Glebe Collegiate Institute - Lux Glebana Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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And It Came to Pass by Ian McPhee AST YEAR I wrote in this magazine some lines concerning world events and how I believe we should meet them. Since then momentous events have occurred which should rouse the indignation of the entire civilized world. These events were brought about by one man-many believe mentally unbalanced-who has built a political machine which has grown almost out of his control, yet which controls the lives and thoughts of some seventy millions of people and sways the rest of the world. He is an uneducated man who possesses a strange pursuasive power and is able to deliver, with uncontrollable emotion speeches astounding in their vehemence, which though they may irk, never precipitate action. The structure of this machine is based on force. It was mob terrorism which elected the Nazis to power and the Hrst step taken by its leader was to regiment the whole nation into vast armies. Although it is based on force, the mainstay of the party is the amazingly efficient propaganda de- partment directed by a fine specimen of Nazi Aryanism-Herr Goebbels. One of the beauties of this fine organization is its al- most unbelievable pliability. To take an example, the German headlines recently screamed that the Poles were committing violent outrage on the German minority and were wantonly destroying German pro- perty. Upon investigation, it was proved that the outrages consisted of boys breaking windows of the schools and that they were being urged on by their German neighbours. Enough of the structural wonders for the moment, because we should take time to look at some of the accomplishments of the Nazi party and, incidentally, its growing threat to our own liberties. 1. The burning of the Reichstag-Nazis elected to power. 2. Return of Saar Basin to Germany. 3. Rhineland re-occupied by German troops. 4. Austria forced to join the third Reich. 5. Sudetenland given to Germany 6. Memel seized by Germany. Page 32 7. Czecho-Slovakia seized by Germany. Let us look at the tragedy of Austria. In 1933, Hitler sent his agents, to whom he gave unlimited credit, into Austria to lay plans for the future. From this point, illegal Nazi parties were formed, composed, as usual, of hired thugs, dope addicts and divers unscrupulous types of people. Un- fortunately, there were men who were better educated than the usual run, but were just as unscrupulous and allowed them- selves to be bought by German money and promises. Among the worst of these trait- ors was a young, mild-mannered lawyer and cabinet minister, Seyss-Inquart who is now Chancellor-President of Austria. To show how well the Nazis were organized in unorganized Austria, a transport system was formed to take Nazi assasins out of Austria into the protection of Germany within hours or even minutes after a bomb throwing or. riot took place. This system was also used to bring in money, arms and propaganda with which to start trouble. When Dolphus was assinated in 1934, his place was taken by Kurt Von Schuschnigg, one of the most courageous and yet one of the blindest statesmen in modern history. He was put in power by the combined support of the clerical party, the farmers' party and the Heimwehr, an organization of returned soldiers. The parties which put him in power could not be consolidated as one. Due mostly to Nazi murders and riots, disorder grew until he had to make himself virtual dictator to keep order. Still he could do but little because of the corruption of his officials and the threats of invasion from Germany. As far back as 1935, the social-democrat party saw the danger from Naziism and wished to combine with Von Schuschinigg, to form a popular front to face the common danger, but Schuschnigg was not interested. Being a staunch catholic he took much of his advice from the church and for this reason was almost as opposed to the social democrats as he was to the Nazis. He blundered by not accepting the offer. This was a pity because together they could have organized the Republican Defence Corps, the Heimwehr and the civil life of Austria, and defeated Nazi aims. Von Schuschnigg saw his mistake at the end and when the crisis which was forced by Hitler came, he joined hands and prepared for plebiscite to decide the future of Austria. As Hitler knew that well over eighty per cent of the people would vote against union with Nazi Germany, he bluntly told Von Schuschnigg to resign or he would order his troops to LUX GLEBANA

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Chamberlain: pacing up and down. I suppose you think you have Won? threateningly Well, remember the British Bulldog! The strong silent British character: our utter calm in the face of difficulties! Mussolini: simply. The imbeciles. Daladier: to himself. I shudder to think of the cartoons in Punch over this affair. Hitler: nervously. And what that old pelican George Bernard Shaw will write-Huh! He thinks he can write. I'll bet he knows less' about dictating than I do about writ- ing. Chamberlain: impatiently. Enough of this twaddleg come Daladier. But remember, you-he sputters trying to think of an ea:- pressive word-You two old spiders! the Next time we play, a bid for appeasement is chucked. Exit Chamberlain. Daladier: politely. Good-bye gentlemen. Re- member our next game. It is the African suite, I think. Exit Daladier. Mussolini: Well, Adolph, I guess we won. Hitler: speaking more brusquely now they are alone. Yes of course: I expected to. But don't bother me, I must write another chapter to Mein Kampf ,-a sort of diary I am keeping! ' Once more a terrific noise can be heard from the lawn. Hitler: For heavens sake, Mussolini, will you stop that brat from making such a racket? Mussolini: Why that is little Caesar playing at soldiers-innocently, Just like I do. Hitler: I should know about that. Mussolini grows red, as he realizes the fu-ll meaning of Hitler's words. Finally he stalks out of the room, muttering fiercely to himself. Hitler: At last I am alone.-That reminds me, I must go to Austria tomorrow, to meditate in my old cell-good for my soul.-Well, nothing as stimulating as a good game of cards I always say 5 especially if you win-I hate to think what would have happened if Chamberlain had got that bid, though. I must be careful to deal again in 1940.