Divide and Conquer.pdf

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"At the bottom of their hearts the great masses of the people
are more likely to
be
poisoned
than
to
be
consciously and delib-
erately
bad. In
the primitive simplicity of their minds they
are
more
easily
victimized by a large
than
by a
small
lie, since they
sometimes
tell
petty lies themselves but would be ashamed to
tell
big ones.
"An untruth of that sort would never come into their heads
1
and they cannot believe that others would indulge in so vast an
impudence as gross distortion. Even after being enlightened,
they will long continue to doubt and waver, and will still believe
there must be some truth behind it somewhere. For this reason
~some
part of even the boldest lie is sure to stick-a fact which
all the great liars and liars' societies in this world know only too
well, and make base use of."
ADOLF BITLER, Mein
Kampf
OFFICE OF FACTS AND FIGURES
Wasblnaton, 0. C.
0nQI"I Iffom
UNI YlRSI110fMK:"
I'lAN
r
The Story of Nazi Terror ....
Soon after Pearl Harbor, a Nazi broad-
caster to America shouted: "British naval
circles are finding encouragement
in
the
defeat sufiered by the United States!"
1
Calculated to create distrust
of
our
allies,
this
Nazi lie, like
all
Nazi lies, was
part of a vast strategy of terror. Hitler
knows that in order to conquer the world
he must first enslave the mind of man,
and toward that end he
is
carrying out a
program of propaganda, blackmail, and
death. Because he fears truth, he has
tried every means of wiping it off the face
of the earth.
1
·..:.
"Mental confusion, indecisiveness,
panic," Hitler once said, "these are our
weapons."
2
The United States
is
now
subject to a total barrage of the Nazi strat-
egy of terror. Hitler thinks Americans
are suckers. By the very vastness of
his
program of
lies,
he hopes to frighten
us
into believing that the Nazis are invinci-
ble. In carrying out that program he
takes it for granted that decent people
here--as they have elsewhere--will say:
"Such evil cannot be." But Hitler
is
wrong. For Americans, reading the
story of the Hitler terror, will neither be
For sourc•s
S46
•nd of pamphl6t.
(. oogk
blinded nor afraid.
As
free men, they
will
say to Hitler, "Don't pull any of your
tricks on us.
We're
wise
to them."
Pre-laviUJioa
Taetk•
Before Hitler attacks any country,
his
agents carefully sow seeds of hate and
dis-
unity, turning people against their own
governments, governments against their
allies, class against class.
Before the invasion of Austria, young
Nazi hoodlums were sent onto the streets
to play schoolboy pranks on the police
and make them appear ridiculous in the
eyes of passersby.• In the early
days
of
the war, before France
was
invaded, mo-
rale was lowered by professional weepers,
clothed
in
deep mourning and wailing
loudly, who wandered into subways and
onto buses
in
Paris spreading the false
belief that French casualties were enor-
mous. Mothers received mysterious
post-
cards infonning them that their sons, at
the front, had either been killed or were
deathly
ill.
Soldiers received anonymous
notes saying that their wives or sweet-
hearts were unfaithful and had run off
with British soldiers.' Pahn readers and
crystal gazers in the pay of Hitler gloomily
predicted to their clients that
in
the
days
to come France would lie prostrate at the
feet of Germany.• Nazi agents combed
the gossip columns of Paris newspapers
for items that could be used as blackmail
against prominent persons. Armed with
scraps of personal dirt, they would force
the victim to act as a Hitler agent, and
help spread rumors to confuse and demor-
alize the public. Rumors of secret weap-
ons spread like wildfire: Hitler had elec-
trical mines, nerve
gas,
deadly germs that
could be dropped over an entire country-
side.•
Edmond Taylor, in his authoritative
4
and valuable book,
The Strategy of Ter-
ror,
has said that these rumors, planted by
Hitler agents, were often passed on during
casual conversations. "I heard today,"
a young Frenclunan whispered to a group
of friends at a sidewalk cafe, "that Hitler
has a secret weapon that
will
destroy Paris
in
2
minutes. This machine
is
so ter-
rible that even Hitler
is
afraid to use
it."
By nightfall each of
his
friends had told
several other friends, and the story soon
blanketed Paris.
