‘LITTLE over a month
xO, press correspond-

ents of leading British
2rs covering the Nurem-
ry trials, were advised by
+ editors that “interest
ne trials is subsiding .. .
down wordage for fu-
coverage .-. . send only
lights and the like.’’
ere is only one interpre-
m_of such instruction to
_ correspondents at Nurem-
= not that public interest
fe trial and just conviction
“ese nazi murderers is sub-
zx, but that certain imter-
n the camp of reaction, who
worked and are still work-
for a “soft peace” desire
“c interest to subside. A
er of seemingly disconnec-
vents may provide the ob-
-e cf such desires.
the Nurembrerg trials, the
of Nazi ideology are on
but the accessories to the
crimes, holding high posi-
in Britain, the USA, Can-
id elsewhere—to say Noth-
+ Spain, Portugal and Ar-
a, are absent. Those ac-
ties to the Nazi crimes, still
d with the ideology of
“-h, are profoundly con-
* about the fate of Ger-
: insofar as it affects their
31 and class interests. Be-
osent from the criminal’s
-n Nuremberg, it is vital
sir special interests that
_¢cks of certain Nazi crim-
should be spared in order
‘ovide a bulwark of reac-
the Fourth Reich against
tatic progress and revolu-
ty socialism.
s hardly to be expected
he powerful lords of the
41 press, who give their
‘pondents at Nuremberg
‘tions to “play down” the
trials, would feature all
scuments which the Nazi
als undoubtedly submit
efense,” since many of
documents must involve
sent accessories to Nazi

Bi. It just wouldn’t “be
> public imterest.” The
h era of the “Cliveden

Was productive of much
entary evidence symbol-
a close affinity between
anking Nazis and British
‘ocrats.” The policies of
1 reaction shows that,
the war cut the bonds
Hnity, the sentiment has
aed intact.
e@

1e Belsen trials under a
itish court marshal, ‘jus-
proceeded with “slow and
1. feet.” A lawyer, a pro-
; and authority of inter-
ial law was retained by
iritish authorities to ‘“de-
the Nazi beasts of Bel-
Nine out of the 40 were
3d, while the balance,
ly guilty, and with the
of untold thousands of
ant victims on their hands,
ruilty of atrocities which
r decent men and women
with horror, got off with
sentences.

Back To Munich?

ee pce. ee

“Let us not betray Canada’s Dead a second time in our generation.”

In the Belsen camp death
factory, with its gas chambers,
its cremation ovens, and its
mass grave yards, it was left
for British “justice” to deter-
mine the degree of guilt of the
sadist personnel who operated
this torture factory. In the
Paderborn trials of Polish pa-
triots, whose only “crime” was
to deal with their Nazi tor-
turers directly and expeditious-
ly, the British court moved
swiftly with decision against
the defendants. These anti-
fascists were not given the ben-
efit of professors of interna-
tional’ law in their defense, nor
was the Polish Provisional Gov-
ernment permitted to speak on
their behalf. In the Paderborn
case the “trial” only lasted
three days .. . vastly different
from the long drawn-out at-
mosphere of a “soft peace”
which penetrated the death
stench of the Belsen court
room.

THE decision to commute the

death sentence to life im-
prisonment for the Nazi. gener-
al Kurt Meyer, cam only be un-
derstood, if the whole back-
ground of the objectivity of the

ite

soft peace” Munichites is un-

derstood. Meyer’s plea for ‘le-.

niency against the death sen-
tence was that he has “a wife
and five children,” that “he
wasn’t directly responsible” for
the atrocities of his Panzer
Nazi hordes against unarmed
Canadian prisoners of war. One
can understand the whining of
a Nazi “superman” rendered
harmless by the power of Al-
lied Nation’s arms. It is more
difficult, unless we can see the
whole pattern, to understand
the unwarranted leniency ac-
corded Meyer. The Canadian
general who commuted the
Meyer death sentence to life
imprisonment, undoubted-
Iy upon and with the advice of
civil governmental authority,
was merely following a prece-
dent that has already been es-
tablished, and which runs like
a yellow thread throughout the
Nazi trials to date under Bri-
tish authority ... the precedent
of a “softening attitude” to-
wards the Nazi incendiaries and
mass murderers. The Nazi Mey-
er can forget the tens of thous-
ands of women... mothers and
children, which his orders sent
to their death, in a plea for his
own neck and his own brood.
As in Belsen, he can argue that,
personally, as an individual, he
didn’t kill a single Canadian
with his own hands, but the
graves of thousands of Canada’s
dead sons speak more eloquent-
ly than do some of Canada’s

