Evening star., 1950-06-21
By Fred Sporks
fersisn Correspondent Of The stcr end
the Chicago Daily News

SPStNS
fersisn Correspondent Of The stcr and
the Chicago oeiiy News
MUNICH, Germany, June 21.--l
When 1t comes to organizing Ger
man youth against Communism
we Americans are accomplishing
Zero.
Although well spend more than
$40 million this year catering to
the small fry, everyone agrees that
we're losing the vital battle for
German youth by default.
Eighty per cent of the kids in
the Western zones have no Or
ganizations to turn to. Those who
do are being glibly taught such
community cuties as basket-weav-
ing and finger-painting-with not
a political paper to peep at.
Basically. our failure even va
guely to alert German youth to
the Communist terror is due to
our continuing policy in Germany
of worrying more about World
War II, which we won, than pre-
pairing to prevent a third world
war, which we could easily lose.
Likened to Boy Scouts.
One high American youth Of
ficial put 1t this way: "The little
youth work we are doing Is based
on the occupation directive to
make German kids forget the
regimentation Of the Hitler re-
girne and to think, play and live
like American kids.
I'VE are forbidden to discuss
current politics, and open mention
of the Soviet Union would be
against State Department policy.
Our program is similar to the Boy
Scouts or the YMCA."
Now this would be simply dandy
II peace were prospering. But In
his ugly corner OF the Reich Herr
Stain has long ago stopped beat
ing the dead dog of Nazism. He
has merely revived its more sue
cessful schemes and painted over
the brown with red.
We refuse to accept the local
ground rules and adjust ourselves
to German mentality. Our ap-
proach, with its repeated implied
criticisms of past sins. is as slick
as trying to win friends in Florida
by saying: Eyes. it Is sunny today.
But I remember your terrible
transforms"
Baseball Gear Unused.
Best example of our attempt to
import foreign way of life has
been the crashing failure of the
Army's plan to introduce baseball
via its German Youth Association
(GYA). 1t spent untold thousands
to freight here mountains of
gloves, bats and catchers' masks.
Most of this gear rots in GYA /
clubs all over Germany today.
In Bavarian town near Passau !
I saw hundreds of dollars worth
Of baseball gear that had never |
been unpacked. 0magine what |
poor American slum kid would
do for a nifty mittD
Germany's jugend have never
played baseball, don't understand
1t, don't want to. Some great
brain, come here like mad mis-
sionary at wars end to "re-educate
the Germans" figured out that
baseball makes a man more demo-
cratic than continental football.
Herr Stain makes no such mis-
takes. German kids are German
kids, he figures not little
caviar cutupS. So he has busted
on the vastly successful Hitler
1ugend and renamed it the Freie
Deutsche Jugend-FDJ. Almost
every FDJ leader I have met
goose-stepped under awful Adolf.
Soon every East Zone German
boy and girl (and Lord knows how
many in the West) will sport an
FDJ badge. /
Example Cited.
Best way to show you how both |
sides treat their Teutonic tots is "
to tell you about Fritz d6) and
Otto Q8 Rheinholdt. Because
their parents have separated Fritz
lives in the American zone, Otto
beds in the Kremlin's Reich.
Fritz hasn't got political
thought in his head. And no one
is trying to put one there. Oh, yes,
Fritz hates the Americans, British, /
French and Russians who beat up
his country and now occupy it.
Qsn't that human?)
He automatically belongs to the
youth group of his Lutheran
church and last year attended one
church supper and three picnics,
during which he won a hand
wrestling cup.
Once an American sergeant in
vited him to the local Munich GYA
club. He got free ham sand
wich and bottle of coke and saw
a Mickey Mouse short. Swell fun,
but he never went back. Kids
around here consider GYA Sissy
stuff"
Otto Gets Nice Uniform.
Brother Otto, on the other
hand, stumbled into FD,J in Dres-