HC Deb 14 April 1938 vol 334 cc1392-402

2.40 p.m.

Mr. Mander

I rise to call attention to the question of German propaganda, with particular reference to its activities in this country, and also to the question of German refugees here and elsewhere. I have a great admiration for the German people and for their past history. They have rendered immense services to art, culture and science, and I desire nothing better than that they should play their full part in the world, making their immense contribution to the cause of humanity as a whole. I must, I am afraid, for the time being, differentiate between the German people and the particular Government of which at the moment they happen to be the prisoners. It may be that the present situation is due to faults which we in this country have made in policy since the War. I fully agree that we and other countries share that responsibility. It does not, however, alter the fact that we are faced with a very sinister and unhealthy situation and have to be aware of the serious danger which is threatening us all.

It is not our duty to criticise the internal administration of any other country in so far as it is purely internal and does not affect any country outside, but I am afraid that the whole development of German policy on its internal side, and on its external side too, seems to be a menace to world peace and to the safety of the British Empire. The whole of their energies seems to be directed towards the triumph of naked force, and they are prepared to go ahead and to strike down ruthlessly any obstacle that there may be in its course. The methods employed are very subtle and clever and quite unscrupulous, and they are often put up as a smoke screen to hide the real intent from well-disposed persons who are perhaps not always on the look-out for what lies behind.

I will not give any individual cases, because there are obvious dangers to the persons concerned which cannot possibly be overlooked. I have very carefully examined all the evidence which lies behind the examples which I shall give, and I can assure the House that I am satisfied that the general remarks which I shall make are well-founded. Many of the methods that are adopted are in themselves quite innocuous. They are not methods that can really be objected to in themselves by any Government, but, taking them in conjunction with what lies behind them, I think they are very serious. My object to-day is very largely to open people's eyes and make them aware of what is going on, and to try and secure that the utmost vigilance will be exercised by all citizens in this country, and by the Government too, in so far as they are called upon to act in the matter. It is very difficult for us in this country to believe that the things that are done and the methods that are employed are what they, in fact, are, because we are so kindly, tolerant, and well-meaning that we are inclined to impute to others the qualities which we ourselves have developed to a very large degree. There are many examples of societies existing in this country for the cultivation of good will between the two nations. In itself that is obviously a most admirable thing, but in my view it is impossible to cultivate any genuine friendship with a regime which is utterly opposed to all the ideals for which we stand in such matters as liberty, tolerance, fair play, self-government, and general kindliness between human beings of all sorts and conditions and of all races.

I will turn to the actual methods to which I desire to call attention and take, first of all, the case of journalists and others. It is a fact that journalists in this country, London or provincial, can enjoy in Germany, almost free of charge a holiday lasting for perhaps a month, be given a great time, be feted, be taken from one part of the country to the other, and given a very wonderful impression of everything over there. I might say that they will not be taken to the concentration camps. They will not have an opportunity of a conversation with Pastor Niemoller, nor will they be permitted to visit Herr von Schuschnigg in the concentration camp to which he has been sent at Dachau. All that sort of thing is carefully guarded from the eyes of visitors. Not only journalists but Ministers of any denomination, schoolmasters, in fact anybody exercising any sphere of influence in this country, can have a really magnificent time in Germany, practically free of charge.

There are also well known and, superficially, very desirable exchange visits between workpeople from factories and schoolboys and schoolgirls. Of course, the whole object of it—and it is very clever propaganda—is to create the impression in this country that the Nazi régimeis a splendid, generous, popular kind of thing, just the sort of thing that we in this country would approve, and that it will thereby—that is the object—make it possible for us to co-operate with them and cause us to cast a friendly eye on their activities in the development of their foreign policy and their forceful seizure of whatever they may desire.

Then there is Press penetration. The method adopted is that streams of articles bearing the names of distinguished Englishmen and Germans are offered to periodicals of all kinds in this country. For example, one of the signatories of these articles is General von der Goltz, who was recently refused permission to come into this country, and who has such an interesting glycerine factory in Gravesend. These articles are offered free and are an effective way of belauding Germany. After the articles have been offered there follows, at a suitable interval, an offer of an entirely different type, namely, the offer of lucrative advertisements, travel, commercial or industrial, of considerable financial value to the periodicals concerned. If, however, any of the newspapers do not see their way to accept the signed articles which are sent to them, they never under any circumstances receive any of the advertisements.

