U.S. High Commissioner Dismisses Possibilities of Rebirth of Nazism in Germany

The conviction that Nazism will never rise in Germany again was voiced here this week-end by American High Commissioner John J. McCloy, in an annual report on American occupation administration in Germany. Admitting that there had been a number of disturbing incidents involving neo-Nazism that “would need action,” the Commissioner said that he “felt most hopeful” of a liberal spirit among the German people.

“I have always felt that the Jewish question was a touchstone of Germany’s capacity to develop into a liberal state,” he continued. “There have been some instances, it is true, which have been most debasing. But to me the most important thing has been the strong reaction to most of these incidents in the press and the statements of President Theodor House and Chancellor Karl Adenauer.”

(Lt. Gen. Geoffrey Keyes, American commander in Austria and U.S. representative on the Allied Council in Vienna, late last week denied charges by the Soviet Union that neo-Nazism is rife in Austria. He declared: “I carefully examined the charges made at our last meeting and find them totally unsubstantiated by fact. This, together with the false and ridiculous accusations that war criminals and Nazis have been protected in the American zone of Austria, leads me to conclude that this entire campaign has been manufactured for other purposes.”