Dorothy Thompson: Something we might learn from the British (1-16-46)

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The Evening Star (January 16, 1946)

d.thompson

ON THE RECORD —
Something we might learn from the British

By Dorothy Thompson

The morale of our occupation troops abroad might be better if there were more interest at home in the problems they are having to meet and solve. Interest cannot, however, be increased without information, and that is all but non-existent. Those, like myself, who have, for professional or other reasons, intense interest in developments in the world, cannot find adequate enlightment in the newspaper reports; we have to extend our knowledge by seeking contacts with returned officers, visitors, relief agencies and others.

It has certainly been odd for me to discover that I can get a more complete picture of what is going on in Germany from British publications than from our own, and, that as a journalist, I can read, every fortnight, an excellent 20-page magazine called the British Zone Review, published by the British Control Commission for home consumption, which throws much light on problems and how they are being met.

An article in the December 8 issue represents the work in the British zone as the responsibility of all the British people.

“Administration,” it says, “begins at home. … This problem of controlling Germany is no matter which can be left to a collection of experts, chosen by another body of experts, to perform a set of allotted tasks. It has confronted and baffled Europe for a thousand years. … The responsibility will be assigned, ultimately, not merely to ourselves (the occupation forces) but to the whole British nation.”

But if a whole nation bears responsibility for success or failure, the whole nation must know what is being done, by whom, and why. We have chosen to leave it to the experts without even knowing who the experts are, what their basic attitudes are, and whither their policies are leading.

In the British Zone Review, I can read about the purposes, and methods of re-education; about medical, social and food conditions; about the extent of industrial recovery in the Ruhr; about the nature and incidence of crime; about the new trade union setup, and even (the paper being English) about bird life!

Can any American gain access every fortnight to similar information about the American zone? We knew what our men were doing during the war. Do we now?

What, for instance, is our policy toward German trade unions? Is it true, as I have heard prominent American labor leaders vehemently assert, that the framer of policy in this field is Sidney Hillman, that he has successfully prevented the creation of independent unions, that he has played policy to prevent former Social Democratic leaders from recovering a vestige of authority, and that in his opinion, the pattern for all Germany, in regard to labor, should wait upon that set in the Russian zone?

Is it true, as American labor circles also assert, that the cartel division, which has access to all information about German industrial firms, structures, and financing, and initiates policies regarding what should be retained, what dismantled, and which 25 percent given over to the Russians, is in charge of Col. Bernie Bernstein, a strong supporter of Mr. Morgenthau’s extreme views, while his chief deputy, Russell Nixon, former Washington representative of the United Electrical Workers, has the closest connections with the American Communists, and that both the cartel and finance divisions have American Communists or close sympathizers in influential positions?

Is it true that we are initiating in Germany, in connection with de-Nazification, policies which assume that the only resistance to Naziism came from the extreme Left, and that we snub, and in one case at least, have even put in jail middle-class resisters, some of whom were at the very center of the anti-Nazi underground movement?

Is it true, finally, that as the result of policies for which Moscow-first gentlemen in our own staffs are responsible, a revolt is brewing among anti-Nazi religious leaders who are not willing to exchange one anti-Christian tyranny over the lives and consciences of their flocks for another, and that within our occupational institutions there are bitter ideological struggles for power?

I do not make charges. I only report that they are being made by Americans of reputation for honesty and immediate access to information, and that for the American citizen no reports, half as candid as those which reach the British people, are available, nor is there anything like as much control exercised by American public opinion over policies in the American zone as there is by British public opinion in their zone.

This may, in part, account for the disaffection of American troops and for the indubitable fact that while German respect for the British is rising, respect for Americans is waning toward zero.

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The Evening Star (January 25, 1946)

Letter: Discusses ‘news’ of occupation policy in Germany

TO THE EDITOR: I recently have returned from service with the occupation forces in Germany where I had the opportunity to learn something about our occupation policy. Since my return I find I cannot rely on newspaper columnists to provide accurate and intelligent interpretation of these problems. Indeed, I have become increasingly convinced and concerned that many columnists do not take the trouble to read basic governmental documents or even the news reports carried by the same papers for which they write. Their failure to take advantage of ready and convenient sources of information results in a superficial and often factually inaccurate interpretation.

One of the worst offenders in this respect is Dorothy Thompson. Her column printed in The Star on January 16 is an excellent example. She complains that she “cannot find adequate enlightenment in the newspaper reports” concerning the occupation policies. She further states that she can get more information from British publications than from American, citing a fortnightly magazine published by the British Control Commission.

For Miss Thompson’s information, the American element of the Allied Control Council has published monthly since July a report on conditions in the American zone which gives exactly the kind of information obtainable from the British publication. This report of the military governor has received wide publicity in American papers on the day following the release of the report, and the complete report is available in the Civil Affairs Division of the War Department.

Miss Thompson asks if it is true “that the Cartel Division … is in charge of Col. Bernie Bernstein…” and questions the political views of Col. Bernstein’s chief deputy, Russell Nixon.

All American press services, early in November, carried reports of Col. Bernstein’s resignation. American press reports, in the middle of December, carried stories of the disestablishment of the Cartel Division and, later in December. carried stories of the resignation of Russell Nixon. I assume Miss Thompson has access to the daily papers.

I should be the last to say that American policy in the occupation of Germany is obtaining adequate coverage from responsible and trained reporters in the American press. American reporters in Germany, with two or three exceptions, are content to rely too much on government handouts as a source for their news and as a result are failing to report many vital facts which should be brought to the attention of the American public. The remedy for this is not, as Miss Thompson seems to recommend, in the direction of more Government news handouts, but rather in the assignment of more competent newspaper reporters.

PHILIP H. BLAISDELL