictatorship-that of the
semi-Asiatic Russian empire. The
Western world has become truly
alarmed at the prospect of a third
world war following so shortly on
the heels of World War lis devas-
tation.
The United States, the only re-
naming real power in the West.
has taken the lead in salvaging
Western civilization on the con-
tinent where it was born. and is
spending great deal of her sub
stance in the performance of that
self-imposed task.
The Marshall Plan, the Atlantic
pact and the military aid pro-
gram are the chief contributions
toward that goal But few at home
realize what so many European
military men understand today
but do not dare mention for fear
OF repercussions among their own
bigoted peoples. This is that
unless the whole Western portion
of Europe forms one wall against
the threat from the East, all our
efforts will be doomed to eventual
failure.
A French officer put the whole
problem crudely: "The Germans
either must DE made into loyal
friends or must be utterly de-
stroyed now when they are COM
pletely defenseless. Since there
can be no question of destroying
47,000,000 persons, we must pursue
the first alternative, that is to
make them into loyal friends"
This appears to be the most
propitious time to raise the Ger
mans to equal membership in the
family Of Western nations.
Must Take Risk
Being within few hours march
OF Russia's military borders, they
fear an aggression more than any
other country in Europe. And
being stark realists they are con-
vinced that this aggression is in
evitable and must come sooner
than the Allies seem to think.
Most Germans, according to un-
biased observers, would be willing
to make a real contribution to tho
defense of Western Europe, which
means. in fact, first of all the de-
tense of their own land.
If the Germans were provided
with the means to defend them
selves-and it is here that We
must take a calculated risk
under the overall control Of
American commanders, there
seems to be more than a $3.50
chance that they would not turn
toward the Russians. whom they
despise and hate.
Enough refugees arrive every
week from the Russian zone
(among them some formerly i'm
portant members Of the old Free
German group in Moscow to JUS
tify the belief of our military men
in Germany that the Soviets can
not count on the loyalty of many
Germans even in their own zone.
But it is necessary to realize
that If the Germans in the west
are kept defenseless and if we are
not in a position to prevent q
Russian invasion of their land,
they necessarily will 60 to the side
of the Russians. An active propa-
ganda campaign is being waged-
at present by Soviet agents in the
western zones. This campaign
seeks to show that the Allies are
totally incapable of defending the
Germans In their own country.
Samples of Propaganda
The Communist propaganda is
illustrated occasionally by typi-
cally Russian demonstrations. For
instance, last August the Soviet
authorities in the area bordering
Bavaria decided to celebrate the
outbreak of World War II. There
was gunfire salute and the other
usual ceremonies. In honor of
this festive occasion, it was an
nounced that the borders of the
American zone in Bavaria would
be open for "a hour to all inhabi-
tants of the Soviet zone.
The German authorities in our
zone heard about the coming event
a week in advance. They were
worried about this peaceful inva-
sion and reported the situation to
the American governor of Bavaria.
They suggested that large con-
stabulary force be sent to seal
the border. American authorities
were in a dilemma. They feared
violent outbreaks, but the Ameri-
can constabulary-which has to
guard some 800 miles of border
with the Soviet zone and Czecho-
slovakia-could not spare any re-
inforcements for the particular
area which the Russians decided
to open up. Some 10000 crossed
the frontier on the given date and
emptied the stores. paying for
their purchases with useless East
ern marks.
Fortunately there was no vio-
lent incident. The local German
authorities had taken care to
warn the merchants to remain
passive when their fellow citizens
purchased" their goods. The in
cident passed unnoticed In the
press. But the inability Of the
American protectors" to carry
out their function did not 60 un-
noticed by the German people.
However, to convince the
French, Belgians and British that
the western zones of the Reich
must be taken into partnership
by her conquerors is a task far
beyond the ability of our State
Department. Whatever sound
arguments may be put forth will