- Scene closes with Hitler writing in a little black book that looks like a diary. . He grows agitated at what he writes. Finally his actions -reach a feverish pitch of excitement. Sud- LUx GLEBANA de-nly he drops his book and springing to his feet, he raises his right hand in the N azi salute. As the curtain closes he roars out- HEIL HITLER. Curtain. Pk Pls 4- The international Affairs Club N THIS year of what might be termed Perpetual Crisis, when two democracies, Czechoslovakia and Spain, have been lost to the Democratic Front of nations, and the prospect of war brought closer, a situ- ation fraught with fearful Cand tearfulj meaning to all our boys and girls, the Inter- national Affairs Club has had less interest shown in it than in previous years. Per- haps it is because the students have become blase with regard to crises. At any rate it is intended next year to reorganize the me- thod of carrying on the work with the object of inducing a larger number of pupils to take part both in formal public speaking and informal discussion. Not that some good work was not done this year. Besides some outside speakers, among whom were Miss Ruth Ellis, who gave us firsthand information about Aus- trian refugees, and the Rev. I. R. Craig who spoke on Democracy's Greatest Chal- lenge, a number of debates were held. Resolved that a democracy confers more beni- flts on the people under it than does a dic- tatorship was the subject of one. In this debate, Miss Elizabeth Serson and Harold Willis for the affirmative defeated Eric Cowan and Frank Palen. Miss Serson did particularly well. Both with logic and rhetoric she demolished the fiimsy edifice the exponents of dictatorship reared. Miss Ruth Agulnik and George McLean were less successful in convincing the judges, Miss Gilhooly, Mr. MacNamara, and Mr. McHugh, that the Russia's form of govern- ment was preferable to that of Germany's. The officers of the International Affairs Club were: Advisory President-C. J. THOMS President-KEITH MCCAFFERY Vice-President-ELIZABETH DRAYTON Secretary-MURRAY DOBIER Committee-DOROTHY BAKER Page 31

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march. To prevent bloodshed, this gallant gentleman who had borne so much for his country passed from the scene and the man who did all in his power to undermine the good which Schuschnigg tried to do, came to power-Nazi Seyss-Inquart. After that -Anschluss-followed by thousands of sui- cides and murders, not to mention the thousands of people sent to Dachau and other concentration camps to spend the rest of their lives in protective custody . The same thing happened in Czecho- Slovakia. First-insidious underground pro- paganda, bombing outrages by ruf'lians, ter- rorism by paid gangs, then a voice for self- determination, open rebellion and the voice of the paid leader inviting Hitler to step in and prevent bloodshed. The absorption of Austria was excusable in one sense because all Austrians were of German blood. On the other hand, the absorption of Czecho- Slovakia was utterly inexcusable, no matter from what angle We look at the question. Czecho-Slovakia was lost, unwittingly, be- cause Mr. Chamberlain's chief fault was that he had too much faith in humanity. Germany was unprepared for war, as may be seen by the four-day delay of Hitler's entering into Austria. This was due to the entire breakdown of his mechanized corps. For four days, three divisions of the German mechanized army lined the roads from Munich to Vienna because of mechan- ical failure, synthetic tire-trouble and lack of gasoline. The British government knew of this! It was an ofiicial of the British embassy in Vienna who told the newspapers. The Czechs were willing to fight for their independence, Russia would honour its treaty with the Czechs, France was also willing but was held back by cautious Mr. Chamberlain and finally backed down due to pressure from this soLu'ce. You may say that this was justified be- cause Britain was unprepared for -war. This may be, in fact was true, but by doing so did she not lose more than she could gain by stalling the final showdown for a year or two? I am not speaking of that intangible something called prestige , but of actual power. England lost as an ally the most efficient army in Europe-some 1,500,000 highly trained Czechs, equipped with the finest fighting weapons in the world. She also lost 1,400 first-line fighting planes, which have now been absorbed into the German air force. There are rumours that they were flown out of Czecho-Slovakia into Russia, Poland and Hungary, but these have not been confirmed. Added to this she lost the use of one of the world's greatest LUX GLEBANA armament factors, the Skoda, which is now employing 36,000 men to turn out weapons for Germany. Now, you judge-did we gain or did we lose? Do not think that Hitler has or can be appeased. He has said-and Nazis boast of it that Germany will dominate the world. Chamberlain has stated that Britain will resist any attempt to dominate the world by force. Therefore, all these guns from Skoda will be used against our men. All those planes will be used to aid the enemy in bombing London and Paris. Pleasant thought! r Is Canada doing her part? These events of the last few months may seem remote and of no consequence to us but in reality they are of vital importance. We love our country and have sworn allegiance to the Throne and Empire. Therefore there can be no doubt as to what Canada's stand will be when the showdown comes. But are we ready to do our part? Why should we wait until trouble comes before we begin to prepare? It is lamentable that one of the world's richest countries and the fifth ranking trading nation of the world should be so incapable of defending what she has achieved. If we are to do our share, we must build up our defences until they are about a thousand per cent stronger than they are now. At present we have no army to speak of 3 no navy and a pitifully small air force. If we cannot afford all three, we should at least build up our air force to a thousand first-line planes. We should have factories capable of turning out munitions enough to supply all Britain if necessary and above all we should be behind England from the drop of the hat with all our spirit and with all our strength. Two democracies,-two free peoples-have fallen. One because of disorganization a- mong her own ranks, the other because her allies deserted her in her hour of need. We must be organized and we must be found capable of defending ourselves. We must not be parasites relying on England or the United States to carry our load. The last generation fought and bled and died for our present liberties-We cannot sacrifice now what they so courageously preserved. Nothing can better express our feelings than the following words from Woodsworthg namely, We must be free or die, who speak the tongue That Shakespeare spake: the faith and morals hold Page 33