Every day is flag day in Germany.
From the flagpoles of the highest buildings in the cities to the staffs of the “kleineste hauschen” of the suburbs the swastika and the flag of the republic fly side by side. During the peak of wartime fervor Old Glory was never so popular in the United States.
The brown uniform of the Nazi storm troopers is everywhere in evidence. In the cafes, on the streets, in the trains—everywhere.
Parades seem to be the order of the day. At spasmodic intervals groups of brownshirted marchers form lines and tramp down the main thoroughfares of Berlin singing the national anthem and halting on occasion to give three rousing “heils” for Hitler. Factory workers and clerks parade by the thousands in demonstrations frequently held after hours. Muscular, heavy-breasted women, decorated with the swastika where it will show to best advantage, also meet, march, and cheer. There is an orderliness and discipline about even the kindergarten on parade which is reminiscent of the heyday of Troy.
These are the outward manifestations of Reichskanzeler, Hitler’s “bloodless” revolution, which in three brief months has transformed Germany into the most nationalistic power on a continent that is rapidly becoming an asylum for nationalistic phobias.
THE MALIGNANT UNDERCURRENT
There are no two ways about it. One must pay tribute to immigrant Adolf Hitler who dropped the (house) paint brush to snatch up the swastika emblem and lead a nation to a new conception of government and social composition. The entire German nation has responded unanimously to his dictation. Argument has been wiped out.
But beneath the flag-waving Hitler-heiling surface there is a malignant undercurrent of desperation and terror. Jews, who are essentially unable to embrace or be embraced by the National Socialist party, and others, whose political and ethical opinions do not conform to those of the Nazis, entertain a deep-routed dread of the future. As the foundations upon which their existence depends is rapidly washed from beneath them, they have become panicky. In an effort to survive, they have withdrawn within
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