IC ADVOCATE—PAGE 1

See -

Science of
Society
- Page 2

it remains for Canada
through the medium of govern-
mental and military authority
-.. and against the wishes of
the vast majority of the Cana-
dian people... to “save” the
neck of a Nazi butcher. Munich-
ite pleas for a “soft peace” are
now transformed into action
and precedents are established.
The same plea upon which the
neck of Meyer has been saved,
can serve everyone in the Nur-
emberg prisoner’s dock. The
same fine straining of British
“justice” at Belsen can be ap-
plied at Nuremberg, and we
may yet wake up to find that
Ribbentrop is merely a badly
misunderstood wine salesman
who connived with Chamber-
lain, Daladier and Co., or vice
versa, for the good of human-
ity. We may find that Goering
hated Hitler ... but not Hitler-
ism, and on that fine distinction,
those who are absent from the
dock, and who contrive to “play
down” the trials, may yet be
able to save the fat neck of the
sadist, dope addict Herman.

It is not the most important
matter whether Meyer is
brought to Canada to serve his
sentence or not... Nor is it
facing up to our duties as Ca-
nadians, to raise whoops of joy
that perhaps the government
of the USSR may place Meyer
on trial for atrocities against
Soviet citizens, and hoping,
there, if not here, that this
Nazi butcher would receive his
just deserts. By harboring such
“hopes” we render both the in-
tegrity of Canada and the
USSR an ill service. Our duty
to see to it—regardless of of-
ficial dictum, that Kurt Meyer
pays with his life for the lives
of Canadian soldiers.

The Meyer case is only part
of a whole attitude of official
sofetming-up towards Nazism;
to begin to accept the idea that

living against this foul Nazi.

‘victorious

the military defeat of Nazism
is sufficient for the day there-

of, but the “saving” or reten-

tion of the class which Nazism
spawned is an essential prere-
quisite of reaction for effect-
ively combatting-“communism.”
To use the myriad elements of
Nazism in the building of a new
“cordon sanitaire” against the
spread of revolutionary social-
ism.

Of course “trials” are neces-
sary to keep publie opinion as-
sured that the Nazi criminals
are being properly and justly
dealt with. Of course we will
hang a few, since it is unavoid-
able not to do so. But while we
are doing it, let us gently and
imperceptibly begin to play
down the trials . . . to allay
public concern and interest, to
help along the mass forgetful-
ness and thus clear the decks
for the “soft peace’? reinforce-
ment of Munich reaction. Such
seems to be the new line of
“policy” of the Munich men.

Vital to the progress of such
a policy is the display of “jus-
tice” in dealing with Nazi
criminals, and the parading of
“democracy,” which
under the aegis of a Labor
Government, permits the fas-

cist Moseley and his blackshirts
to hold mass rallies and street
demonstrations. We hanged a
Lord Haw Haw and an Amery,
so who need get indignant
against a Mosley, a Lord Si-
mon, a Lord Hoare, or a Lord
Halifax?’ We made a fine dis-
tinction in Belsen—provided the
best Jegal talent for the accused,
hanged a few, and let, the ma-
jority of the death factory ex-
perts feel the warm thrill of a
“new freedom.” We intention-
ally forgot villages like Lidice
and found “democratic” excuses
for Meyer. Who can say what
will emerge from Nuremberg,
where only a few of the accused

by T. McEwen

A “Who's who’’ of German
the large wall
chart in Nuremberg court-
room shows intricate Nazi
police chain which began
with Himmler and included
hated Gestapo.

terrorists,

are in the dock ... where the
Imajority (and not all from
Germany) are still conspiring
against the desires of the peo-
ple for democratic ‘progress
and peace.

@

PAYING some experience in

penal administration in Can-
ada, I am sure it will comfort
my readers to know that if the
killer of Canadian soldiers is
brought to Canada, he will be
regarded as a special prisoner;
will be assured consideration
that on no account must be
given to Communists; will have
all the benefits and early ter-
mination of his sentence for
“good behaviour” : . . (Hasn’t
he been described by Canadian
military men as a “great offi-
cer and gentleman’”’?), and will
undoubtedly have ‘for his im-
mediate associates in prison,
those ex-ministers, ex-lawyers,
ex-brokers, ex-etc., who by
some queer Munichite kink of
mind are considered by penal
authorities as “good people”
whom society has “misunder-
stood.”

It is time we in Canada woke
up to a fuller realization of
what is involved in this new
postwar attitude towards fas-
cism, and began to demand that
the quality of justice being
handed out to the Nazis mur-
derers be commensurate with
their mass crimes against
mankind. Unless we do, every
‘Canadian grave on every baittle-
field, every ravaged village,
town and city, must rise to re-
buke us. The evidence of the
validity of the order to “play
down” Nuremberg can be found
in every leading paper. That
evidence should be a warning
to Canadians that such silence
is in support of the Nazi crim-
inals,. and against the people
everywhere, who desire a peo-
ple’s peace of progress and se-

curity.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1946