Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 May 1945 — Page 18

Et Co eS NR Aa NL A LS RETR

President

party leader for a general election. And, of course, Presi-

United Nations to rubber-stamp an unchangeable status.

under the Polish and other disputes.

- mistreatment of Germany, invasion of Germany, the duty

possible and given every. assurance that they have been

, these brave men should have uny doubts of their own . courage. oH : BY

: SPEAKING of helicopters, one planner of post-war avia- * "Bays a pilot who gets wages for flying helicopters: “They're

‘will have to worry about congestion of busses, street cars

§ : - Wm ROA]

~The Indianapolis Times:

Friday, May 11, 1945

WALTER LECKRONE Editor

PAGE 18 ROY W. HOWARD

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THE BIG THREE SHOULD MEET ~ THE Big Three should meet soon. It is unfortunate that so many decisions must wait on the persona! consultation of three men. But that’s the way it is. So the quicker they get together the better, This would have been necessary in any case, because of the death of President Roosevelt. Post-war European problems and Pacific war demands make it imperative now. cd | “There are plenty of reasons why such a meeting is not convenient at this time. If duties at home required the recall of Foreign Commissar Molotov from the all-important United Nations conference in San Francisco, certainly Marshal Stalin has his hands full in Moscow. Prime Minister Churchill,-in addition to his manifold official obligations in domestic and foreign affairs, is preparing as Tory

dent Truman is not yet settled into his new job. 318 But the postponed and new allied decisions requiring a Big Three session are of an urgency which cannot be

put off without serious consequences. » » » s

» " AT THE TOP of the list is Japan. What is Russia going to do? Hpw? When? The general understanding that Russia will move at her convenience, and the common estimate that four months would be consumed in’switching her military strength from Europe to the Far East, are not sufficient. If Russia is going to fight, a much closer allied liaison must be perfected than Stalin permitted in Europe, even after the Yalta blueprint. And more acute than military questions are the political. Does Stalin plan ‘to grab control in Manchuria, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, as he has" in Eastern Europe? ila Next on the list is Poland. The allied commission in |. Moscow failed to put into operation the Yalta agreement. The three foreign ministers, in almost constant session at San Francisco, failed to the point of not even being able to discuss the subject any longer. By kidnaping and imprisoning non-Communist Polish leaders, who were to have been members of a new democratic Warsaw government pledged at Yalta, Stalin has created a worse impasse. Though less publicized, the problems caused by Rusgian dictatorship in Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Austria are hardly less explosive than the Polish. The Italian situation is~equally dangerous.

. To. » » = = » THEN THERE are all the delayed decisions regarding Germany. After months of negotiations on these issues, German surrender catches the allies without adequate agreement on the rules of joint occupation, on reparations, on the use of “slave labor,” on territorial disputes, or even on punishment of war criminals. Overshadowing all other European questions is whether there is to be a real peace conference, and when. Present strategy in Moscow, and to some extent in London, is for the European big powers to make a series of settlements to Suit themselves, and about two years hence call in the

A Big Three meeting soon seems to be the only chance of restoring and strengthening the highly essential Amer-jcan-British-Russian co-operation, which is now cracking

MENTAL TORTURE

REPORT from Henry J. Taylor, in Germany, may help to explain the inexplicable. Liberated American soldiers, in some cases, feel ashamed to greet their comrades. German guards have systematically drummed into them the idea that. they were cowards because they surrendered and did not die fighting. ; Mr. Taylor quotes one artillery major, captured in ‘Normandy: “I don’t know how to face you men.” Remove a man from the world and tell him a lie, however monstrous, over and over. First his faith is weakened ; then he begins to believe it. A somewhat similar system was used on the German people themselves. They were isolated from outside influence. Execution was the penalty for listening to a forcign radio or reading a smuggled paper. Day after day Goebbels and his propaganda men beat home their ideas of the master race, sub-human=peoples,