I am not suggesting that such well-known journals as the "Times" are influenced by anything of this kind. We know that the Berlin-Cliveden-Printing-House-Square axis is based on a foundation of sincere and disinterested good will. This sort of propaganda is, however, dangerous as affecting the Press in general, although I do not suggest that it will have much effect in a country like ours. It is well that we should keep our eyes open and realise the kind of temptations that are being insidiously offered. I am informed that in Belgium the process has gone very far. The grip on the Press there is pretty considerable. In Holland it has gone some way, although they are finding it rather a more tough proposition in Holland than in Belgium.

Then there is the question of servant girls and more often educated girls who come over here from Germany as helps and companions who, before coming here, go through a special propaganda course at some centre in Germany, where they are instructed exactly what to say and how to belaud the Nazi régimein any family in which they may find themselves. It may be said that that is a very proper thing to do, and that we ought to talk in the same way of our own country if we go abroad. That is true, if it is genuine and purely disinterested, but this action by the German girls is not disinterested. In many cases these girls come over through an evasion of the law, which I am sure the Home Office will do all that they can to check. They say that they are not coming here to work for reward, but as soon as they get in they work for payment, and in many cases to which my attention has been drawn where they have been in a specific job they have said, "I am not going to remain with you; I am going somewhere else." This is a matter to which I am sure the Home Office will give careful attention.

There is another danger to which I would call attention. I believe it to be true that some of these girls are employed as spies. There are many of them in the families of the officers of the armed Forces in the Aldershot area and elsewhere, and I suggest that the Service Departments and the Home Office should look into this matter very carefully from that point of view. All these girls, in fact all German subjects over here, are under very strict and careful control; a sort of imperium in imperio. They are under a double police system—the British police and the German police. The Gestapo has got its hold in this country on all the people of German nationality. They are all expected to keep in touch with the Consulates and to report directly; if they do not do so, or if they act in any way which is considered unfriendly or critical of the Nazi régime, and the news gets back to Berlin, they may lose such property as they have over there, and their relatives and friends may be persecuted and lose their jobs.

It may be interesting to the House to know how far-reaching the organisation is over here. I happen to have a list of the April meetings of one of the German associations in this country, which all German subjects are expected to attend. If they do not attend the meetings, there is a black mark against them, and they have to look out for trouble. I will give the April meetings, on various dates. I will take first the German Workers' Front, London Group, Great Britain. Meetings are being held at the Queen's Restaurant and the Porchester Hall, London, The Boot, Baldock, Hitchin, 46, Eaton Rise, W.5, and again at the Queen's Restaurant and the Porchester Hall. Meetings are held in connection with such interesting events as the foundation festival of the group, or the Fuhrer's birthday, or the day of national work. There are other gatherings, conversaziones, and functions of that kind at the Tatler's Tearoom, Brighton, 46, Eaton Rise again, the Ben Hill Adult School, Sutton, 46, Eaton Rise, and 28, Cleveland Terrace, and again at the Tatler's Tearoom, Brighton. Some of these are for select groups of shopkeepers and people connected with hotels.

I think it will be admitted that these are pretty formidable organisations for persons of German nationality who are resident in this country, free residents in this country enjoying our laws, who are called upon, practically compelled, to adhere to these methods of German propaganda, otherwise they are liable to pain and suffering if and when they go back to Germany, or they suffer through their friends and relatives in Germany. The same kind of pressure was applied in the case of those persons who took part in that farcical mock election of Sunday last. All those who went on the joy ride in the ship were strongly pressed to do so, and it was made clear to them that if they did not, it would be the worse for them. A so-called plebiscite held under such conditions can make no impression whatever in a free country like ours. We quite understand how it was organised, and we quite understand that there was no real choice or liberty in the matter. The figures themselves prove it—99.5 per cent. Surely there were some who were sick and otherwise prevented from voting. If I was going to have an impressive figure, I should not have arranged for 99.5 per cent. A smaller figure would have been much more credible.

The whole thing was a farce. I think it was a piece of impertinence to send a ship over here to carry out that kind of thing in the case of people who are residing on British soil. If we want to see a real plebiscite carried out, we can see it day after day in this country, in Ipswich, in West Fulham, and to show that I do not want to score a party point, in the City of London also, where the Government candidate was unopposed. But I think the Government ought to consider whether the Gestapo should not be cleared out of this country altogether. Surely the British police are perfectly capable of looking after all citizens in the country, whether they are British or foreign. We do not require the assistance of any foreign police, least of all the hated Gestapo from Germany.

