Page 12 — P. A. Features, January 13

Continued from Page 10

Liberated Holland

T was the spontaneous, na-

tion-wide strike in the spring
of 1943 that forced the hands
of the Germans. <All Dutch
prisoners of war who had been
released, except those in’ es-
sential war industries, were
ordered to report for reintern-
-ment in Germany. =

The strike was a nation-wide
protest that spread rapidly, and
lasted seven days, despite the
failure of the railway and civil
workers to participate, and in
the very teeth of savage Ger-
man reprisals.

In the same year there be-
gan the mass deportation of
young men for forced labor in
Germany. Many of these young
‘men went underground, hiding

on farms and in the towns and
cities. Forged identity and ra-
tion cards were used of neces-
sity, and from these same
young: men were recruited
many of the old original mem-
bers of the Orange Brigade,
then outlawed secret organiza-
tion in contact with the exile
government in London.

? e
[XY the German defeats in Brit-
ish skies, at Stalingrad and
in Africa. the Hollanders found
new Hope and courage. When
all the radios the Germans
could get hold of in April and
May, 1943, except those be-
longing to “reliable quislings,”
were confiscated, the under-
ground press came into its own.
Communist, Socialist, labor,
Catholic and Protestant papers
soon enjoyed a wide, if illegal,
circulation. The penalty for il-
egal possession of a radio was
a term in a brutal concentra-
tion camp and confiscation of
all personal property.

4 ESESESESESESESESE2ES EI 03E3E3

New Books

ROAD TO THE OCEAN—Leonid Leonov _
THE TEMPERING OF RUSSIA—Ilya Ehrenburg. 2. 3.75
PEOPLES OF THE USSR—Anna L. Strong
CHILDREN IN SOVIET RUSSIA—Deana Levin
USSR IN RECONSTRUCT

Institute

For possession of a single
copy of an underground paper,
the penalty ‘was several months
im a concentration camp. For
having any editorial, mechanic-
al or distributing function in
connection with such a paper,
the penalty was death.

Even the Judas-traitors had
to hand in their radios, to be
gutted so their owners would
not listen in on Radio Orange,
from London.

But the Germans were al-
ways alien tyrants to the vast
majority of the Dutch people.
They were not welcome in
homes and were ignored in pub-
lic places. German _ soldiers
walking on lonely roads kept
to the “center line,” and chal-
lenged any one whose foot-
steps they heard.

Holland was not only a
hungry country during the oc-
cupation, it was a glum coun-
try. :

Hard liquor disappeared from
the legal market and beer de-
clined in strength. Dance halls
and dancing clubs had their
permits revoked and cinemas
featured dull propaganda films.
Dancing parties in homes were
forbidden and social gatherings
of any sort were suspected.

pee Holland I have seen to
date has been a series of
smashed up villages and batter-

ed towns and cities: Much land:

that took centuries to win from
the sea is now under water
again. As the Germans retreat,
they wantonly flood land, blast
bridges, public utilities, railway

installations, rolling stock _ and

industrial works.

Just the other day I read
that frenzied Germans are de_

| | | ef A | | | || | |e |e | [2 [>|

stroying docks, warehouses,
factories and rail yards in Rot-
terdam, a sure sign the city
will soon fall.

In a city, close to the town
f am stationed in, every canal
and railway bridge was blasted
by the Germans before they,
left. The gas works, electricity
plant, waterworks, railway re-
pair yard and railway station
suffered the same fate. Army
engineers quickly built mili-
tary bridges and in practicalty
no time army convoys were
rolling over the canal to the
front.

But there is little transport
for- civilian needs at this criti-
eal stage and the people of the
city are even hungrier than
they were under the Germans.

The citizens of this city of
blasted bridges have demon-
strated in striking fashion their
appreciation of the situation,
and the tasks that lie ahead of
the Allies. Qne thousand young
men have voluntered for active
service the Netherland’s
army and more applications are
pouring in.«

in

| HOPE ll be in Berlin to see :

the Allied Nations’ victory
parade — better still, to take
part in it.

I- am sure a place of honor
will be reserved for the Hol-
land contingents.

Also, I am sure that if any
voices are heard in defense -of
a soft peace for Germany, at
the peace table, the voice of
Holland will shame the speak-
ers to silence.