of Germany to “resist aggression” and restore world order. " » n sn » n UNLIKE THE American prisoners, most Germans half believed or wanted to believe even before Goebbels started working on them. It is not wholly surprising that eventually they accepted as gospel some of the most outrageous lies in history. It will be difficult to restoresthe mental balance of these deluded Germans, even with the restoration of the free flow of world opinion across their borders. Nor will it be easy to restore the self-confidence of the brave Ameri! cans who have been subjected to this mental torture. But Gen. Marshall, quickly sensing this situation, has taken steps. to speed the latter process. Liberated American soldiers are to be welcomed back as conspicuously as

remembered, their sacrifices appreciated. : +It is one of the most pitiful aspects of this war that

TRAFFIC PROBLEMS AGAT

tion predicts that rural commuters will go to and‘from work in distant cities—zip! Just like that by helicopter.

not practical in cross currents among tall buildings.” From our spot on the ground, it looks as if this town

and ‘autos for quite a while. After gasoline rationing

is loosened the congestion will begin<to reappear. And it |

1 get no better fastas new cars reach the market, unless y with adequate regulation. ak . parking space, reduction of left turhs,. control clean. supervision of arterial

HENRY W. MANZ ||

Price in Marion Coun- |.

ered by carrier, 20_ cents,

REFLECTIONS— | The Moral By John W. Hillman

IN THE WAVE of horror and revulsion that has followed the publication —of “pictures and de= scriptions of the Nazi death camps,

of the ‘moral’ underlying these demonstrations of bestiality. : ied " We are not so far removed, culturally,’ from the law of “an eye for-an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” That is proved anew by the wave of letters proposing that similar punishments be meted out to Naz criminals—suggestions that they be exhibited as beasts in a cage, or tortured as were their helpless victims, But: such is not the way of civilized people, however outraged. We can not afford to ‘stoop to the level of those we fought or, In defeat, they will have destroyed us as they could not in battle. Rather we should learn from their example. And there is an important lesson for all of us in those heaps of broken bodies, and in the calloused souls of those who, by their cruefty, have shown how little ground humanity has won in its struggle to rise from the slime of the past. 3

'Well and -Clearly Stated’

THAT LESSON is well and clearly stated in a thoughtful editorial by Sgt. H. F. Butler in Top Billings, the weekly newspaper published at Billings General hospital. - “If this writer were the praying sort,” writes Sgt. Butler in the current issue, “he would pray not merely for the souls of the miserable victims of Nazi concentration camps, not merely also for the hopelessly diseased souls of the criminally insane keepers, but still more for the souls of all humanity. For what the Americans discovered at Belsen and Buchenwald . . . and what the Russians earlier discovered at Maidanek represents the possibilities latent in all people. Tm A & : “Crueity is not localized, nor is it a Nazl or.Jap monopoly. Popular interest in bloodshed may take various forms, from enthusiasm over bullfighting to enthusiasm over lynchings, from absorption in murder mysteries to the irresistible impulse to gape at the mangled victims of an auto accident. The religious and moral principles of a well-ordered society impose restraints which keep all but the criminally insane from yielding to obscure impulses to shed blood or inflict suffering.

'Destroyed as Much as They Could’

“BUT THE NAZIS destroyed as much as they could of the religious and moral influences that stood in their way. They legalized the hunting down and torturing of their religiods and political opponents, and thus made possible the eventual horrors of Maidanek, Belsen, Buchenwald and other murder factories. “Let us not feel too smug and superior. The rest of the world knew, even before the Nazis seized power in 1933, what the doctrines of ‘Mein Kampf’ would almost certainly produce. Everybody could

predict it, but nobody did anything important about it.