TIN
Pouoa ralce•lloW
These rumors and thousands like them
gradually accomplished their purpose.
Circulated day after day, worming their
way into the minds of Frenchmen, Nor-
wegians, Danes, Belgians, Austrians,
Dutch, Czechs, and Poles, they created a
feeling of fear and frustration, a loathing
of the war, and a certainty of defeat.
Having weakened the resistance of
his
enemies, Hitler was quick to find outlets
for their discontent.
For most evil, the Jews were to blame.
Business
is
bad? Labor
is
to blame.
Wages are low? Capital
is
to blame.
War
is
hell? The British are to blame.
Everybody was to blame
except
Hitler,
the common enemy who would crush
them all. National
unity
was destroyed
by setting group against group. In
Bel-
gium, Nazis told the French-speaking
Walloons that King Leopold was pro-
German and was preparing to sell out
Belgium to the Nazis; they told the Flem-
ish that King Leopold had a secret treaty
with the Allies and was ready to declare
war on Germany.' "Why should French-
men die for Danzig?, read elegantly
printed propaganda tracts mailed to
Frenchmen in hand-addressed envelopes. •
Slowly, Hitler tried to deaden the com-
<.
oogk
bative spirit of the French soldier and
make
him distrust
his
British ally. When
the French first crossed into German ter-
ritory,
the Germans retired without firing
a
shot, leaving behind placards and
pos-
ters saying that they had no quarrel with
the French. When French scouting
planes swooped over the German lines,
the Germans stood up and waved hand-
kerchiefs. During the first week of the
war, French soldiers, unloading barges at
Strasbourg, were suddenly blinded by
German searchlights. "Do not
be
afraid,
French Kamaraden," cried a German
officer through the loudspeaker. "We
just
turned on the light
so
you could see
better. We have had the same work on
our side and we know how it is." Work-
ing in the glare of German lights, the
French accomplished two nights' work in
one.• Hitler convinced the French the
war could
be
waged without fighting.
"Defense" would triumph. Bloodshed
was futile, offensive military action
against Germany unnecessary. One had
only to sit and wait, safe and snug, behind
the Maginot Line.
Often, when German
guns
were about
to
fire, loudspeakers warned the French
to take cover, even announcing where the
shells would land.
10
And if the Germans
were so friendly, why should one die?
The Germans had an answer for that, an
answer calculated to separate the French
from their British ally. "Frenchmen!"
cried one tract, dropped over the front,
"We want nothing from you, neither your
land nor your lives. You don't want to
fire on us; we don't want to fire on you.
Who are the only ones who want this
stupid war? The English alone. The
English will fight once more to the last
Frenchman. P. S.
This
is
not propa-
ganda. This is an expose of the facts."
11
Comic strips were tossed over the
Maginot Line, picturing a French poilu
and an English Tommy about to dive into
a swimming pool marked "Blood Bath."
At the
last
moment the poilu dove
in,
but
the Tommy, calmly smoking
his
pipe,
walked away. "The English
will
fight to
the
last
drop of French blood," said the
caption.
12
Special trench mortars shot
beautifully colored postcards into the
French lines, bearing pictures of a
wounded poilu lying amidst the ruins of a
town. "Where are the Tommies?" read
the simple caption. Held to the light, the
postcard revealed a Tommy-well-fed
and prosperous-courting the poilu's
wife."
r~~e
••••
The Germans played monotonously
upon the fear of death. "Frenchmen!"
cried a leaflet, shaped like a coffin, "Pre-
pare
your
coffins." Tracts shaped like
leaves swirled over the front. "Next
spring when the offensive comes," they
read, "you
will
fall as the autumn leaves
are falling now-and for what?"
1 '
Night after night during the long winter
of
1939-40,
when the armies of France
and Germany were lined up facing each
other, German loudspeakers blared forth
their propaganda : false lists of French
"prisoners" were periodically announced;
French dignitaries, visiting the front with
elaborate secrecy, were greeted by the
German loudspeakers; several minutes
after a French infantry unit arrived at the
front, the Germans announced the name
of every member of the unit, his home
town, and the names of his officers.
This
so demoralized the group that it had to be
instantly removed.
11
Hitler's war of nerves in neutral coun-
tries, such as Holland and Belgium,
was
5
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