Alsace-Lorraine under Hitler and Hitler vs. the clergy

Sometimes it seems the prevailing sport on the Internet is talking about Hitler and using his actions as a type of barometer to ascertain what is moral and what is immoral, since if someone as immoral as Hitler said or believed x, then it stands to reason that x must also be evil.

This is no more hotly discussed than when the subject of religion comes up and discussions go into a kerfuffle over whether Hitler was an atheist, a Christian, a neo-Pagan, whatever. Well, here's some more grist for the mill. This is from an editorial published in the Lethbridge Herald on 9 August 1941, a reprint of an article by "A Lorrainer" in the London Daily Telegraph.

Hitler's 'New Order' Of Grim Experience

By "A Lorrainer," in the London Daily Telegraph

Hitler's New Order varies according to the country in which he applies it. Thus, in those parts of Occupied France which, so far, he is not claiming as prizes of victory, it is only a pale shadow of what it stands for in Alsace-Lorraine. That land has already been incorporated in the Reich; there the New Order is a grim reality and it is being applied in every domain of human activity.

All traces of French civilization -- French culture, language and methods -- are to be eradicated. Every inhabitant of the two provinces with a French name or Christian name is required to find a German substitute. Any town or village of which the name has French origins is being renamed.

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All industries in Alsace and Lorraine are, of course, being thoroughly Germanized.

First, the industrial leaders have to undergo a compulsory course in business method; its object is to eliminate any French characteristics. They are sent in groups to German industrial centres and spend three days being shown round German factories and works under a discipline almost military. They eat communal meals, attend classes in National Socialism, parade at dawn and at sunset for the salute to the flag, and are taught to shout "Heil Hitler".

The Germans are taking a cruel delight in "schooling" the older men in new habits. Taking no account of age or their sedentary disposition, the authorities have been drafting them to labor camps for three weeks at a time to undergo stringent physical training. They are expected to sing Nazi songs while carrying out difficult gymnastics.

The workers in general have become bondsmen. Their working hours and standard of living have been arbitrarily fixed for them, and they are subject to iron discipline.

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Two State-appointed bodies, the Arbeitamt and the Arbeitfront deal respectively with the selection and dismissal of workers and with their industrial training and wages. In accordance with Hitler's well-known philanthropy, a third body, "Kraft durch Freude" (Strength through joy), looks after their amusement and general welfare. Theatres providing concerts and other entertainments have been opened at populous centres.

Systematically the Reich is buying up control of all industries, but buying at enormous advantage, since by manipulation of the exchanges the mark is made to swallow franc assets at a fabulous gulp. Hitler has indeed reduced the strategy of "assimilation" to a fine art. At every turn "Franzosische misswirtschaft" (French inefficiency) and the evil effects of "Laisser Aller" are stressed. They must be stamped out. The Gestape sees to it that in the factories the portrait of the Fuehrer is prominently hung and duly saluted.

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In Alsace-Lorraine the clergy have always exercised enormous influence in what was predominantly a peasant population. Hitler has decided to suppress their activities. Seminarists and religious teaching bodies, such as the Freres des Ecoles and the Soeurs de Ribeauville have been laicised.

Only a limited number of churches have been licensed as places of public worship, and they have been heavily taxed, the priests henceforth depending for a livelihood solely on the gifts of their congregations. All other churches in the country have been converted into covered markets or Nazi political centres. Strasbourg Cathedral has become, in fact, the headquarters of the National Socialist party. This has profoundly angered public opinion.

In the schools every attempt is being made to destroy belief in God, and children, on reaching the age of ten years, are enrolled in the Hitlerjugend, to be taught, like good little Germans, the principles of Hitlerism.

Sicherheitspolizei, and ordinary police in green uniforms, are everywhere -- at least five times as numerous as before the occupation. Houses of leading Jews have been confiscated and converted into commissariats and police stations. The police divide their time between spying and the brutal enforcement of orders. They arrest or hold as hostages any persons suspected of hostility to the New Order.

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Now the Alsatians are a religious people, and they are also decidedly independent; they can be stubborn as mules and never take kindly to discipline. The results of Hitler's policy has bee the alienation of the populace. Practically all the young men of the district are secret adherents of de Gaulle.

Thousands have joined the secret society formed by the National Committee of Public Safety, a mysterious organization which coordinates "passive resistance" activities throughout the province. According to present information, though Hitler's process of assimilation is making superficial headway, it has not begun to conquer the will of the people.