Lord of the Ruins
Goebbels has been given a new job in Berlin which is likely to be both thankless and dangerous—thankless because as soon as he begins to restore a little oider in the capital the Allied Air Forces are likely to undo his work, and dangerous because the bombers cannot guarantee to miss him. As Stadtsprasident he becomes virtually dictator of Berlin, with unlimited powers to reorganise the military and civil defences, including fire brigades, police, demolition squads, medical services, traffic and the distribution of food and relief. Reports from a great variety of sources show the, dire straits to which the half-demolished city is reduced—official and other public buildings destroyed and essential State documents with them ; factories and shops unusable; dwellings in ruins and workpeople without adequate shelter ; traffic and food supplies disorganised ; fire- fighters unable to function ; criminals and looters getting beyond control. It is a gruesome picture of disaster and chaos. Berlin as a capital city has already almost ceased to exist ; many, perhaps most, of its public offices have been removed elsewhere ; only a portion of its railway services can function. But it is still a city with millions of inhabitants for whom some sort of existence must be contrived as long as Germany has a Government at all. With all the Germans' talent for organisation, Goebbels' task would be an unenviable one even if he could count upon no more visita- tions from the air. But as long as'essential war-work is still carried on there that terror, too, must persist.
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