ION—American Russian

1.50

*

5 4 5K 4K] Le ak 4 ek kk KH

pk

CY

OF SMILING PEACE—Siefan Heym

PEOPLES’ BOOK STORE

420 West Pender Street

SOVIET UNION TODAY—American Russian Institute___ 1.00
NEW WORLDS FOR WOMEN—Dorise W. Neilsen______
WHY WOMEN CRY—Elizabeth Hawes

Phone MArine 5836

4% > LD ¥ > a te aka aK a | ak a] ae

7

se csirya cee}:

| Book Review
THE ORDEAL, by Arkady Pervensev. Harper, $2.50

ARK*oy PERVENTSEYV is a war correspondent for “Tzvestia

who covered the defense of Sevastopol from a naval bombe -
in the Black Sea. He has been badly wounded in the Tins
of duty; he has seen fighting on many fronts, but the subjee ;
he has chosen for his latest novel is the battle that goes on twenty |
four hours a day behind the lines.

The Ordeal is an impressive attempt to dramatize the prob
lems faced by the workers of an airplane plant in the Ukraine
when the Nazis advanced on their town. Dubenko, the director
had prepared for this emergency. Before the invasion he hac
scouted the hinterland and had selected a mining village in the
Urals out of the range of Nazi planes. I¢ is to this dreary Spot |
thousands of miles east of the sunny Ukraine, that the entire |
factory is transferred. Every piece of machinery is loaded on flat,
cars under enemy bombardment; the factory itself is blown up
by the men who built it. Two months later the first plane is
finished in the new plant in the Urals. 8 SS.

What happens during these two months is a story so gallant,
so heroie that one feels justified in describing it with that over.
worked word “epic.” At first the people’s reactions are far from

heroic. They can hardly believe that they will have to abandon
and destroy their beloved town and plant which they have built
with their own hands. They fear the enemy; yet they hope that
their homes will not have to be given up. DLhere are rumors that
the natives of the Urals are as strange, gloomy and unfriendly
as the hardy mountain climate. But by the time the Germans
are in the suburbs of the town, all doubts and fears have disap-
peared. Fear of the Nazis has turned to cold hatred; anger at -
the enemy is the only emotion which motivates their actions. For’
they have seen the refugees passing through their town, theiz
women and children have been slaughtered by Nazi bombs, their
sons have given their lives at the front, their families have been
Scattered, their homes destroyed.

Although this is a grim and purposeful book, Perventsey is
often carried away by his love and lmowledge of the people he
writes about. He introduces episedes and characters which lighten
this account of daily heroism and self-sacrifice. There are such
heart-warming individuals as Mayor Lob, broken out of the Red
Army for drunkenness, eagerly taking his chance to make a come- )
back; Maxim Trunoy, an old scout of the Civil War days: Valya. |
Dubenko’s wife, who finds that the prerogatives of married life are

denied her; she must always yield to the needs of the factory.
And many others: some brave, some cowardly, some wise, some:
stubborn; but all united in one fixed purpose—the destruction of
the enemy. : \ : :

Perventsev’s writing is simple. He is not a Sholokhov or a
Leonov in search of symbols, images or metaphors. His material
requires only the direct words of a man who knows his subject |
matter thoroughly, and who can make others feel proud of human
accomplishments. :

It is heartening to read Alfred Vanderbilt’s column in the
New York “Post” of Dec. 19, 1944. Writing from Albuquerque, —
N. M., Vanderbilt says: “Most people here are overwhelmingly in |
favor of the Soviet, the next to FDR, Joe Stalin is the most popular
world figure. .: . Nearly everyone I come in contact with has
been. reading Adkady Perventsey’s inspiring novel,-“‘The Ordeal?”

Yes, Americans will be “overwhelmingly in favor of the
Soviet” as long as they can find out the truth about our Russian ;
Allies from such books as this:—T. CG. FOXX. :

GLIMPSING TOMORROW |

Taken from “The Last Word,” in B.C. District Union News

In their postwar perspectives both extremes err in something
else as well. Both sides fail to see that the postwar world is with @
us now in embyro-production unlimited, and desires of the primary
producers also unlimited, keened to razor sharpness. They are not
going to allow the machines to rust after the war to provide 2;
pecuniary profit to reaction or political advantage to theoretical
leftists.

They haven’t pressed and badgered both extremes into fight-
ing and defeating fascism just to have the fruits of that victory
rot into a stench before hungry senses. The people in factory;
mine, forest, and on the farms are building the postwar world now.
They live in it every day, they know what it can produce, and they
are going to see that it does produce for them.

It mightn’t be a bad idea if the reactionary John Q. Profiteer_ :
and the leftist John Q. Politico got together with the common
grass root, John Q. Public for a little while. ‘=

They'd learn a lot, and maybe save themselves considerable:
evief.