Let me come to the question of the refugees and the way in which they are being treated. It is almost impossible to grasp the mentality of those persons who are dealing out this treatment to refugees. They seem to be filled with a sort of sadistic hatred, a desire to follow these refugees with all the vindictive fury possible, wherever they may be. They not only turn them out of Germany but make them suffer wherever they may be. As a result of the pressure which can now be applied by Germany outside her frontiers in such countries as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland, the door to these refugees is now almost closed. They can only go to Switzerland as a means of transit to other countries. There is this further danger, that Gestapo agents masquerade as refugees, and the greatest care has to be exercised by those who have to look after the interests of refugees to see that some of these persons are not German police themselves, who are there to find out and report what is done. It is a terrible thing to think that this sort of thing is taking place.

In this country there are firms engaged in doing business with Germany, and if perhaps they have a German Jew employed, they are informed that they must dismiss the man or they will lose the business. That is an intolerable interference which ought never to be permitted. I know of an organisation which was formed for assisting academic German refugees to obtain work, which has been got hold of by Nazi sympathisers and used for the opposite purpose of persecuting them. In South America the same intimidation and pressure are being exercised against refugees. In the case of Chile, there is an arrangement by which Germany takes Chilean nitrates and in return Chile does not take any German refugees

I do not have many opportunities of congratulating the Government, but I am glad to do so when the opportunity arises, and I think the Government have shown a liberal and wise spirit in the interpretation of the regulations regarding the admission of Austrian refugees. They are being permitted to come in in a way which is in accordance with the splendid traditions of this country; and I hope it will be maintained. If there is any difficulty in finding room for Austrian refugees in this country, owing to the number of foreigners and the state of employment, why not send back some of the German Nazis who are over here and who prefer Germany? These poor people have very few spots on the earth to which they can go. I am glad the Under-Secretary said so clearly at Question Time to-day that there is no obligation on any German or ex-Austrian citizen who is in this country to go to any of the consulates and register under the German Registration Act of last February. I can assure him that there is great anxiety among large numbers of these poor people in this country. May I read an extract from a letter from one of them? It would be a mental reprieve for many half despaired refugees if they only got some sort of official assurance that there would be no misunderstanding of the attitude they adopt in refusing to fill in a questionnaire and to give to the Nazi Government of Germany information which is neither in their own interest nor in the interest of the country which at present grants them its hospitality and shelter. This is the sort of questions which these people are being asked to answer when they visit the consulates: Can you drive a motor car? What languages do you speak? Where have you been living in Germany before coming to Great Britain? When did you leave Germany? How are you earning your living in Great Britain? Are you an employé? The name and address of your employer? What are your social contacts regarding membership of any association? The names of the associations? It is perfectly clear that if that information is going to be given by German refugees, it may have the most serious consequences for the man and for his family who may be in Germany, and I beg the Home Office to do everything they can to assist these poor people. I should like to ask the Under-Secretary what is the position of former Austrian subjects who have now to adopt a particular type of German nationality. If they do not choose to go to the consulates, do they become Stateless? It is very important that we should know. They do not automatically become German subjects, and they are not Austrian subjects. If they do not choose to become nationalised, do they become Stateless and, therefore, permitted to remain in this country? The position of a Stateless person has many disadvantages, but it has this advantage, that he cannot be turned out of the particular country where he is residing.

I have ventured to call attention to these points because I think it is in the public interest that everybody should realise what is taking place in dark and devious and sometimes superficially attractive ways. I have no hatred of Germany; I have nothing but good will towards that country. I hope that in the course of time the better elements, which I am sure exist on an immense scale there, will find their way to the top. Hitlerism is a terrible but only a passing phase. Although we do not desire to keep down Germany in any way, we certainly do not desire to be kept down by Germany. I hope that in the near future Germany will find her true place as an equal in the family of nations.

3.6 p.m.