“The lesson to be learned from Belsen, Buchenwald, Maidanek is not just the commonplace conclusion that the Nazis are fiends. The lesson is rather that those horrible places represent the logical end of violence and aggressiveness. There is what can happen to any society that throws its restraints overboard. With a multitude of lynchings and bloody labor battles to our past discredit, we Americans must be careful to observe the law and keep the peace in what may turn out to be our most difficult years, the post-war era.” »

"Those Pictures Remind Us' -

SGT. BUTLER is obviously a man who knows what lie is'fighting for. Just as obviously, he knows what we must fight against—not only now but in the years ahead. And he knows how we must fight. His are words to remember lest we, like the Pharisees, praise God that we are not like others, forgetting that we, too, are clay and that only good will and tolerance and decency stand between-us and the spawn of the jungle. Those pictures of the torture chambers, those shriveled skeletons of living death, those piles of bones and rotting flesh remind us. It could not happen here? Let us not be too sure. It can not happen—if we learn well the lesson of Buchenwald and Maidanek apd Dachau, if we remember that they are but the last way-station on the road of violence and intolerance—the road that leads to destruction, : We must not let it happen here.

WORLD AFFAIRS—

The Great Question

By Howard Vincent O'Brien

* SAN FRANCISCO, May 11.—~Looking at a picture of Mussolini's ehd—doing the Fascist salute with both arms—and upside down—I recall Vernon. Bartlett's tale of his-visit with the Milanese adventurer, shortly after the first clashes in Ethiopia. » Mussolini was at his desk in the Chigi palace. He rose, his face set in its famous frown; but Bartlett, who had “known him when” was not impressed. “Tell me, Musso,” he said, “what’s the pitch on all this saber-rattling you've been doing?” Mussolini's dark features relaxed in a grin. “Show, business,” he said, chuckling. “Just an act. You see, Bartlett, old pal, I've made a study of this dictator stuff. Nobody knows more about it tHan I do. And, so far as I now can find out, no dictator ever started a war—and lived to finish it.” How right he was!

‘No Wiser Than You or I' NOW THAT UNCIO has gone into its second week, it is fair to make a guess as to what it has accomplished—and is likely to accomplish.

I find tHe proceedings easier to understand when |

I put myself in the place of the statesmen who are ‘rying to end war and establish a peaceful world. They have a tough - nut to crack; and they are no wiser than you or I. Their first step is to find out what they want—and they don’t clearly know. Their second step Is to work put some basic*ideas on which all of them can agree. It appears to me that their problem is really much simpler than they make it seem. The disputes over procedure, the selection of committees, the technique of voting, the subtle distinction between a “mandate” and a “trusteeship” . . -all these things are irrelevant. The one hard fact is that there are only three powers in the world whose opinions count at all. They are the United States, Great Britain and Russia, We: share with Britain a common language and a common economic. phHosophy. But we are competitors in the world’s market; and the foreign policy of Great Britain has always been based on a balance of power. Britain might thus side with us—or with Russia, whose philosophy of statism is in direct conflict with our philosophy ef individual liberty.

‘Difficult, but by No Means Impossible’ RUSSIA WANTS peace as much as we do, and probably needs it even more. Great Britain certainly wants peace. But Russia does not believe that peace can be achieved by resolution. It believes that power is the price of peace. And so, in their hearts, believe Britain and the United States. Therefore, I think the proceedings at San Francisco boil down to an effort to work out some formula which will recognize the interests of ‘Britain and ours selves; on the one hand; and Russia on the other. This will be immensely difficult, but by no” means impossible. OWeY confysed ‘with peripheral issues, such as education in Liberia and the definition of “justice.” = z . We are likely to go farther and faster if we accept the grim realities of the situation: Admit our fundamental conflicts of interest; and stumble on from

‘No matter how eloquent the charter which will

Tu

emerge from San Prancisco, the’ great ill rema lion and the.

