SCANDINAVIAN VIEWS OF GERMANY
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—May I be allowed to comment on the article from a Scandinavian correspondent published in last week's issue of The Spectator ? Everybody knows the truth of what he says about attempts at exercising a "Nazi censorship outside Germany." But the article gives an erroneous picture of the effects on public opinion in Scandinavia.
The statement that "except for one or two courageous newspapers in Sweden, the Press of these democratic countries is beginning to display a caution in dealing with German affairs that bodes ill for the future" shows that your corre- spondent has rot tested his sources. It is true that the Con- servative Press of the Scandinavian countries has shown the same leniency towards Nazi policies as the Conservative Press of most other countries. But this Press does not represent the dominant public opinion of the Scandinavian countries.
The Government Press is as scathing in its comment on the internal and external policies of the Berlin-Rome Axis as ever and provides a perhaps more complete news-service in that respect than corresponding newspapers elsewhere. In addition
the organisations of the governing parties devote sufficient time and energy to foreign affairs, including the Fascist menace, to make the conclusion of your correspondent wide of the mark, viz.: "there is no doubt that newspaper readers in these countries now know even less of what goes on in Germany than they used to, and (that) they are gradually getting a more favourable impression of Herr Hitler and his works." The latter is certainly not the opinion in Germany as expressed quite recently in the Viilkischer Beobachter and the EssOner National-Zeitung.
This conclusion is, in any case, untrue of every section of the newspaper reading public in Scandinavia after the new outbreak of pogroms in Germany. Even the leading Conservative newspaper of Copenhagen, to which your correspondent refers, was unqualified in its reaction.
In the circumstances it would be bad politics for any of the Governments in Scandinavia to yield to German pressure to the extent suggested by your correspondent, particularly as the freedom of the Press is firmly lodged in the Scandinavian constitutions. It is, in any case, untrue that the "Danish Government have already surrendered to" threats from Germany. Your correspondent does not make it quite clear that the apparently enforced leave of the foreign editor of the Copenhagen newspaper was due to a threatened advertisement boycott and not to pressure by the Danish Government.
Articles such as you publish today are creating a legend of Scandinavian subservience to Nazi interests which is not only wrong but does more to help Dr. Goebbels than anything this gentleman might attempt in Scandinavia itself. The Scandinavian retort to reports such as yours in the British Press is, quite frankly, that any " caution " displayed in Scandinavia would be due rather to the impression made by the policies of the Western Powers than to any German
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