~

Me

Published Nazi war documents
prove progressives were right

8 600 pages of documents,
captured from the Nazis and
published by- the British gov-

ernment (Documents on Ger-.

man Foreign Policy), I have
been re-living the fateful
Month of August 1939, when
the world hovered on the brink
of war and finally toppled
over, °
All the secrets that the spies
of every nation were desper-
ately trying to secure are here.
We see how the Nazis steadi-
ly created provocations in Pol-
and and how clearly they un-
derstood that the British and
the French were deliberately
stalling on the military dis-

- cussions in Moscow.

We watch the course of the
German - Soviet negotiations
Which plainly resulted from
the conviction in Moscow that
the Western powers were try-

‘ing to manoeuvre them into

facing the Nazis alone.

What is new is the evidence
that Molotov regarded the non-
aggression pact as a simple
confirmation of the Soviet
traditional volicy of trade and
peace between all nations,
whatever their social, system,
and tried to put the Germans
off when they pressed for Rib-
bentrop to visit Moscow; a
fact that probably explains
why at the time an inspired
statement was issued saying
there was nothing in the agree-
ment to prevent the conclusion
of a pact with Britain and
France.

It was Stalin who speeded
up the German visit and, if
the German documents are to
be ‘believed, there was a secret
clause defining spheres of in-
fluence in Poland. :

To this revelation must b
added the footnote that Hitler
made clear in Moscow his in-
tention to attack Poland. The
documents show that the Poles
Specifically refused ‘to allow
Soviet troops on their soil, even
in the event of an agreement
between Britain, France and
the USSR to resist German
aggression. :

The Soviets were quite con-
vinced that the British and
French were not serious and,
as Stalin said when Hitler at-
tacked 21 months later, the pact
gave the Soviet Union precious
time to prepare.

At the Berlin end, we see
Hitler desperately pressing for
conclusion of the pact because
he knew that he could not fight
a genuine alliance of the West-
ern powers and the USSR.
That is what the progressive

forces in Britain said all the-

time.
In’ the last days, Chamber-
lain apparently tried to con-

vince Hitler that the British .

would act if the Germans in-
vaded Poland, but the Nazis
didn’t believe him.

The thought — and Halder,
chief of staff, recorded it in
his diary — that Britain and

France would accept a light-f

ning victory in Poland as a
fait accompli.
xt xt %

Mussolini’s letters to Hitler
demolish once and for all the
claim that Chamberlain’s ap-
peasement might have paid off.
The Duce explained his refusal

to enter the war at the begin- =

ning by reminding Hitler that
at all their meetings they had
envisaged starting the war
after 1942.

The fact that the Spanish
war was fought by the Ger-
mans and the Italians as part
of the preparation for the final
showdown is openly accepted
and, of course, Franco is re-
garded as a full ally.

Mussolini sent Hitler a long
list of raw materials he need-
ed before entering the war
and suggested that in the mean-
time he might try a spot of
appeasement. He was busy
up to the last minute.

On September 2, the day
before war started, Chamber-
Jain held up a sitting of the
House of Commons for several
hours because he still believed
Mussolini would pull it off.

That fact is not recorded in
the German documents but
they do contain a dispatch
from the German embassy 1n
London, quoting Sir Horace
Wilson, head of the British
civil service, for the statement
that on that Saturday evening
the cabinet threatened to re-

Hitchcock

A TAP on the shoulder as he
mounted the steps to his
home. He turned to face deep
trouble, a crisis in his life.
There were two men.

“We're police detectives,”
they said. “Would you mind
coming with us?” He was
charged with armed robbery
of an insurance firm and seven
similar crimes. He was inno-
cent. It was a case of mistaken
identity.

The hero in The Wrong Man,
is a bass player in a New York
night club. He had returned
from his job the previous
morning to find his wife awake
and with a tale of woe. A den-
tal job would cost $325. They
were broke, as usual. Where
were they to borrow such
money? His wife reproaches
herself with bad management.
They decided’ to borrow on
her personal life insurance
policy. While negotiating a
loan from the insurance com-
pany he was identified as 2
man who had held up that of-
fice at revolver point some
weeks ago. Hence the police.
Now, in a very matter of
act way, we go step by step

sign in a body if Chamberlain
did not declare war.