RE iQ ; on oy . if %, A -

perhaps, some of us have lost sight {"

It will not profit us, however, to. become

uestion will |

-

”~ . “THE WAY HE TOOK HIS LUMPS" By Mattie Withers, 1525 N, Arsenal ave. Sometime ago, John W. Hillman had a piece in this paper, the subject of which I have forgotten but the substance of which was that a man should be judged by the way he takes his lumps. In support of which he quoted copiously from that most brilliant of contemporary senators, ex-Senator Ashurst. And in line with which I would like to give some personal reflections. It has always been a wonder to me how the people of Germany could allow. themselves to be led by such a man as Hitler. There is nothing about the man so far as I can see that would have any appeal to the mass of any people, I.do -not subscribe to the belief that the Germans are a super race, but I do regard them as being of quite average - intelligence, This makes it all the more puzzling why they would accept Hitler's leadership. : It is’ understandable why -people would © flock to the oolors of Napoleon, Napoleon had that which set him apart from the ordinary run of mortals. He looked the part of a leader. His «picture is. truly magnetic while Hitler's, if not actually sorry, is certainly nothing to conjure with. The only thing that stands out ahout Hitler is his ruthlessness. But with all this, I must confess that I admire the man, for the way he took his lumps. . # 2 nN “THEY WILL TRY AGAIN” y By Just a Wife and Mother, Indianapolis “Germany Surrenders’! A grim cry of history repeating itself, an echo of selfish brutality, and blind

stupidity. I bow my head in shame, and shed bitter tears for the mil. lions . of innocent victims, for our wonderful boys, youth lost forever to ‘sunshine. Do we rejoice for these? Let us resolve that these millions will not be sacrificed in a vain cause, that the peace must truly bring freedom to all men,

Celebrate, if you must, this halfvictory, and remember all the while the great unfinished task in the Pacific. A hard lesson is yet to be taught the people of Japan. “Germany has had: too many

Forum (Times redders are: invited Yo express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Because of the volume received, lotters should be limited to 250 words. Letters must be signed. Opinions set forth here are those of the writers, and publication in no way implies agreement with those opinions by The Times. The Times assumes no responsibility for the return of manu- ~ scripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

spankings,” followed by a benign pat on the head and the admoni-~ tion, “now, be a good boy.” Isn't it time now that the bad boy among nations is recognized for what he is, a dangerous individual, with an insane quirk? Let his punishment be in accordance with his heinious crimes. The pictures showing tortured, starved - people, Nazi victims, will stay in mind forever; reminding me to be vigilant. For “they” will try again, make no mistake! Even though - Germany is rendered helpless for an indefinite period, ditto Japan, the evil seed of Hitlerism remains. The . stinking weed will reappear, somewhere, sometime. Therefore we must be on the alert, always. :

“I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the

your right to say it.” “LEAST OF ALL,

.| THEY NEED BEER”

By Margaret L. Grimes, Indianapolis After reading an article in a recent Chicago paper concerning the distribution of beer among the armed forces, I was genuinely surprised at the army. . 1t seems to me that if the military officials introduce the manufacture of American beer into Europe for the benefit of our*Americafh soldiers, they are “letting down.” 3 Isn't it unfair that our taxpayers’ money and their faithful buying of war bonds should be used for buying beer for the soldiers? Many of these Americans do not regard beer as essential to soldiers or anyone else. I, for one, am heated up over the idea. : — 1 protest the use of the taxpayers’ money, and the money we have loaned to the government, for the manufacture’ and distribution of non-essential beer to the armed forces, as revealed by apparently authentic newspaper. dispatches from Washington, We are praying for the determination and strength of our boys and leaders to continue their fight for victory. This is no time to minimize {their fighting ability by creating the beer drinking habit. among them. Neither is it a time to promote the

financial interests of the breweries.

If. we ‘let down now, it will bel

REPORT oN EUROPE | Nazi Slaves |

I appeal to you mothers, women, |aiding the enemy, not strengthening everywhere, be watchful. To what our forces against evil. The shipbetter purpose: can we put our ping space used for the supplies for thoughts and determination? We've |the making of beer could be used got to stop our complacent think- | for more .food—good substantial, ing, feeling that what happens in|vitamin building food for those boys India, Russia or Timbuktu doesn’t, who have suffered starvation in the after all, concern us. And taking | dirty only Nazi prison camps, and for granted that our leaders are for our other fighting lads. Least of just naturally on their toes. Some- |all, they need beer. how our men just do let these 8» me come to pass in “STRENGTH LIES IN 20 years that our small sons must| HE BALLOT BOX" 7 be called to do the same job over? [By John Alvah Dilworth, 81613 Broadway He serves me most who serves his

whatever their race, color or creed. |

It’s up to you, and you, and you, fellow voters best. :

