A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
HOW far the average German believes his own newspapers is a question there is no means of answering. It is not unimportant, because national morale in Germany must depend to some extent on current beliefs about the situation in Great Britain. Take, in that connexion, this from the Munich Yetteste Nachrichten, which was once a perfectly respectable paper: Telephonic communication between London and the provinces is prohibited. Children are running distraught about the streets searching for their parents, a spectacle which recalls the worst period of the Bolshevist revolution. All cinemas have been shut since September. Epidemics are raging, the severe weather making it impossible to check them.
If that were true Germans might well be forgiven for thinking victory was just round the corner and supporting their Govern- ment as unreservedly as ever. And if they really believe it true, that comes to much the same thing. It is hard, moreover, to see how the Ministry of Information or anyone else can get the truth into Germany. Conceivably Americans might help.
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