The Nazis were convinced
even after the war started
that there would be no serious
attacks in the West by either
Britain or France and they
appeared to have some very
good sources in London.

One unnamed informant told
them on August 28 that the
British felt that even if they
were unable to avoid declar-
ing war they could still con-
duct it on a moderate scale,
and Sir Samuel Hoare is re-
ported to have said: “Although
we cannot avoid declaring war,
we can always fulfil the letter
of a declaration of war with-
out immediately going all out.”

This informant evidently had
good sources of information,
for he also reported that the
British government was pre-
paring to move to Oxford—a
fact that was supposed to be
top secret.

The most striking impres-
sion from these papers is the
proof of how right the pro-
gressive movements in the
Western countries were in
their support for the Spanish
people in their contention that
the Nazis were provoking war
because they believed they had
the secret support of powerful
forces in both Britain and
France; in their insistence that
only an alliance of the West-
ern powers and the Soviet

through the whole of this
man’s ordeal. The initial ques-
tioning; his confrontation with
storekeepers whom he is also
suspected of robbing — then
back for more questions.

Can he phone his wife? he
keeps asking. “‘That’s all taken
care of,” they say. It was not.
His wife was frantic and had
been phoning hospitals. Bail
is set at $7,500, which friends
scrape together, then he is
home — a sick man. His wife
is also near hysteria.

The much worried man and
wife placate their two children
and are fortunate in finding
a lawyer who will act for him
and wait for his fee. He proves
to be a tower of strength in
all. ways.

Investigation turns up two
witnesses, potential alibis for
the night of. one of his
“erimes.” But it turns out that
both have died in the mean-
time — and this is the final
straw for his wife.

“You must see a doctor,” he
says. “How are we going to
pay for him?” she says. “We
can’t pay for what we’ve got
now.” But they see a doctor
and his wife goes to a Sana-

*& New laurels for Canada have been won by Barbara Wag-
; ner and . Robert Paul of Toronto, winners of the World
Figure Skating Championships at Colorado Springs.

Union would make Hitler
climb down.

It’s a terrifying thought that
the very men who made not
the slightest effort to stop Hit-
ler are now the allies of the

West and are apparently soon

torium, insane, to remain there
for over two years.

The hero is positively iden-
tified as the hold-up man by
three employees of the insur-
ance company. It is hard to
see how they could have so
positively (and wrongly) iden-
tified him as the criminal]. He
stood three feet from the wo-
men, across a counter, in a
well lighted office, for ten
minutes. Yet they mistook
him for someone else.

Everything turns out all
right, finally. That is, if you
can accept his ultimate clear-
ance and release as “all right.”

5 od tt %

A number of things occur
to one. First: what if it had
been a murder charge? He was
only cleared by accident. He
could have been’ executed.
Then one wonders, entirely
apart from the suffering in-
volved, just how much did the
whole thing cost in cash? Did
his family in real life, EVER
get out of debt?

Again, we are initially en-
raged by his wife’s derange-
ment. But reflection brings
realization that the wrongful

to receive tactical atom bombs,
which British Defense Minis-
ter Duncan Sandys has just
explained are the minor play-
things that killed 200,000 each
at Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
GORDON SCHAFFER

movie raises some social points

arrest did not cause, but only
contributed to her affliction.
The constant struggle to keep
going on $85 a week laid the
basis. The final strain caused
by the arrest pushed her over
the edge.

Finally, the prosecuting at-
torney in his opening state-
ment to the jury makes use of
a deliberate, whopping big lic.
The accused is described as
an inveterate gambler made
desperate by constant losses.
In fact, he was not a betting

man and had so stated at his ~

preliminary questioning. Since
this is a true story, it is legi-
timate to ask: How many times
do the police and prosecution
deliberately lie to get a con-
viction, in U.S. courts?

The Wrong Man is a tautly
told story, with fine acting and
direction. Suspense grips you
as this typical “little man” be-
comes emeshed in apparently
invincible and baleful forcés.
The great city of New York
is warp and woof of the narra-
tive. Whether or not you like

suspense, it is a good film and —

recommended viewing.
TERRY JAMES

MARCH 8, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 13