{to help prevent it! HW It is my well-considered opinion, | “PLEASE DO and I honestly believe some 7000 | ” other voters will agree with me, us A FayoR that Gov. Ralph F. Gates erred in, | By Mary A. Smith, Indianapolis upon recommendation of Fred F. Will . you please do us a favor?| Bays, Democratic state chairman, As long ‘as there are rumors that|reappointing attorney David M. | boys granted leaves ftannot- return | Lewis, Democrat, a former prosecuting attorney of Marion county,

| home until there is room on a boat, do not publish gay stories of Yanks’| to the state board of eléction commissioners on Friday, March 186,

foreign wives making pleasure trips 1945, to complete membership, with

Side Glances=—By Galbraith

| to visit their proud in-laws,-Edwin Steers, Indianapolis attorney and’ Republican, and Gov. Gates, of the board. Attorney Lewis was a member of

. the state board of election com- ; missioners in the 1944 general election. Harold Buckles, special investigator for the senate’s committee, is reported in the press on November 13, 19044, to be interviewing Marion county citizens who contended they were disfranchised in the 1944 general election because of confusion resulting from contradictory rulings of the state board of election commissioners. . . , Many persons claimed they were deprived of their vote. a ? In the press on November 6, 1044, we read: “David M. Lewis, Demo- || crit member; pointed out that there had been a large number of errors. .. " If 256 per cent of the voters, a sufficient number by si g a petition, to call an election and vote, by writing Gov. Gates protesting the | reappointment of Attorney Lewis to the state board of election commis- | sloners, would ask for his removal, I believe the governor would act accordingly. One's strength lies in the ballot box. One can hardly believe those" deprived of right dsbitizens, to vote in the 1044 general election have already forgotten.

re X

By Walker Stone

WASHINGTON; May 11.— The only reason Americans and British did not populate the horror camps

| of Buchenwald and Dachau is thas

the Nazis never overran America or : Britain. It is jmportant for us to remember that The Nazis never got ‘a chance to make politic prisoners and slave laborers of American and British civilians, El i “really : Inhabitants of every country where Nazi domin tion extended were there, starving, beaten, torturec diseased, degraded people. wa There were thousands of German citizens, whos

|only crime was resisting the Nazi political machin

Editor's Note: Mr, Stone is one of a group of editors just returned fiom a two weeks’ tour of Europe on invitation of Gen. Eisenhower to investiga " German atrocities in political prisoner camps.

preaching Christianity from German pulpits or hay ing Jewish blood. Poy , There were other Germans, habitual crim common felons, incarcerated where their brutal habit could be made useful to the Nazi scheme, They we made “block leaders,” with power to punish.

‘Human Beings as Loot of War' THERE WERE Germans, Austrians, Russian Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Jugoslavs, Italians, Frenc Belgians, Dutch, Norwegians—uprooted wherever Na: hordes’ advanced, sent to confinement for politi resistance or religious “fanaticism” ~ Or sent back to be slaves—as the Caesars’ legion sent back their captiges to imperial Rome. Slave has been gone so long from America that the .wor has lost its full force. It is hard for Americans t believe, difficult for us to grasp the significance o©

‘| the Nazis’ revival of dealing in human beings as loo

of war. Some 13,000,000 foreigners were bound to compul sory labor in the Reich. Some were called voluntee workers. There were so-called free labor camp totally unlike the horror camps, where quarters we clean, meals ample. But they were not free:in t sense of being free to go home. For the mass of t 13,000,000 there is no appropriate term except slaves. Any*farmer or merchant, industrialist or house wife who stood in close with the Nasi party could g slaves for the asking. If the slaves were meek industrious, they were generally well fed, well treateq If they showed signs of discontent—well,” there we such camps as Buchenwald and Dachau where th could be sent, : *