Mr. Gallacher

I wish to make a few remarks on this very important matter. I am certain that the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department will not deny that Nazi organisation exists in London and throughout Britain and is not only carrying on active propaganda, but pursuing a system of terror directed against any German people who have the opportunity of working for a living here. It is of no use the Home Secretary saying that the Germans living here do not have to go to the consulate or answer the questions that are put to them. The Germans living in this country are here on conditions laid down by the Home Office. It may be that they have permission to be here for three months, six months or 12 months, but at any time that permission may be withdrawn, and any unfortunate German who has refused to register at the consulate or to give the information for which he was asked, and who then has his permission to remain here withdrawn, is sent back to Germany to prison or to death. The Home Office know that.

It is not enough for the Home Secretary to say that it is not necessary in this free country for those people to answer the questions put to them. It is the responsibility of the Home Office and the Government to see that no other Government have a right of any kind to interfere with anyone in this country or to make him go to the consulate and answer questions. As a matter of fact, there are Members of the House who are prepared to look upon such interference without the slightest protest because those who are responsible for the interference represent reaction. I ask the Under-Secretary whether the Home Office would for one moment dream of tolerating in London a political organisation of Russian Communists carrying on propaganda and political activities. I remember that some years ago there were certain suspicions that the Russians were making propaganda here. What happened? The then Home Secretary organised a burglary squad to go to Arcos with acetylene lamps and blow open a safe in order to obtain documents to find out whether such a thing was happening. Are the Home Office prepared to send men with acetylene lamps to the German Consulate or to any of the organisations of Nazis in this country? Never under any circumstances would there be any toleration of political activities in this country on the part of any foreign Government unless it was some sort of propaganda that was acceptable to hon. Members opposite.

I can say from my complete knowledge that never at any time has there been any "Russian" Communist propoganda in this country. The Communists in this country are quite capable of doing all the Communist propaganda that is necessary here. Very often Members think of me as somehow or other representing Russia, but I am a Britisher, and I represent a constituency in this country. I remember making a statement that if an hon. Member would stop certain contractors from getting profits, I would get the Russians to reduce the price of timber. That was a mistake. Because I said that, people have been writing to me pointing to this, that, and the other thing in connection with Russia. But I have nothing to do with the Russian Government, and I cannot intervene with the Russian Government on behalf of anyone or anything. I belong to a political party in Britain that is concerned with Britain, and we will do all the Communist propaganda that is necessary. We do not want anyone else doing it for us.

The Home Office would never for a moment tolerate either the Russian Government or any other Government setting up political organisations in this country to carry on political propaganda, and I am certain that if any Russian White—and there is a large number of them in London—or any Russian at all were to go to the Home Office, or if a question were raised here in this House that the Russian Government, through their agents in this country, were trying to intimidate any Russians in London, there would be a terrific row. I ask the Under-Secretary of State if that is not the case. Would the Home Office tolerate for a moment any Government other than the German Government interfering in any way or trying to intimidate any nationals who happened to be in this country? It is time this sort of thing was stopped, and it is not enough to say to these unfortunate people who are having to suffer, "You are in a free country," unless you also say to them, to every man and woman who refuses to go to the Consulate and sign these things, that you, the British Government, will stand by them and that they can remain here as long as they want to do so. To say that they are in a free country and to encourage them to refuse to go to the Consulate, and then, it may be in six months or a year, to send them back to Germany, is not good enough. What is awaiting them there?

It is the responsibility of the Home Office and the Government to put an end at once to this interference on the part of the German Government with people in this country. It is the responsibility of the Home Office to say that such a thing as has happened in connection with the plebiscite shall never be allowed to recur. People who come here as refugees, or for an ordinary livelihood, have a right to live while they are in this country without interference of any kind. They should never be placed in a position in which they can be threatened or intimidated by the threat of what will happen to them when they go back or of what will happen to their folk at home. I appeal to the Home Office and to the Government to put an end to this sort of thing for good and all. Everybody knows that agents are here and that they are active. As a matter of fact, in Marylebone, the home of Conservatism—it shows you the attitude of mind of the party opposite—the German Nazis are given the let of the new public hall, and it is refused to the British Communists. On two occasions the German Nazis have had this public hall and quite openly have flaunted their standing in London, swaggering in and out of the place as though they had already got a good foothold in London, and when the Marylebone Council, one of the most exceptionally Conservative councils, is prepared to give the new public hall to the German Nazis, no action is taken. This is a very serious matter. Read the speech that General Smuts made a week or two ago on what is happening in Africa, and stop this before it goes too far here. It is not only a question of the freedom and welfare of the German and Austrian residents here, but of the freedom and welfare of the British people.