'Death Rate Almost Kept Pace’ : AND BENT they were, by thousands, At the, tim of liberation by the American army, Buchenwald population was 20,000, Dachau's 32,000—not countin the dead, but counting the dying. The only reaso the camps were not more overcrowded is that death rate almost kept pace with the incarcerations. American and British prisoners of war were treate harshly enough in other camps, underfed, overworked shoved around. But they were not confined - Buchenwald and Dachau. Heaped high besides the crematories of Buchen ' wald and Dachau were the corpses of Germans, Aus trians, Poles, Russians, Hungarians, Czechs, Jugoslav Italians, French, Belgians, Norwegians, But ni Americans or British, Nor are Americans and British among the livin dead who wander vacant-eyed about the camps, s not comprehendifig that their liberation means the are free to depart. . But we repeat that the only reason we are no there is that the Nazis never occupied any part © America or Britain, never got a chance to take ou civilians: as political prisoners and slaves. Let's no forget, though, that they tried.

IN WASHINGTON—

Occupation Plans By Charles Stevenson

WASHINGTON, May 11.—~Germany's occupatio will include American financing with unbacked “in vasion money” and a censorship so drastic. that won't even let in privately published American m zines and newspapers. : This has been disclosed by Philip C. Hamblet, 36 year-old head of the European branch of the offi of war information. 3 American and British chiefs, who are working to gether, hope there will be a uniform propaganda an governmental setup in each of the four occupatio zones to be bossed by the United States, Great Brit ain, France and Russia—the whole being co-ordina by a board of commissioners representing each powe) and sitting in Berlin, To date, however, the U. 8 and British have been unable to contact the R sians, Mr. Hamblet said. Such services as the military government allo the Germans will be paid for with “invasion mone: —printing press notes which can- be exchanged a an arbitrary rate for foreign money only by soldie: and others of the occupying forces. a All schools will remain closed for several mont! while authorities work out a curriculum to off Nazism, Mr. Hamblet said. x

Indefinite Continuation of OWI THE AMERICAN government in the occupatic zone will publish probably seven newspapers an magazines, the British five, and if the desired co operation results, the French and Russians 13 mo The general news policy is to be directed by the bo of commissioners. - The broad operation promises an indefinite con: tinuation of OWI, > : Mr. Hamblet is here making arrangements befo he takes up his new post in Berlin, running the edu cational-propaganda program envisioned by OWI, th army's psychological warfare branch, and the Britis foreign office, x ; American, British and Frénch magazines an( newspapers—other than the OWI publications—wi be barred, except to subscribing personnel among th occupation people, Mr. Hamblet sald, because thi army cannot spare the shipping space. He said ths such magazines as Time; Readers Digest and Ne week, now published all over the world in forei languages, will be barred because of paper shortage and transportation difficulties jn the occupied zones unless the magazines can make special arrangement with the commissioners. Another explanation from an informed person of side OWT is that OWTI's propagandists feel that th freedom of expression pefmitted in American pub lications, including criticism of the government, woul not give the German the picture of democracy whick is desired for them.

German Presses, Paper to Be Used ~ WHICHEVER EXPLANATION is the better paper and transportation will be found to publish an circulate the OWI newspapers. I German presses and German paper are to be ul ‘Mr, Hamblet said, and the mechanical forces are t be paid in invasion money. The editorial staffs wil be American employees of OWI. ‘Already 300 OW -staff members are in Germany or on the way. =~ At present all American news is written handled by OWI through London. Eventually, Mr Hamblet said, there will be a direct circuit from Ne York to Berlin whence, it is anticipated, OWI new will be distributed to branch points along with tel ph sopy from w, London and Paris. the time being, Mr. Hamblet safd, the Ame: cah-British program is to feed “objective” news of | non-political nature to the ap defeat